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Right wines hit spot during
Christmas holiday season

December already? The holiday season is the time for office parties, family get-togethers and festive celebrations. Looking for wine? Here are a few recommendations.

2003 Marquis Philips "Holly Blend": Sparky Marquis is undoubtedly one of the hottest winemakers out of Australia, and his Marquis Philips label (co-owned with partner/importer Dan Philips) is highly acclaimed for sensational values. If you are looking for a white wine to take to a get-together, this is the wine for you. Produced from the verdelho grape, this is a surprisingly rich, lush, layered, well-textured white wine for under $10 a bottle.

Elio Perrone Moscato D'Asti: I am always astounded at how many people locally are drinking Italian moscato d'Asti. GREAT choice. Nowhere else in the world can you get this kind of intensity, concentration and intricacy coupled with truly amazing lightness on the palate.

Earlier this year, I visited this winery on a trip to Italy. The area is an endless sea of rolling, sandy, white-soiled hills, in a very cool climate. Elio Perrone is one of the true masters of this lightly bubbly, slightly sweet, lower-alcohol Italian specialty. At less than $15, it is also an absolute steal. I first had it with proscuitto and melon, but it also works well as an aperitif or as an intermezzo before dessert. Just make sure you serve it well-chilled.

2004 Domaine DuPeuble Beaujolais Nouveau: This is the real McCoy grape juice primeur, the first commercial wine release of the 2004 vintage. Fresh, fruity, brisk, snappy, alive and kickin' and ideal for turkey, ham and holiday fixins.

The producer Domaine DuPeuble, who works with importer Kermit Lynch, makes beaujolais the old-fashioned way. He works with old vines and leaves his wine unfiltered and unrefined. This is real beaujolais and a far cry from what is normally available in the market. Natural, tasty, soulful -- as opposed to semi-cosmetic/synthentic grape juice. I have been enjoying this wine for many vintages.

This same producer makes a little bit of beaujolais nouveau (roughly $16 a bottle). Yes, real beaujolais nouveau, following the same ethics and culture he takes with his regular cuvee. I've had a couple of previous vintages and this wine is so very different from what we are used to. It is fresh, exuberant, with a very youthful, crisp edge.

Here is what Lynch writes: "Our 2004 arrives in one of these speedy, jet powered aircraft. Very practical! The same day the French are drowning their sorrows in pitiful drafts of sterile, filtered, cold-stabilized, over sulfured, over-chaptalized, pasteurized, grape-based, let's-not-call-it beaujolais, we will live it up with an almost unbearably delicious, natural wine that is still alive and kicking."

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