Perfect Pairings: Wine with Holiday Ham

If your next big, crazy holiday gathering is going to feature a holiday ham (yum), the centerpiece of your meal will probably be glazed with maple or pierced with cloves. On the side, you are likely to find the standard line-up of holiday buffet dishes, including scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, brandied peaches, and green beans.

Your first wine pairing guideline for such a feast is center your wine choices around white wines, rosés, or lighter styles of red. This is to avoid a clash with the inevitable sweetness on your plate and to avoid overpowering the entrée.  In addition—as is typical of holiday feasts—the array of side dishes on the table will offer up a wide variety of tastes and flavors, so our challenge is to find a wine that doesn’t wrestle with the rest of the meal.

Here are a few guidelines to help you find a great wine to pair with a meal centered around a holiday ham:

Look for something light-to-medium:  A light-to-medium bodied wine—with a corresponding light-to-medium level of flavor intensity—is unlikely to overpower the main course in terms of both weight and flavor.  For best results choose a sparkling wine, a white wine, or a rosé.  There are also plenty of options for red wines lovers; just keep to the lighter styles of red. Wines based on Pinot Noir, Mencía, Gamay, or (sometimes) Sangiovese are great choices.  This can be a great day for lovers of French wine and a great day to bring out the Burgundy and Beaujolais. For lovers of Italian wines, Chianti, Chianti Classico, or Valpolicella can be good choices (however, be advised that depending on the producer, these wines can be light-and-lovely or big-and-brawny).

Fruit-forward wines will shine: A dinner based on ham will most likely contain a side dish based on peaches, raisins, or sweet potatoes.  While it is very hard to predict flavor-based reactions in wine and food pairings (as opposed to taste-based, which can be predicted quite accurately), fruity flavors in food will typically cause the wine to seem less fruity, drier, and more astringent. In order to avoid a fruit-on-fruit wrestling match and ending up with insipid-tasting wine, make sure the wine has fruity flavors to begin with.

A touch of sweetness will make a great match: If your ham is honey-baked, maple-drenched, or brown sugar-glazed, this is important. While it seems counter-intuitive, sweetness in food makes wine taste less sweet (and therefore more acidic).  If the idea of sweet wines on the dinner table scares you, don’t forget that your open-door policy on holidays most likely means that your guests have a broad range of preferences in wine, and this is one case where the Moscato drinkers and the sweet wine lovers may just have an edge. In order to abide by this rule, you don’t need a super-sweet dessert wine, just a wine with a hint of sweetness. After all, a few bottles of Moscato d’Asti, Brachetto d’Acqui, or off-dry Vouvray never hurt anybody!

The Bubbly Professor’s Suggestions for wine to pair with Holiday Ham

• Riesling from Alsace, Germany, or Washington State is a great choice. For the wine adventurer, try finding a single winery that offers wines in varying levels of sweetness.  Tasting them along with the meal will make for an interesting feast!
• Vouvray, either sparkling or still, or any other Chenin Blanc-based wine from the Loire or elsewhere (South Africa makes some wonderful Chenin). Vouvray sometimes has a bit of residual sugar, so this wine checks a lot of boxes.
• Rosé…just about any rosé would be lovely, and this is a time where Rosé d’Anjou with its slight hint of sweetness will absolutely shine.  A rosé made from Sangiovese—which to me always seems to have a charming little hint of baking spice in the flavor—would also work.  If you have a rich uncle, tell him to bring Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé (from Provence) and save a bottle for me!
• Pinot Gris from Alsace or Oregon—this is an under-appreciated wine if ever there was one.  For less than $30.00 a bottle, grab a bottle of Pinot Gris from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  It’s a bit more expensive, but if that doesn’t bother you, try a Pinot Gris from Alsace.
• Gewürztraminer…my favorite “love it or hate it” wine will really shine with the flavors of a holiday ham feast.  Germany and Alsace make terrific dry varieties, and some of the versions from California have a slight hint of sweetness. Either version will do.
• Rosé Champagne might just be the perfect choice.  Go for broke and load up the table with Laurent Perrier Brut Rosé, or spend a bit less and find a Brut Rosé Cava from Spain. (Pro tip: buy the Cava for your guests and keep a secret stash of Laurent Perrier in the bedroom mini fridge just for you and your bestie.)
• Prosecco is a good choice, but then it just about always is!
• For the wine adventurous…try a Cabernet-Franc based red wine from the Loire, such as Chinon or Bourgueil. California is also making interesting Cabernet Franc these days.
• Red Burgundy, Cru Beaujolais or Oregon Pinot Noir.  You just can’t go wrong with these food-loving wines.
• Chianti, Chianti Classico, or Valpolicella—sure to please the lovers of earthy red Italian wines.
• For the sweet wine aficionados in the crowd, grab a few bottles of Moscato d’Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui.  These slightly sweet wines will work for the whole meal from spiced cashews to pecan pie!

Remember to relax and enjoy the holidays, and don’t stress over the wine choices.  Choose something you love and something that your guests will be comfortable with, whether they be wine newbies or wine adventurers!

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas…