A selection of stunning bubbles excellent for the special Moms in your life this Mother's Day 🌸🌺 Bisol Desiderio Jeio Prosecco Brut (Italy) $12.99 btl / save $7 A rich, complex Prosecco that is amazing for the price! Brilliant straw yellow color with extremely fine and lively perlage. Intense and fresh nose of citrus fruits and saline sensations. Perfect for Bellini’s in the Spring, or on its own!

Rosé Time! It is definitely beginning to look more like spring; in the wine business that means the arrival of the Rosé! I can think of no better foil for the winter doldrums than to tease one of the scarce sunny days on the deck with brunch or late lunch. Whether Easter, or any Sunday, there are fewer things as civilized as taking a meal al fresco with a nice bottle of Rose! The Rosé Revolution is now hegemony! Never in my life have I tasted and seen so many Rosé. Beyond the great Bandol and Tavel, we see Rosé coming from every great wine region in the world. Not only is it just about the best thing for an afternoon quaff, Rosé also lends itself to a wide variety of foods. The touch of anthocyanin, that gives Rosé its color, also gives the wine more body which allows it to pair with heartier fare! Looking for something to pair with your Easter Ham? Look no further. Roast Turkey, Standing Pork Crown Roast, Cedar Plank Salmon, Tuna Salad – you name it, Rose will fit the bill. Almost just to prove my point, I would like to present a perfect party dish that is made for Rosé - Oven Roasted Lamb Rack Salad with Couscous, Fennel, Mint, and Tomatoes. Oven Roasted Lamb Rack Salad with Couscous Fennel Mint and Tomatoes recipe + ingredient list The other thing I love about Rosé? Even the priciest Rosés are still relatively affordable in the vast scheme of things. One of my favorite things to do, for a party, is fill a galvanized tub with a bunch of Rosé + ice and let people have at it! Rest assured there are great inexpensive Rosé, and you can find a lot of them here at Esquin Wine & Spirits. Here are a couple favorites: OLIVARES JUMILLA ROSADO 2016 $6.99 Floral and red fruit aromas mingle on the nose, with a refreshing and balanced palate. This Spanish Rosé pairs beautifully with grilled vegetables, fish, pasta, or on its own. 70% Garnacha 30% Monastrell LAURIBERT 'LA CUVEE DE LISA' ROSE 2016 $8.99 We are pleased to welcome the new 2016 Les Lauribert La Cuvee de Lisa! A gorgeous Rosé with tart, refreshing acidity that is balanced with notes of barely ripe strawberries. It's springtime in a bottle! MILBRANDT ROSE 2016 $11.99 Intense nose of mineral, strawberry, melon, and herbs. The palate is lean and fresh with plenty more red berries, and a saline finish. Join us Saturday, April 15th, from 2-5PM at our tasting barrel to try the 8th World of the World - Rosé!

While spending Christmas with my family in Tacoma, we managed to successfully deep-fry a turkey without injuring ourselves or setting the place on fire. As far as wine choices with this turkey, and especially with a holiday meal where everything under the sun is on the table, I say just drink what you like. A handful of ideas, however, did come to mind during and after I pounded down a few beers in front of the boiling cauldron of oil and turkey:

• Bubbles. Anything crunchy and salty (like chips) seems to have an affinity with sparkling wine. The deep-fried turkey had a remarkably crisp skin that I could have eaten by the handful if only I didn't have to share it with a dozen other people. (Not that I was complaining....OK, maybe a little.)
• A light, refreshing red and/or white. A lively Northern Italian white or something in the Gamay/Pinot Noir family is a classic with turkey. But then again...
• Why not a hearty, burly red like a Zinfandel? Or a bruiser of a Spanish Garnacha? You've got that spicy skin, and you can't discount the dark meat. Put some brawn into your glass! Which reminds me...
• A big, rich white would work as well; why not a plush White Burgundy or California Chardonnay? Nothing that's an oak monster, but a little bit of heft wouldn't hurt.

So you can have bubbles, a lighter white and/or red, or a heavier white and/or red. They all have their pluses (and minuses). It's best just to have a lot of variety and experiment with whatever happens to be within arm's reach. I ended up drinking the same red I had for Thanksgiving: The 2009 Brundlmayer Zweigelt. An easy-drinking red in a shareable one-liter bottle, it was great with a slight chill on it. So what did you end up eating and drinking over the holidays? 2009 Brundlmayer Zweigelt (1L) $15

Though I recently gave a compendium of Thanksgiving picks, I overlooked a couple of my favorites. The theme for my Thanksgiving drinking enjoyment will be this: Austrian wines in one-liter bottles. For under $15 you can get 33% more wine than the standard, puny, insignificant 750ml bottle.* Both of the wines, the Hofer Gruner Veltliner and the Brundlmayer Zweigelt, are notable for their lightness and moderate alcohol. I would venture to say that anyone who likes crisp, dry, unoaked wines would enjoy the Hofer. And with Beaujolais and Pinot Noir being such popular Thanksgiving reds, I think the Zwiegelt would play nicely with those wines; it's a lighter-style red that will help you wash down the overflowing bounty of the holiday table. I don't know what the origin is of the 1L bottle versus the 750ml or why Austria seems to have cornered the market on them (though I have seen German wines in this size). All I know is that I love drinking them and they will please a large, thirsty crowd. And the icing on the cake (the stuffing in the turkey?) is the Hofer is sealed with a bottle cap. How fun is that? I guarantee this will facilitate conversation around the table. (Like the time a customer at a previous job said to me about the Hofer: "This beer is flat.") Happy Thanksgiving everybody! (*If these bottles were 750mls I'd still feel they were a good deal at the same price. Therefore, I am getting an extra third for free. At least that's how my math works.)

Yup, it's that time of the year. Roll out the Thanksgiving picks! Though I will be detailing numerous selections from near and far, I'd like to point out that there is no correct or, better yet, no incorrect wine to serve during this holiday meal. Whether you're having turkey with all the traditional fixings, a standing rib roast, a vegetarian feast, or take-out Chinese, here's the best wine to drink: The one you like. Having said that, it is my duty to point out the wines that make me happiest around a large table of contentious, loud, and sometimes embarrassing (mostly me) family members. Naturally sparkling wines come to the forefront. Not only are they seriously underrated food wines, what's more festive than popping a few corks and knockin' down some bubbly while you watch football (if you're lucky) or get pressed into kitchen duty (if you're not so lucky)? My first two picks: Prosecco from Italy and Cremant from France. The Adami is a perfect way to start your day and the Antech is a gorgeous rose at a give-away price. And if your feeling a bit celebratory, the Voirin-Jumel Champagne is my new go-to. It's an all Grand Cru fruit, grower Champagne (the people who own the vineyards make the wine), and a Blanc de Blancs. I like the style of Blanc de Blancs: all Chardonnay and they always seem to be a bit livelier and crisper than their red grape-blended counterparts. I have a real fondness for the white wines of Northern Italy and the above are three perennial favorites. All are very dry, elegant, and fantastic with everything from seafood to poultry and vegetables. And, with my well-documented penchant for the obscure, I like drinking wines made from the Kerner, Arneis, and Cortese grapes, respectively. Though we just hit the Beaujolais Nouveau season, I'd like you to turn your attention to Cru Beaujolais, especially from the justifiably-hyped 2009 vintage. These two from Dominique Piron are gems; I'd proabaly choose these Gamays over any Pinot Noir in the same price range. A slam-dunk! For the last three years I've had these two wines from South Africa's Mulderbosch on the table. Love the Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé and the dry Chenin Blanc. Great labels, screw caps; I like how they look on the table. It's not often you have a rosé made from Cabernet that is this pale and light; really nice stuff. The Chenin is lovely; has wonderful ginger notes and a little bit of weight and richness for fall cuisine. And even though we're pushing December, rosés are a great food wine year-round and are probably the only wine that can hang with the cranberry sauce. Finally, lest you think I am an unrepentant foreign wine snob, here are a couple picks from one of my favorite Washington wineries, Syncline. Tiny production Rhone-style wines (and some Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Noir to boot), they have wonderful balance and are not overdone with sweet oak and pumped-up alcohol levels. So what will you be drinking on Thanksgiving?