Here are four recipes for great Christmas dinners that pair perfectly with Pinot Noir.

Rich, darkly fruited Oregon Pinot Noir with exotic spice notes
Pair with: Prime Rib Roast

Oaky, full-bodied, and fruity California Pinot Noir with elements of chaparral
Pair with: Chipotle Duck a L’Orange

Crisp Oregon Pinot Noir with sweet minerality and zesty cranberry, pomegranate notes
Pair with: Roast Cornish Hens with Dijon Herb Sauce

Bright, ample California Pinot Noir with raspberry, strawberry flavors and notes of pie spice
Pair with: Pinot Noir Basted Roast Goose

For a great Christmas side dish, or veggie (gluten/dairy free) main course, that pairs deliciously with Pinot Noir try
Green Lentils with Red Quinoa

Salmon

The lively acidity of a good Pinot Noir balances the rich fattiness of a good cut a salmon without overwhelming it with strong tannins. The fruit and spice of Pinot balances against the smoke and char of grilling. It’s a classic pairing, and if you finish the salmon filet with a drizzle of sauce made from Pinot Noir, it crosses into the sublime.

Try this easy recipe for a yummy Pinot Noir Gastrique for your salmon filets.

Brisket

The subtle and lean meatiness of a well-braised brisket can be over-shadowed by a big, robust red… but it pairs perfectly with a light and juicy Pinot Noir. Braised brisket with Pinot Noir is another classic pairing that only gets better when you use Pinot Noir as the braising liquid.

Try this delicious recipe for Pinot Noir Braised Brisket.

Chicken

Poultry is a swinger. It can pair with several varieties of wines depending on how it is prepared. But I can pair wonderfully with Pinot Noir when roasted with a variety of herbs. Try creating a rub by blending several cloves of garlic with fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage, olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Cover the inside and out of a chicken generously and roast at 300 for 2 to 2 ½ hours. You just made another classic Hanukkah entrée that goes with Pinot Noir like … well, like bo’re p’ri goes with ha gafen.

Happy Hanukkah!

Below is a list of some of the major kosher Pinot Noir producers whose kosher Pinot Noirs can be easily found online.

Kosher Pinot Noir

Abarbanel Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Alfasi Pinot Noir Reserve – Kosher Pinot Noir

Barkan Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Galil Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot

Gamla Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Goose Bay Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Hagafen Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Herzog Special Reserve Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

Yarden Pinot Noir – Kosher Pinot Noir

First, and this may come as a shock, I, Mr. Pinot Noir, am going to say that the best pairing for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner is NOT Pinot Noir. Now you know I wouldn’t say that without some explanation, so please let me explain:

The traditional flavors of Thanksgiving are light and sweet and creamy. Roast turkey and mashies with a light brown (turkey) gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and creamed veggies. The truth is that a pinot, especially an American pinot, is going to contrast starkly in weight and flavor with much of this. The sweetness of the traditional foods is going to make a pinot taste overly dry or sour. The heavy creaminess of the foods is going to have a similar effect, without the deeper, darker, smokier notes that might accentuate the fun parts of pinot. And finally, the lightness of the turkey is going to be made to taste dry and bland by a fruit and acid driven pinot.

So what is the best pairing for Thanksgiving? Probably a fruity or off-dry white. A Riesling or a rich, creamy Chardonnay might be perfect, or even a Viognier.

Is there a way to make the traditional Thanksgiving fare pair better with Pinot Noir? Absolutely. If you insist on having Pinot Noir with Thanksgiving – or, like me, with almost every meal – there are a few tricks you can use to create a Thanksgiving feast tailor-made for Pinot:

Try a fried or smoked turkey. A fried turkey will have a richness that will stand up to the fruit and acids in a Pinot. Smoking a turkey will deepen and darken its flavor profile, and make for an exciting enhancement to Pinot. Both of these techniques are labor and equipment intensive, however, and may not be an option. So try stuffing and rubbing your roast turkey with a can of chipotle chiles in adobo. The spice is nice, and the rich, smoky flavor will give the light turkey some extra oomph to balance against Pinot. Or sear some green, pasilla, and or poblano peppers over the gas burner and layer strips of these, blackened side down, over the turkey when roasting, and stuff the rest inside.

Try some pinot friendly alternatives to gravy. Three suggestions: 1) A pinot noir reduction, using onions or shallots, pinot noir, turkey drippings, butter and some salt & pepper. 2) An herb pesto sauce, similar to chimmichurri. Olive oil, garlic, some red pepper, and lots of herbs, with a splash of vinegar or lemon. Herbs could be basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, and parsley. 3) A roasted or smoked chile salsa. Use some turkey drippings, pumpkin seeds, garlic, fresh tomato, squeeze of lemon, salt & pepper, oil, and a bunch of dried chiles morita or guajillo (soaked in hot water until soft). Blend until smooth.

Add some mushrooms to your stuffing. This is one of my favorite ways to pinot-pair Thanksgiving. I love mushrooms, and I love the way they bring out the earthy, meaty umame in Pinot. My stuffing is usually at least 50% mushrooms.

With these added flavors, the mashed potatoes may be great as a simple balancing starch. But you could also stir in some seared poblano chile strips, and/or crumbled bacon and chopped chives into your mashies. This touch of smoke and herbs will bring the otherwise light, creamy flavors more into balance with your pinot. Just for fun you could use purple potatoes too, instead of the usual white or yellow.

Finally, what style of Pinot Noir is best to serve at Thanksgiving? As always your own tastes and budget should dictate, but my suggestion is to think of Pinot Noir as the cranberry sauce of the meal (with appologies to the actual cranberry sauce). Cranberry sauce works by contrast. It is tart, tangy, and often sweet. It serves to refresh your palate and balance all the heavy, creamy, blandness of the other Thanksgiving foods.

Pinot Noir can work in essentially the same way. Thanksgiving is not the time for dark, restrained, earthy, minerally pinots or even for rich, alcoholic ones. For me it is a time for Pinot Noir that is light, and bright, bursting with sweet, tart fruit, with notes of pie spice. Oregon might be the perfect place to find this. Thanksgiving may, in fact, be the perfect time for that off vintage, 2007, in Oregon: light, tart, and often with noticeable smoky oak. The 07s didn’t please many upon release, but pairing them now with Thanksgiving might be a match made in heaven.

California pinots, though sweet, often lack the lightness and tartness and high cranberry notes that I want at Thanksgiving. If there are exceptions to this you’ll likely find them in the Russian River Valley.

And for the same reasons the ’07 Oregon Pinots would be great on T-day, it might also be a great day to drink some East Coast Pinot Noirs from Pennsylvania or New York.

Have an enjoyable, delicious and safe Thanksgiving. Remember, the best things to pair with Pinot Noir are people you love… just don’t eat them.

Roosevelt is one of my local butchers. On the evening we met, I was buying short ribs, and Roosevelt was in a bad mood. Maybe he’s always in a bad mood, or maybe I just brought it out of him. Over the course of our interaction I attempted to draw Roosevelt out about his ideas for cooking short ribs, which he seemed to suggest he knew how to cook. After I – for the record, accurately – described the process of braising, Roosevelt reacted by growling at me, “You don’t know how to cook! I don’t have time to teach you to cook.” It’s hard to explain how we arrived at that point in the conversation, but suffice it to say that I thought it was an over-reaction, given that Roosevelt knew nothing about me, and I eventually told him so.

We didn’t become friends that evening, but we did part after shaking hands. I can’t say Roosevelt taught me a secret to cooking short ribs, but he did teach me something: if someone doesn’t know you and they insult you, tell them they’re wrong. If they won’t admit it, they’re stubborn or ignorant, and there’s no reason to argue with a stubborn or an ignorant person. Shake their hand and walk away.

Here is the recipe for Roosevelt’s “You Don’t Know How To Cook” Short Ribs:

5 or 6 meaty short ribs, about 6 lbs
salt
olive oil
2 slices bacon
flour
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 onions, sliced thin
1 red chile, minced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme
1 1/2 cups of Pinot Noir
1 pear, peeled, seeded and cubed (sweet, ripe) – ok to substitute apple
2 roma tomatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
black pepper

Generously salt all sides of ribs and refrigerate at least overnight, and up to 2 days.

Pre-heat oven to 275.

Heat some oil in a large skillet and cook the bacon until crisp. Meanwhile, dredge the ribs in flour, lightly coating all sides. Remove bacon from pan and adjust heat to high. Add ribs to the pan in batches and sear them on all sides. Remove seared short ribs to a roasting pan.

Using the same skillet, turn down the heat to medium, add more oil and cook celery, carrots, chile and onions until soft. Add chopped garlic and herb sprigs. Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the pear and tomatoes with the Pinot Noir, vinegar, and black pepper to taste. Add the Pinot pear puree to the onions and crumble in the bacon. Simmer 2 minutes.

Pour the Pinot onion mixture over the ribs in the roasting pan. Seal the pan with foil and braise the ribs at 275 for about 4 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven but leave the ribs in for an hour.

After an hour, take out the ribs, remove the foil, and serve over polenta or mashed potatoes with the sauce from the pan.

Let me know if you like them.

This salad dressing is best served over a salad of greens, sprouts, papaya, walnuts, avacado, and mint. It is best paired with a champagne or sparkling wine made from Pinot Noir grapes, like a Blanc de Noir.  But this dressing is so delicious you might drink it alone.

1 sweet, ripe pear – peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 Tablespoons of fresh ginger – or about a 1 x 2 inch section – peeled, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon champagne (or water)

Puree all ingredients in a blender, 1-2 minutes. Taste and adjust and re-blend if necessary. Serve immediately over salad.

Serves 4

3 large sweet potatoes (the yellow ones, NOT yams), peeled and cubed
salt & pepper to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 to 1/4 cayenne
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoons chopped chives or green onions (see Sweet & Creamy Corn Soup)

Boil sweet potatoes in salted water (enough to cover plus a half inch) for 5-7 minutes until soft, then drain. Mash with remaining ingredients.

SAUCE

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 Fuyu persimmon, peeled & chopped small
1 cup chicken broth
ground ginger
cayenne pepper
olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter

TENDERLOIN

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Clean tenderloin and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle generously with salt & pepper. Sprinkle lightly with ginger and cumin. Drizzle olive oil in baking dish large enough for tenderloin (9 x 13). Lay bacon strips crosswise in dish. On top of bacon lay persimmon slices, then arbol chiles and garlic slices. Lay tenderloin on one side of dish and roll across, wrapping bacon around persimmons, chiles and garlic. Tuck ends of bacon under tenderloin. Roast in oven until thermometer reads 160 degrees F in thickest part of tenderloin (about 30 minutes). Remove tenderloin from oven, take out of baking dish, and let rest 10 minutes on clean dish while making sauce.

SAUCE

Pour vinegar into baking dish, swirl, and let sit. Meanwhile heat a tablespoon of olive oil and butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Add onion and saute 3 minutes. Swirl vinegar in baking dish again and pour into sauce pan with onions. Simmer 3 minutes. Add persimmon and pinches of ginger and cayenne and simmer another 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and simmer until persimmon is very soft and sauce is reduced and thickened (about 5 minutes).

Slice tenderloin through bacon into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange medallions on plate and pour sauce over generously. Enjoy with a spicy Pinot Noir. Perfect for the holiday season.

Pinot Noir Pairing Recommendations

2006 St. Innocent Seven Springs Pinot Noir
2005 Evesham Wood ‘Le Puits Sec’ Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most versatile wine to pair with food. As one of the lightest bodied of the red varietals, with ample fruit, spice, and earthy gameyness, it easily breaks the rule that insists that white wine must go with seafood, and red wine must go with red meats. Pinot Noir pairs excellently with almost the entire spectrum of foods, though at the extreme ends (white fish & beef steaks) the way you prepare the dish can make for better or worse pairings.

Here is a list of foods that Pinot Noir can complement deliciously:

• Shellfish – in a pink sauce, bisque, curry or with seasoning meats like bacon or sausage (think about a nice crisp Pinot with a Lobster Bisque or Paella… mmmm!)
• Pasta & Risotto – with a pink sauce or pesto sauce or one of the below ingredients
• Ahi Tuna, Salmon
• Chicken, Turkey (turkey burgers too) – fried, roast, or grilled with herbs, Dijon mustard, mushroom or Pinot sauces (like the classic Coq au Vin or Chicken Marsala, or the Indian Chicken Tikka Masala)
• Duck, Goose, Squab, Pheasant
• Rabbit
• Mushrooms, legumes (beans, lentils), wild rice, quinoa, cooked spinach & kale (Try a Pinot with Saag Paneer or Spanikopita.)
• Venison, Elk, Antelope, Ostrich, Buffalo
• Pork, ham, prosciutto, sausage, bacon, and other charcuterie
• Lamb
• Veal – parmesan not picatta
• Beef, especially Filet Mignon and braised (short ribs) or roasted beef (brisket, prime rib) – with herbs, mushrooms & truffles (classic: Boeuf Bourguignon)
• Cheese – Creamy Bleu (St. Augur, Castello, Gorgonzolla), Parmesan, middle-aged Dutch/Gouda, and very creamy Brie

Why does Pinot Noir pair so well with these foods? And how do I pair the Pinot Noir that I just purchased with the BEST one of these foods? Understanding how Pinot interacts with food is the key to answering these questions.

BODY
You’ll notice a common theme from the list, especially when it comes to the darker meats, is that they are leaner meats or cuts. Game meats, like venison or buffalo, tend to have little if any of the fatty marbled richness of typical beef cuts. And when it comes to beef, I’ve suggested the distinctively tender but lean Filet. This is because of the weight or body of a Pinot Noir tends to be light or thin in your mouth. So it does a great job of balancing its lighter juicyness with the minimal juicyness of the leaner meats.

Essentially you don’t want the heaviness of your food to overwhelm the lithe body of your Pinot, nor do you want your Pinot to overpower any of the subtleties of a well prepared dish. Pinot can be too heavy for Ahi if it is sushi. But simply searing or grilling Ahi, and perhaps using a soy based sauce, increases its complexity and can make for a perfect match. So if you have lighter meat, but insist on drinking Pinot Noir with it (as I do) just find a way to add complexity. You’ll notice the list above suggests this already.

SWEETNESS & FRUIT
Sweetness in foods is not the same as fruityness in wines. Sweet foods do not pair well with Pinot Noir because the sweetness will overwhelm the often delicate fruityness of Pinots. Some of the bigger, riper California Pinots can be an exception to this, but usually only if the sweetness of a food is partnered with an equal sourness or acidity – like in Moroccan barbeque sauces or a pasta with pink sauce. Pink sauce is a combo of tangy, acidic tomatoes and sweet cream, and the partnership can create a great pairing with Pinot because the balance of sweet & sour prevents either from overwhelming the Pinot’s fruit and minimal tannic structure.

Dishes prepared with fruit usually pair best with Pinot when the fruit or resulting sauce is on the lightly tart side. Venison with sour cherry reduction, or pork loin with raspberry balsamic glaze are two examples. Peaches (& stone fruit in general), strawberries, melons, grapes and other sweet fruit are best “tarted up” when it comes to pairing with Pinot. I do love Pinot Noir with roast pork and a tangy plum reduction. Tarting up usually involves adding a light touch of vinegar or citrus, or maybe mustard. But go easy. You don’t want to taste sourness… you want to taste balance.

Of course one of the best ways to get a fruit sauce to pair well with your Pinot is to add some of your Pinot to the sauce.

ACIDITY & TANNINS
Pinot tends to be a bit more acidic (crisp or tart) than tannic (bitter or astringent). The thin skins of the Pinot Noir grapes afford minimal tannins, but the cool Pinot growing regions allow for slow ripening and therefore maintain a lively acidity in the finished wine. Whereas highly tannic wines provide an astringent cleanse for your palate when eating rich, heavy, fatty foods, Pinot Noir’s more subtle tannins allow for more subtlety and leanness in your food. Thus the leaner meats – like game and pork – as well as richer vegetables – can be perfectly matched with Pinot, whereas a more tannic wine might wipe your palate clean of some of the lighter flavors of these foods. And extra-rich and/or deeply spiced foods (like barbeque or mole negro) can often need a bolder, more tannic wine than Pinot Noir.

FLAVOR
There are at least two strategies for pairing the flavor of your Pinot with your food.

First, there is the “match-pairing” technique. Simply, you eat foods with your Pinot that taste the same as or similar to it. So if your Pinot is gamey with notes of truffle and lavender, you would sear a duck breast and serve it with a truffle, lavender sauce. This covers the main thrust of most of the pairing recommendations listed above. Pinot Noir tends to exhibit gameyness… so it goes well with gamey meats. It can have earthy, herbal, mushroomy flavors… so it goes well with herb sauces, herb roasted meats, and mushrooms of all types.

A second, and slightly more difficult, technique is “complement-pairing.” This means marrying two dissimilar elements, one in the food and one in the Pinot, to create a harmonious interplay, rather than a direct alignment. The reason this is more difficult is because we all have different tastes about what flavors intermingle best on our palate. For example, let’s say you detect a nice note of clove on your Pinot. The first thought that pops into my mind when I think of clove is Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie spice. So I might make a roast pumpkin soup to pair with the hint of clove in my Pinot. You, on the other hand, might think immediately of the clove in chai tea and the masala used in saag paneer. So you might make creamed spinach (saag) to pair with the same Pinot. As long as we’re both considering the other factors of body, sweetness, acidity & tannins, and other flavors of the Pinot, we could both create perfect but very different dishes to complement-pair with the same Pinot. Of course it’s most delicious when some combination of the two techniques are used.

THE BEST PAIRING
Finally, and most importantly, remember that the best things to pair with Pinot Noir are the people that you love… but no matter how delicious they may look, don’t eat them!

For a list of foods and things NOT to pair with Pinot Noir, visit Bad Pinot Pairings.

And of course the Recipes section gives some delicious ideas as well.

• citrus fruit or foods that are citrus based
• vinegar or foods that are vinegar based like some dressings, bbq sauces, and dipping sauces
  (for a pinot noir friendly salad dressing click here or try this with blanc de noir)
• anything overly acidic (like some robust tomato or marinara sauces)
• desserts or purely sweet dishes

The subtlety of Pinot Noir will be easily overwhelmed by these types of food.

What about hot & spicy foods (foods with chiles)?

Your ability to enjoy a Pinot Noir with spicy foods depends entirely on your tolerance for chile heat. If you’re Thai, you probably don’t sense spicy heat unless someone squirts pepper spray directly into your mouth, and eating chiles with Pinot Noir won’t much matter. If, on the other hand, you’re Irish, you may need to be hospitalized if a flake of red chile accidentally brushes against your fork, and Pinot Noir is not the best pairing with spicy food for you… the heat will overwhelm the Pinot. I tend to like heat, so you’ll find chiles often in my recipes, but please cut back or eliminate them entirely if you are sensitive… or feel free to hit them with a shot of pepper spray, Mr. Pradeep.