A Toast to Your Holiday Meal
Experts weigh in on the perfect wines for your holiday celebrations.
Dec. 01, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- If you think navigating Aureole's famous glass and steel wine tower by mechanical hoists is tough, you should see the feat that Allison Cook -- one of five sommeliers at the showy Las Vegas restaurant -- has in store for Thanksgiving.
She'll be preparing the holiday feast for 20 members of her family and other wine geeks in the industry - -and selecting the wines, of course.
Fortunately, says Cook, it's a slow week in Sin City, when people choose relatives over the roulette wheel. That should give her plenty of time to explore the local wine shops for some rare finds. That's good, because Cook has some very specific wine preferences associated with the holiday.
Click here to see the best wines for a holiday table at our partner site, Forbes.com.
"I always lean toward Burgundies," says Cook. "They tend to go so many different ways. Burgundies are also great with black truffles, and I'm a sucker for black truffles on Thanksgiving." (Not only does Cook slip thinly shaved truffles beneath the skin of the bird, but she tucks them in her mac and cheese -- a little Alain Ducasse trick -- and in her mashed potatoes.)
This year, she's on the lookout for a 2001 Romanée-Conti Echezeaux, a $395 grand cru from Burgundy that was the star of her lineup last holiday. She also likes to serve a white wine with the meal and almost always goes for a Puligny Montrachet.
"Depending on how 'tropical' it is," she says, "it can really go well with some of the fruit flavors on the table, like cranberry."
Her current favorite is the elegant Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchere 2002, with its peach and pear notes.
And, she always has a bottle of Krug Champagne on hand for when guests first arrive. (Guests who come early to help " prep" in the kitchen are asked to each bring a different bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. "It's light, easy to drink and pretty "chuggable," says Cook.)
Rick Pitcher, a sommelier at Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar & Grill in Manhattan, also has some interesting wine-turkey tendencies.
Related Stories
ABC News Live