When the holidays hit, TLS has your back in the adult beverage department. To get you stocked up for this week’s holiday (and every night of the week), The Liquor Store is hosting two free wine tastings today and tomorrow. Local broker representatives Kyle Thompson and Aaron Gallo will host a tasting today from 1-7 p.m. Tomorrow, the team’s favorite Thanksgiving wines will be promoted at a tasting from 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. All tastings are free and open to the public. 
For our holiday pairing needs, we turned to TLS’s Kevin McNamara, who told us about some of the wines he’ll be promoting at the Thanksgiving tasting:
I will be featuring some wines from Beaujolais on Thursday, as we feel that the wines from this area compliment the many flavors of Thanksgiving meals. The wines of Beaujolais are focused around the Gamay grape. Gamay produces light-bodied red wines with delicate floral aromas, hints of earthiness and high acidity levels that yield wonderful results when pairing with food. Gamay can also be vinified into delicious rose wines, with delicate fresh fruit aromas and light, tart flavors.
For more specific pairing choices, McNamara gave some simple selections, based on the holiday and its coinciding feast….
With your Thanksgiving turkey:
White: Meyer-Fonne Edelzwicker, $16.99. This blend of pinot blanc, muscat and riesling from Alsace is dry with high acidity to cut through the fat of turkey.
Red: Chehalem Three Vineyard pinot noir, $29.99. This low tannin, high acid red from Oregon’s Willamette Valley has a great balance of luscious fruit and ripe acidity.
With pumpkin pie: Chateau Roumieu Lacoste Sauternes, $23.99. A semillon-based dessert wine from Bordeaux has notes of honeysuckle, peach and just the right amount of sweetness to pair with pie.
Christmas roast beef or ham:
White: Champalou Vouvray, $24.49. This chenin blanc from the Loire Valley has a touch of sweetness to balance the salt and acidity of ham, or match the richness of roast beef.
Red: Chateau Vieux Telegraph Chateauneuf-du-Pape ‘Telegramme,’ $50.49. Made with the grapes of young vines (under 30 years old), the subtle fruitiness will play perfectly with ham or beef.
With chocolate: Foneseca Porto Bin 27, $21.49. Port wine and chocolate pairs well together. Drier reds tend to be overwhelmingly tannic in the face of sweet chocolate, so compliment that sweetness with a Portuguese dessert wine.
Celebrating New Years:
$: Casa Dora Cava Bruit Non-Vintage, $10.49. Spanish cava consistently over-delivers for its price. This traditional cava is stunningly good for such a low price.
$$: Corte Bianca Franciacorta Extra Brut, $44.99. This is “prosecco’s smarter, more fashionable older sister,” if you will. Made from organically-grown chardonnay and pinot noir, and aged for 36 months, there’s a richness of flavor here not found in more pedestrian sparkling wine’s from Italy.
$$$: budget Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut Non-Vintage, $90.49. Widely acknowledged for its consistent high quality, this is the benchmark for rose champagne around the world. 100% pinot noir from top vineyard sites in Champagne’s Montagne de Reims, packaged in a distinctive bottle inspired by King Henry IV.
Hanukkah:
Kosher wine: Baron Herzog cabernet sauvignon, $16.49. California winery Baron Herzog is making serious wines that are not only Kosher, but also delicious.
