I'm currently agonizing over what to serve at our traditional Italian Christmas Eve diner (all seafood). I want to drink red wine!!!

Mussels in Tomato Sauce
Linguine with crab sauce
Shrimp Cocktail
Mussels Oreganata
Stuffed Calamari
Broiled Flounder

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mussels in Tomato Sauce - Merlot
Linguine with crab sauce - Pinot
Shrimp Cocktail - Red won't work, Champagne
Mussels Oreganata - ???
Stuffed Calamari - Pinot
Broiled Flounder - Pinot

I would get:

Barbera d'Alba from Vietti
a Dolcetto
a Falesco Merlot

All of these are light enough to pair well with fish

Thank you.

I'm sure I have all of these in my cellar.

with classic italian food i like to go with classic italian wines. i would go with sangiovese and nebbiolo based wines. i also like barberas.

Thanks Ojeffso

Ojeffso,

I think that any Barolo or Barbaresco will overpower any "Itallian Feast of the Seven fishes". If his dinner is like mine there will not be any meat on the table other then fish. Do you think that Nebbiolo would overpower the food? In all honesty I don't drink a lot of it so I wouldn't be as good judge of a judge as you vor this variety.

Er, um - guess I overlooked the keyword "Italian" here

Eric,

He didn't say the had to be Italian wines, that's just what I would serve.

All I know is that sounds like one magnificent Christmas Eve dinner. Makes me really miss the Italian side of my New York family.

Merry Christmas to you and Mrs. Armar from us!!

King & Queen- No place more beatiful than Christmas in NYC.

Thats before the Italian feast.

Have happy and healthy holidays and New Year.

tck-nebbiolo is the italian cousin of pinot noir. a nicely aged barolo or moderately aged barberesco will compliment any meal. if not available a young langhe will work well.

Ofeffso,

That's interesting, I have never heard Nebbiolo described that way. I have always thought of it as an Austere big wine that tasted of tar and earth that needed years of ageing before it was approachable. My limited experience with the grape have been from so so producers and all too young. It will be a while before my few good Barolo's are ready.

Great description ojeffso. I was initially turned on to Nebillio-based wines from a really non-wine-o drinker (my former boss and still friend) -- he's more of a bud-man and stoli-man.

Anyway, he waxed poetic about this one wine he had and it got me thinking, researching and starting to experiment. An unusual way for me to get into a varietal/region.... Sounds like a potential topic of a new thread....hmmm

ojeffso-

I'm sometimes surprised how much I've picked up and know. When seeing some initial posts suggesting Pinot Noir I thought to myself prior to your initial post, that Barolo would work.

I'm not sure I have a Barolo that's ready to drink (they are all young), but at least I learned something.

Thanks for mentoring.

tck-when young, a barolo can be quite tannic and closed. yes sometimes even austere. not much different from a grand cru burgundy. with bottle age it tends to open up like a burgundy and develops into a very elegant wine. barberescos are more like cote de beaunes and can be drunk earlier.