The Holiday Season Quest

Gingerbread. I love gingerbread. To me nothing says Christmas more than the taste of molasses, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg swirling over my tongue. I have always enjoyed this holiday treat with coffee, tea or hot chocolate, but a few years ago, after I read that it paired well with the Italian dessert wine Passito di Pantelleria, I knew that one day I would have to try this combo. Not the most common of wines, it became my holiday quest to find it.

               For the last couple of years, I have passively searched for this unique Sicilian wine made from sun dried grapes. Up and down wine shop aisles and searches on wine.com were bleak, as it was either not carried or sold out. For reasons unknown to me, this year my scans and light searches became more intense. This was the year I was to get my hands on a bottle of this elusive vino. Starting in November, I searched the inventory of all of the stores I had purchased from in the past. I even emailed the shop I frequent the most, but it appeared luck was not on my side. I could not find this rascal anywhere.

               My last-ditch effort to secure a bottle was during our annual Christmas Mall Shopping Trip my husband and I take each year. For this season’s excursion, we headed to the Park Meadows Mall. After meandering through the various stores, we found ourselves in the food court with a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll from Cinnabon – the Peppermint Topped Bon is my new holiday treat love. While sitting there, my husband asked me if there was a liquor store or wine shop nearby I wanted to go to. Never one to turn down an opportunity for some wine shopping, we did a quick search of stores in the area, and Total Wine & More looked promising. With a website that allowed for a product search, my husband typed in Passito di Pantelleria, and the Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2021 bottling popped up as in stock and available for purchase. I couldn’t believe it. Was luck really on my side? It was in more ways than I realized.

               When we entered the liquor store, I did a quick scan of the setup and told my husband I thought we needed to head to the Italy section. He took off, so I assumed he went to find Italy. In search myself, I stumbled upon a large dessert wine section and was awed by the number of bottles of Sauternes they had. Typically made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes, this Bordeaux dessert wine is my favorite wine to pair with my mom’s rum nut balls. In fact, over the past few years, it had become my New Year’s Eve indulgence. Having yet to pick up my bottle for this year, I knew I would be revisiting this section, once I had my coveted bottle in hand.

               Since I was in the dessert wine section, and the wine I was looking for was in fact a dessert wine, I decided to start my search there. I looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be seen. At this point, my husband found me, and I asked if he had located Italy. He hadn’t, quite suspicious, but we quickly found it and headed down the aisle. I looked and looked once again, but still nothing. Noting my frustration, my husband searched their website again, and, lo and behold, it listed the aisle number where the bottle could be found. We hastily made our way in that direction, and there it was. My wine to pair with gingerbread.

               Elated, I looked around the store with fresh eyes and was stoked to see that they were offering a wine tasting. As I took a step towards the tasting bar, my husband grabbed my hand and started leading me in the opposite direction, saying he wanted to show me something first. Though I longingly looked back at the people happily trying sips of wine, I was intrigued and followed without a fuss. What had he found?

               What he had found was not a few bottles, not a small case, but an entire wall containing locked wine cooler after locked wine cooler of bottles, magnums, and I believe even an imperial of so many of the wines that would make any wine lover’s knees go weak. As I marveled at all of the beautiful bottles, dreaming of what each would taste like, my husband asked me if I would like to pick out one as my big Christmas present. Who could say no to that? One would assume it would take me forever to choose, but it was an easy decision. I wanted a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac Premier Grand Cru Classé, the last of my Bordeaux First Growths. Though they had numerous vintages available, my husband convinced me to get the 2005, so I could enjoy it now. Why buy a bottle that needs to be aged for years, when you could get one that could be popped open that evening? If this had been a movie, “Joy to the World” would have blared over the speaker at that moment.

               The rest of this epic trip, which I had originally thought would be a quick stop at a liquor store, included a wonderful wine tasting, where I thoroughly enjoyed the ALL Chard Chardonnay Ruddick Ranch Mendocino County 2023, and the purchase of my next Sauternes. I went with one I hadn’t tried yet, the Château Bastor-Lamontagne Sauternes 2011. To say I left with a smile on my face would be the understatement of the year. Cradled in my arms were wines that were going to make my Christmas season very merry indeed.

               Since that wonderful evening, I have had the privilege to try and enjoy each of these delicious beauties. Feeling a bit off kilter this holiday season, the lush Lafite Rothschild has now brightened my day twice with its beautiful fruit notes accompanied by a big plate of spaghetti and a Christmas movie. The quality and absolutely amazing flavor of this wine will forever hold a place in my heart and memory. Though my Sauternes is technically for New Year’s Eve, thanks to my Coravin system I was able to enjoy it along with another candy cane topped cinnamon roll. The two together just screamed the holidays as the wine fully teased out the peppermint flavor of the candy canes. It was a candy cane dream for this wine lover. And, the Passito di Pantelleria? Well, that has its own fun side story.

               A few days after my adventures in Total Wine & More I was talking to my mom and told her all about my new wine friends. Hearing about my holiday treat and wine pairings, she got an idea. An amazing idea. The mom got a wonderful, awesome idea. (A little humor for you Grinch fans). Between research and pairings that just sounded good to us, my mom created a Christmas Cookie and Wine Pairing for the family on Christmas Eve. A group of us, including the niece and nephew who tested the cookie options with Dr. Pepper, gathered around the table and got to pouring and indulging. We tried Chardonnay with spritz cookies, Black Muscat with sugar cookies, Pinot Noir and toffee, Syrah with fudge, Sauternes and rum nut balls, and Passito di Pantelleria with gingerbread cookies, as we diligently took notes and discussed all of our likes and dislikes of each pairing. In the end the majority winners were the Black Muscat, Syrah, and Sauternes pairings, but the hands down star of the show was the Passito di Pantelleria with the gingerbread cookie. These two together made an already smooth wine even smoother, and it made that incredible gingerbread flavor of the cookie absolutely pop. It may have been quite a trek to find this wine, but it was worth every searching minute to share such a delightful moment with my family.

              This holiday wine quest was the perfect way to close out another year. As I savor the last of these wines, I reflect back on all of my happy wine moments from 2024 and look forward to all of the wine adventures the new year holds. I hope however you celebrated your Christmas season it included a memorable bottle of wine for you and your loved ones. Cheers to upcoming 2025 wine adventures. Happy New Year!