Sommeliers share food and wine pairing tips to elevate your holiday meal

A wine and food pairing can be complementary or contrasting — Photo courtesy of SeventyFour / iStock Via Getty Images Plus

Holiday meals can be high stakes, a rare opportunity to gather with friends and family that you might not get to see very often. Trying to juggle multi-course meals and impress loved ones with food and wine pairings is a tall order. But holiday wine choices don’t have to be intimidating when you have expert help. We reached out to some of the top winemakers and sommeliers in Napa Valley, Sonoma, and San Francisco, California, for food and wine pairing tips for classic holiday dishes like ham, roast beef, and turkey.

How to pair wine and food

When Valentina Moya, sommelier and beverage director at San Francisco’s Waterbar, pairs wine with food, she thinks about it in terms of complementary or contrasting pairings.

“With complementary pairings, you’re looking for similar texture and body,” she explains. “Like oysters and champagne or pinot noir and pork, you want to match the body and acidity of both.”

Contrasting wine pairings also work well, she says, recommending that you pair the wine with the sauce rather than the protein.

“A rich creamy sauce, like béchamel, with a light, high-acid wine, like a grüner veltliner, would perfectly cut through the richness of the sauce,” she says. “Remember that fat loves tannins, so a ribeye with a sangiovese or nebbiolo is perfection.”

Wine pairing with turkey

Naidu Estate Pinot Noir has notes of silky cranberry that make a great wine pairing with turkey — Photo courtesy of Cheri Tran Snaps

Sommelier Alex Sarovich, founder of Own Rooted Hospitality, says that cranberry sauce is the key component to consider when thinking of a wine pairing for turkey.

“Cranberry sauce isn’t just a condiment,” she says. “It’s the vibrant catalyst that transforms a traditional turkey dinner, calling for an equally dynamic wine companion.”

Sarovich loves Naidu Estate Pinot Noir as a pairing with turkey and cranberry sauce for its complementary cranberry and raspberry notes. “It’s silky, layered, and a juicy, nuanced pour that elevates the dish.”

Waterbar’s Moya grew up in Chile and didn’t eat turkey until coming to the United States. She suggests gamay as a classic pairing. Gros Ventre Cellars’ Barsotti Vineyard Gamay Noir is her favorite California producer, while Jean Foillard Morgon “Cuvée Corcelette” is her preferred French pick.

“Both wines are a potpourri of fruits,” she says. “They are electric and energetic and full of fresh cranberries, pomegranate, and strawberries, with hints of earthiness and fresh mushrooms.”

Wine pairing with ham

Dancing Estate Zinfandel is an excellent wine pairing with ham — Photo courtesy of Emma Kruch @emmakcreative

Sarovich calls zinfandel “the unsung hero of holiday wines.”

“It effortlessly bridges the gap between light pinot noir and robust cabernet sauvignon,” she says. Dancing Estate Zinfandel is her favorite, produced from an old-vine vineyard in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. “This crowd-pleasing pour doesn’t just pair with ham but practically waltzes alongside it. Its spicy, vanilla-laced, dark berry profile complements the sweet caramelized notes of the meat.”

Aaron Wood-Snyderman, resort wine director for the Four Seasons Resort Maui, takes a contrasting approach by pairing ham with Wente Vineyards Morning Fog Chardonnay.

“The sweet and salty flavors of ham pair wonderfully with the Morning Fog Chardonnay, which balances these bold flavors with precise acidity and a spectacular linear progression of flavors,” he says, noting the flavors start with bosc pear, move into a floral white peach note, and finish with Meyer lemon zest.

Wine pairing with fish

Sparkling wine really shines when paired with seafood — Photo courtesy of Chandon

Traditional champagne-method sparkling wine is a great pairing with many types of seafood, especially lobster or whole fish grilled with lemon or a buttery, creamy sauce. Pauline Lhote, winemaking director at Chandon, adores Chandon Reserve Blanc de Blancs as a pairing for fresh fish and oysters.

“This wine is from our coolest climate vineyard by the San Pablo Bay in Carneros,” she says. “The minerality and elegant flavors pair beautifully with fresh oysters, oysters Rockefeller, and fish.”

Bright bubbles add a racy acidity that won’t overwhelm the delicate sweetness of seafood, and sparkling wine with extended aging sur lie (on the lees), like Chandon Reserve, have a fuller body to match richer sauces.

Wine pairing with roast beef

Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon is an opulent wine pairing for roast beef — Photo courtesy of Chappellet

Sarovich recommends a straightforward, robust cabernet sauvignon pairing with equally hearty roast beef, namely Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon if you’re looking to splurge.

“Opulent and elegant, this wine is not just an accompaniment, but a sensory symphony and statement for any holiday meal,” she says, noting that the black currant notes and aromas of cedar, tobacco leaf, and sweet oak smoke with subtle violet undertones enhance the meat’s flavor. “If you can track down an aged bottle, you’ll elevate the entire table’s collective palate and earn serious wine enthusiast bragging rights.”

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Desmond “Des” Echavarrie, a master sommelier and founder of Scale Wine Group, agrees that cabernet sauvignon is the best pairing for roast beef. His pick is Vida Valiente The Movement Cabernet Sauvignon for its heady notes of creme de cassis, black plum, and kirsch intensified by complex minerality, lavender oil, and juicy black fruit.

A donation of $100 per bottle goes to the Vida Valiente Foundation, which supports first-generation, low-income college students, “so you can feel extra good about springing for it for the holidays,” he says.

Wine pairing for dessert

Vida Valiente The Movement Cabernet Sauvignon is a philanthropic wine that pairs well with roast beef — Photo courtesy of Jak Wonderly

If you’ll have a spread of multiple desserts, Sarovich proposes aged tawny port or a Sauternes as a pairing.

“Sauternes particularly shines alongside salty cheeses and spiced desserts, like pumpkin pie,” she says. “When it comes to Sauternes, the older the wine, the more complex and delightful the taste.” Sarovich suggests Château Suduiraut for exceptional vintages.

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Moya recommends choosing a dessert wine that’s a little sweeter than the dessert itself. She likes an Italian passito with pumpkin, pecan, and walnut pies.

“Right now my favorite is Caravaglio Malvasia delle Lipari Passito,” she says. “This sweet wine is made from drying malvasia grapes from the volcanic slopes of Sicily.” She explains that the grapes bask in the sun for a few months, resulting in a deeply golden wine with aromas of lemon zest, fresh butternut squash, and dried figs.