Christmas is a time for entertaining and starting new traditions. Maybe some of these wines will become a new tradition in your home this year. Gather loved ones near, make your traditional Christmas dinner and try these local wines, perfect for making a Merry Christmas. -By Katie Curley-Katzman, CBS Boston Here are our picks for best local wines for Christmas: 1. Sakonnet Blessed Blend, Little Compton, R.I. If seafood such as lobster, shrimp and tuna are on your Christmas menu, this is a great pairing. The wine has citrus notes and hints of pineapple and guava. The blend is 45-percent Vidal and 55-percent Chardonnay. This is also a good wine to pair with cheeses for your cocktail hour. Cocktail Talk: Carolyn’s Sakonnet Vineyards is owned by popular Rhode Island jewelry company Alex & Ani. The vineyard is in part, named after Carolyn Rafaelian, CEO of Alex & Ani. Sakonnet wines are the official wines of the Boston Celtics. 2. LaBelle Three Kings, Amherst, N.H.

OK, so this one certainly fits in with the Christmas story but it’s also an award-winning wine. Hints of red raspberry, blueberries abound. The wine is made with Marechel Foch grapes. This one is great with your desserts of cheesecake and creme brulee. Cocktail Talk: Three Kings is actually not a reference to Christmas at all. The wine is named after wine maker Amy LaBelle’s husband and two sons. 3. Nashoba Valley Winery Plum and Pear wines, Bolton, MA Visions of the sugar plum fairies will come dancing into your mind as you taste these fruit wines. The plum is beautifully blush and has subtle sweetness. The pear is more delicate with notes of vanilla. Cocktail Talk According to tradition, a young woman is suppose to walk backward around a pear tree, three times on Christmas morning. The folklore claims that if she gazes into the branches of the tree, she will see the image of her future husband. 4. Moonlight Meadery, Wild, Londonderry, N.H. This one will get your party started.

Hints of wildflower honey and wild blueberries from Alton Bay, N.H., this mead pairs well with fruits, cheese and your holiday roast. Cocktail Talk: New to mead? It’s a fermented mix of honey and water. It’s roots trace back to the beginning of alcohol consumption. The earliest writings about mead date back to 1700 BC. It was the preferred drink in the Golden Age of Ancient Greece and if you can remember your high school English class, the Danish warriors drank mead in Beowulf. 5.Balderdash Cellars Joyride Pinot Noir, Pittsfield, MA This is a rich wine for the Pinot Noir lovers. Berries, sweet jam and a peppery finish make this one unique. This one is being buzzed about and is worth picking up for your holiday gathering. Cocktail Talk: Only 115 cases are produced. The wine was named after a family story about the time a cheerleader on top of the pyramid saw one of the winery owner’s moped being stolen right before her eyes. BONUS: Flag Hill Sugar Maple Liquer, Lee, N.H.

Ok, so not a wine but we couldn’t resist giving you just one “extra” in your stocking this year. best wine list formatThis is a favorite of our holiday gatherings. wine in a bag ukIt’s maple syrup infused Flag Hill vodka and it’s the perfect “sipper” in the glow of the Christmas tree. wine gift sets with free shippingThis is a holiday must-have.What is going on? You are not allowed to access the requested page. If you are the site owner, you can whitelist your IP using this procedure: https://kb.sucuri.net/cloudproxy/Whitelist+and+Blacklist/whitelisting-IP. If you are not the owner of the web site, you can contact us at cloudproxy@sucuri.net. Also make sure to include the block details (displayed below), so we can better troubleshoot the error.

Block reason: Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator. Your request was blocked by the Sucuri Firewall. It is a protection that stands between this site and the rest of the world and stop attacks, malware infections, DDoS, brute force attempts and mostly anything that can harm it. Not only that, but your sites get cached, speeding it up quite a bit. Travel » Culinary Travel » 8 perfect places to eat out for Christmas It’s not unusual to see three generations of one family dining together during the holidays. So what’s different about it when it happens at the Hotel del Coronado? “Many times, people who came as kids bring their own kids,” says Christopher Reid, manager of the hotel’s 1500 Ocean eatery, just across the bay from San Diego. “There are people who’ve been coming to us at Christmas for 20 years.” The holiday tradition at The Del goes back much further than that; the oceanside resort debuted the first electrically lit outdoor Christmas tree in 1904 and to this day uses thousands of lights to decorate the iconic tower and the famous lobby tree.

But it’s not stuck in the past. The four-course Christmas Eve and Christmas Day menus at 1500 Ocean include fresh takes on holiday favorites, like duck-liver mousse and cranberry gelée, braised beef short ribs, and chocolate crème brûlée. Diners can sit indoors or on a covered patio, where they can watch people starting new traditions at the hotel’s beachfront seasonal ice-skating rink. “At least once a week during the holiday season, someone proposes there,” Reid says. What's OnThe best white wines to have on Christmas Day from your starter to your turkey dinner and dessertWine columnist Jane Clare rounds up the best whites to have as your aperitif, alongside your starter, to accompany your Christmas dinner and what to drink if you make it to dessert!We’re getting excited now as the countdown to Christmas begins! And our wine columnist Jane Clare has put together some white wine ideas to add a special zing to your Christmas Day celebrations. White wine can tingle those tired tastebuds after a late-night on Christmas Eve;

it can be a flavour friend to a fish starter; and it can shimmy alongside your turkey and trimmings and add some lovely fruity flavours as you super-indulge. Three whites as guests arrive (after the Champers, obviously) Primus Pinot Grigio (Waitrose, £6.49) is a very drinkable white from Germany, drier and with a crisper, less acidic fruit flavour than the Italian pinots; there's a mineral flavour, too. It’s great value and hugely drinkable. What’s not to like … oh, and it will also be great with seafood cocktail in case your guests carry it to the table. Most Wanted Albariño (Bargain Booze, £6.99) Albariño is one of my favourite wines and this one doesn’t disappoint. Aromas of peaches, marzipan and honeycomb breeze out of the glass and mouthwatering lemons and stone fruits remain juicy in the mouth long after the glass is finished. Riesling Alsace Ollwiller Grand Cru AOP (Lidl, £8.99) Your senses first pick up warm baking apples, but then this wine wakes and shakes you with intense citrus flavours and lots of acidity.

It would cut through any dullness on Christmas Day morning after over-indulging on Santa’s leftover sherry the night before. A trio of whites for your starters and those terrible Christmas cracker jokes Tesco Finest* North Row Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (£14) Wow. An intense sauvignon blanc. Imagine a shaft of sun piercing through the gap in a cloud and you’ll just about have it - once you add gooseberries and wet grass after a summer shower. Delicious, and one not to hurry. Ideal with my favourite Chrimbo starter - some flash fried prawns, scallops with a dash of chilli salsa and rocket salad. The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Chablis (£9.99) A great wine from Brocard, one of the the leading lights of the Chablis region. I’ve visited the Brocard vineyards but I’m not biased - I’m recommending this because it’s bloomin’ lovely. There’s lemon zest on the nose and dry, spikes of citrus flash through your mouth. It is perfect with seafood as the vines’ roots weave through fossilised oysters from ancient seabeds, soaking up maritime minerals.

Domaine Chanzy Rully En Rosey 2013 (Majestic, Mix Six price £12.74, single bottle price £16.99) No apologies for including two Rully wines from Burgundy in this festive line-up … these wines are very tasty indeed. In this one there are buttery overtones with pears and green fruit on the nose, and then to taste it fairly licks with apples, lemons and a nutty creaminess. If you’re having seafood or a chunky pate, this would be a fine match and it would breeze on through to the turkey quite happily. Three whites to big up the main event and pour as the turkey is carved Rully Domaine Marguerite Dupasquie (Asda, £10.50) Not being a slave to fashion, I’m still a great fan of chardonnay and this Rully 2013 from the south of Burgundy is one of the best I have tasted in a long while. A 100% chardonnay this is a robust white with a strong oaky smell and taste, with a nice fruity zing on the tongue. Enjoy with your turkey … but you know what, it is also great with a slither of cheese (if you have any tummy room).

Beronia Rueda Verdejo 2014 (Ocado, RRP £8.99) There’s lovely aromas of pineapples and a bundle of herbs from this wine; then when you sip it’s as fresh as a springtime breeze but with added depth from stone fruits and citrus. One of my favourite Christmas trimmings is brussel sprouts tossed in butter and slithers of lemon rind … this would be a great, fruity pairing match. Reserve du Boulas, Laudun, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2014 (Marks & Spencer, £9) A lovely smooth and rounded blend of grenache blanc and clairette, it has delicate flavours of apple with just a touch of citrus fruit. If you like your white wines to be slightly buttery, without too much acidity, then you'll love this. It is a lovely fresh tingly blend which will just keep your tastebuds awake even if your party hat is beginning to droop. Any room for pudding? If you want white wine with dessert, aim to match a wine’s sweetness to the sweetness of what you’re eating. A tingly fizzy moscato would be lovely - or my favourites are dessert wines.