It’s a wonderful day to celebrate with family and friends. Everyone is excited to welcome Spring into their homes. There’s always lots of fresh, homemade food or some enjoy brunch after church service. But what do you bring or serve for an Easter celebration?
With brunch, pop open an Italian sparkling wine and have a Mimosa. Give it some zing with ruby red grapefruit juice or a splash of vodka. But you can never go wrong with the traditional orange juice and bubbly. There is nothing wrong with jumping straight to a French Champaign. If you don’t like bubbles, a Bloody Mary is a brunch favorite. If you want to invite Mary to the party, I have a few suggestions for you here. Going out for brunch? Most restaurants serve bottomless Mimosas or have a Bloody Mary bar.
Most Easter dinner meals have lighter meats such as ham or chicken, some sort of vegetables – green beans, collard greens, roasted veggies, carrots, and then mashed or roasted potatoes, mac ‘n’ cheese, fresh baked bread rolls, and some add fresh fruit or vegetable salad. So what do you pair with this and satisfy a variety of palates?
Let’s start with the safe bets. For white wine, a Sauvignon Blanc, Flume Blanc, or Pinot Grigio are very versatile, flexible with food, and fresh. I would go with a California, South American, or Frech on any of these. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are nice too. They tend to have more grassy flavors, in my opinion, whereas the others lean more citrus. For the red, pick something light like a Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, or Merlot. French and Oregon Pinot Noirs and Beaujolais tend to be on the earthy side, which go well with ham and other pork and are so flexible with all the other foods. One additional thought, when looking to pair with a variety of foods, look for lower alcohol content otherwise you may be smacking your guests in the face with a heavy chemical flavor.
What’s a little more adventurous but also crowd pleasing? For the white, try a Riesling, Albariño, or a white Bordeaux or Tuscana. The Glacial Till 2017 Riesling from New York is fantastic and only $13 at Wegman’s. I just opened a bottle the other day and I rarely say “Wow” to a white, but this one got me. Tastes of pears with floral notes and a touch of minerals lingered in my mouth. I discovered how versatile it truly is by tasing it with white pizza and a deluxe pizza. So this will go with a variety of Easter foods. An Albariño tends to lean toward a Sauvignon Blanc, but I find it much smoother and brighter. I recommend a Spanish Albariño. The white Bordeaux or Tuscana are full of flavor and fun, just what you’d expect from French and Italian wines.
How daring should you be with red wine? I wouldn’t go too far here. These are lighter foods and in general the more people you serve, the less you know about their palate and preferences. An Australian Shiraz can be nice and fruity. A French Grenache or Spanish Garnacha (same grape) are quite lovely and full yet modest in the mouth. If you know you have a few red wine drinkers in your group, you could go with one of my favorites a Sangiovese from Italy. A California Meritage can be a nice juicy red blend. You could also go with a red blend from Washington State, which tend to feel a bit thicker to me which works well with smoked meats.
No matter the wine, the most important thing is to enjoy your time with family and friends.
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