Your Go-To Favorite Winter Drinks Selections

As with our Holiday Punch selections, winter wines, spirits and beer choices deserve our utmost consideration. Since the days are shorter, evening festivities can start sooner and last long into the night. Cold weather adult beverages and their flavors deepen during the frosty months, with complex wines, rich brews, and the boldest of spirits. Like your choices in layered garments and colorful outerwear, your drink choices are entirely yours. But allow us to give a suggestion or two and lead you outside the comfort box with our piece – Your Go-To Favorite Winter Drinks Selections. The impression you’ll make on your friends and family will illuminate the holidays like a 25 foot long strand of bright LED lights.

Wine Styles

Wintry nights and gala meals featuring roasted meat and hearty dishes will pair nicely with complex reds and full-bodied and spicy whites. There are also many opportunities to pop a bottle of bubbly during the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. Sparkles also come into play around the middle of February, and we’ll pay homage to a few of our faves.

Reds

Cabernet/Merlot – Whether blended together or riding solo, these are the varietals that warm the heart and elevate a holiday steak to the level of nirvana. Grown all over the world and found in any price range, these oak-aged reds will have their fruit notes accented with soft spices and vanilla.

Old World

Both varieties were first cultivated commercially and thought to have been born in Bordeaux. In a preponderance of upscale French labels, you’ll rarely see one without the other. (The exception to this rule is Château Pétrus in Pomerol, which is 99% Merlot and $3500 a bottle.) The proportions of grape will vary from the right bank or left bank, and the result will earth driven flavors of forest floor, minerality, and non-fruit components. Old world examples denote leather, chocolate, coffee and wood. Splendid examples of both varieties also hail from Italy and Spain.

New World

California, Washington State, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, and Chile all produce outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon and most grow enjoyable Merlots to boot. While a blend isn’t always noted, it is important to know that a wine in the United States labeled as a varietal, as in ‘Merlot’ or ‘Cabernet’, only has to contain a minimum of 75% of the listed grape. You’ll find the flavors in the wine fruit driven with tastes of blackberry, plum, black cherry and blueberry. The best finishes will provide structured tannins and hints of chocolate, leather, and cigar box.

Syrah/Shiraz

Once described by scholar and wine writer George Saintsbury as “the manliest wine he’d ever drunk” Syrah is a showcase of bold flavors. Rich in umami notes (meaty, broth-like, or savory taste) like roast meat and bacon, the Northern Rhone offerings also show great spice, black olive, currant and black pepper. In the south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas add a little black cherry and licorice.

In Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and other areas of Australia, black fruit and dark plum mix in with the spice. The Rhone Rangers of Central California coax raspberry and boysenberry along with the inherent spice out of the Syrah berries. In all examples, the wine pairs beautifully with lamb and roasted game and rich beefy stews and casseroles.

Nebbiolo

Best expressions come from the Italian region of Piedmont and are ripe with tar, purple violets, dark cocoa and have massive tannins when young. Whether known as Nebbiolo or the exalted Barolo or Barbaresco, these powerhouses benefit from a little time in the bottle and some breathing when released. They pair with charred meat, game and that other Piedmont delicacy; white truffles.

Whites

Grüner Veltliner

Although a few vineyards in California and Washington have started to cultivate the grape, the best Grüner Veltliners still comes from Austria. This is a sleek, racy white with minerality and acidity galore. Green legume and lemon grass with a finish of stone and white pepper along with its extravagant pungency makes this wine well-suited for rich holiday fare. Like Riesling, it is never blended and rarely aged in oak. Its dormancy in stainless steel or even concrete reinforces the limestone undertones and enhances its austerity.

Viognier

Originating in the Rhone Valley and used as a stand-alone varietal or to blend with the powerful Syrah, this full-bodied perfumed white adds apricot and peach to its arsenal of flavors. It’s now become a prized selection in California, Oregon, Washington State, and even north Texas and Virginia. The best examples come from Condrieu (N. Rhone) and California’s Central Coast and pair nicely with all seafood, light soups and salads. The savory undertones will hold up to roast fowl and even well-seasoned pork.

Sparkling Wine

Be it Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Franciacorta, or any number of sparklers, make no mistake that winter embraces the bubbles like no other season. Sparkling wine at its core is a double fermented wine wherein the CO2 in the second fermentation is integrated into the mix with a pressure of 36psi (frizzante) to 90psi (spumante, Champagne, et al.). They make it one of three ways: classic (Méthode Champenoise, Método Classico, Metodo Tradizionale); Transfer Method; and The Charmat or tank method.

• Classic is the only bottle fermented example and around the world it includes Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Franciacorta, and higher end California sparkling wine.
• Charmat is largely comprised of Prosecco, Lambrusco and inexpensive bubbles around the world.
• The Transfer Method is used for Classic Method wines that are less than or more than the standard 750ml size bottles (e.g. splits, magnums and Jeroboams).

As an apéritif, these wines are superb for toasting or pairing with rich appetizers (especially mushrooms). For dinner, they are a lobster’s best friend. To end the perfect meal, match it with Sabayon and strawberries, bittersweet chocolate souffle, or ripe strawberries.

We’ll expound on the ins and outs of this broad category in a “soon to be released” blog. Research and development are happily ongoing.              

Winter Beers

With the sun setting quickly and the outdoor BBQ in storage, the lighter brews of spring, summer and fall give way to the heavyweights of hops and dark malts, which makes this one of our favorite winter drinks. Coffee, cocoa, molasses and all things rich and wonderful permeate winter lagers and ales. Be warned, though, as sugar in the malting process is naturally enhanced, so is the by-product of ethanol alcohol. Lighter pilsners and lagers contain an average of 4.5% abv, while a good stout, porter or Belgian ale weighs in with anywhere from 6.5 to 12% abv. Remember that the word “Imperial” is often brewer’s code for enhanced alcohol.

Some outliers push the limit with unbelievable amounts of intoxicant. Take Scotland’s Brewdog Brewery with its Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32 percent alcohol by volume, or Germany’s Schorschbräu with 57%abv, a higher proof than most spirits. Enhance the effects by 1) enjoying with food, 2) serving in smaller glasses, 3) always enjoying responsible and 4) having a designated driver or an Uber account. Seriously. Be Safe!

The best thing about winter beers are the variety packs that the breweries put out. Samuel Adams, SweetWater, Big Storm, and Sierra Nevada are a few of our favorite domestic multi-packs.

Spirits

A winter spirit should warm you like a goose-down jacket, starting with your mouth, throat and clear down to your belly. Rum might seem like the perfect ‘summer-in-the-shade, mix it with something fruity and toss a bamboo umbrella in it kind of drink’, and it is. But dark rum, made by an artisanal distiller, rich in molasses and with notes of fig and caramel that only require a glass and maybe one cube (stone or ice; your choice) is the perfect winter sipper.

More viscous than bourbon and more flavorful than vodka, rum checks the box when addressing the warming the cockles of one’s innards. Bumbu XO, Pampero Aniversario and Ron Zacapa are some of our go-tos and R.L. Seale finest 10yr is a succulent steal at under $30.

Port

Another great choice for the chilly months is Port. Although true Port only comes from Portugal and the Douro River Valley, we can find many prominent examples of the fortified wine in the USA, Australia, S. America and S. Africa. Port is made tawny – aged in wood barrels and achieving flavors of roasted nuts, brown sugar, vanilla and golden raisins, or Ruby; ripe with jammy red fruit, currant, fig and (in the vintage Ports) even dark cacao and coffee notes.

You’ll find Tawny Port aged for 5 to 50+ years and also include Colheita. Ruby Ports also consists of LBV (Late Bottled Vintage), Reserve Port, Garrafeira, and Vintage Port. The latter two examples being the most prized and therefore expensive. All Ports pair well with the bluest of cheese. Gorgonzola, Stilton, Maytag and Humboldt fog to toss out a couple of suggestions. An ideal way to finish the perfect evening.

Final Thoughts

Just because the weather outside is frightful, there’s no reason you can’t make the best of the winter season indoors! Be it with wine, spirits, or beers, stock up and stay happy while we wait for spring to free us from old man winter’s icy grip. (Speak for yourself, we’re based in Florida!)

We hope that you’ve found some useful information with our piece – Your Go-To Favorite Winter Drinks Selections. As always, if you don’t see something here you want us to cover, feel free to reach out to us directly through our Contact page or leave a comment below. Stay healthy, stay happy and stay warm! ~ Glen.

Bob Hollowell has been exploring the world of wine for almost 40 years and has no plans on slowing down anytime soon! He’s no stranger to the culinary circles and is passionate about teaching other’s the experiences one can receive through food and drink.

Bob is a Certified Sommelier from Court of Master Sommeliers and a Cicerone Certified Beer Server, but most importantly has been in the restaurant and commercial sales (wine, spirits and beer) industry for over 25 years, bringing a wealth of professional knowledge to The 55 Lifestyle and to our readers.