Anthony Gismondi: Choosing the right wines for your wedding day takes a lot of planning

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In a world with little to celebrate lately, weddings may be the glimmer of hope many are looking for, especially in the hospitality business.

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It’s been estimated there are thousands if not tens of thousands of weddings-in-waiting across the country after more than two full years of pandemic restrictions leaving traditional venues to report they are sold out almost every weekend into 2023.

Assuming there is a wedding in your future, it leads me to one of the most asked questions I get from readers and friends, “Can you recommend which wines to serve at our wedding.” It is a good question, but unfortunately, one with a complicated answer due to the many variables involved. Of course, cost is the most critical factor and one you should pay the most attention to before you get too excited.

It is always best to have a total budget before any wine discussion. After that, you need to fix the number of people that will attend and then based on your group size, be they big, average or light imbibers, you can set a per capita bottle amount. For example, on the light side of consumption, you could apportion 330 ml per person; a crowd of average drinkers will likely go through half a bottle while the most enthusiastic consumers will work through 500 ml of wine on average.

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If your plan includes a reception and sit-down dinner for 150 people and your guests are big wine lovers, the calculation would be 150 (people) x 500 mls of wine or 67 bottles. Mathematics aside, if you have ever been to a wedding where they ran out of wine, you will know that not having enough bottles to carry the day can be a disaster.

It’s always better to have a bit too much wine than not enough. Applying the attendance numbers to everyone in the room, including kids and non-drinkers, should provide you with an adequate safety margin to make it through the event. If you keep the receipts, most retailers and wedding venues will take back unopened bottles. You can also take home the leftover bottles and slip them away for another day. If appropriate, you could open them as the anniversaries slide by to remind you of the big day.

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At this point, it is time to get real and divide your wine budget by the number of bottles to get to a price to guide your purchases. For example, if your wine budget is $1,675 all in, your average bottle price for 67 bottles is $25 less any extraneous costs, including taxes and gratuities. It all adds up.

Now what to buy. Let’s assume that nearly everyone wants to serve fabulous wine that does not cost an arm and a leg. If sparkling wine is on the list, forget about Champagne at the reception, most budgets cannot absorb $65-$100 bottles. There are plenty of sparkling wines that will get the job done. Blue Mountain Gold Label ($28) is the intelligent local choice among many, or you could choose something like the soft bubbles of Anna Spinato Prosecco at $18 from Italy.

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White wines are an easy choice. Chardonnay and or Sauvignon Blanc are safe picks, and the options are limitless; you should be able to get something in the $18-$22 range, leaving you a bit more money for the red wines.

My advice is to go for a red blend that removes the angst of deciding on Merlot, Cabernet, or a Syrah. Frankly, most blends, especially Merlot blend, are suited to better earlier drinking, and the price can be favourable. You can get a lot for $25-$30. See our weekend picks elsewhere in this column for some likely candidates.

Given all the planning needed for a modern wedding, there is plenty of time to organize the wine and even hold some tastings at home with friends to sort out your choices for the big day. Remember, it is not about the wine — it is about sharing your big day with friends.

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Weekend Wine Picks

Miguel Torres Santa Digna Estelado Rosé 2018, Valle del Curicó, Chile 

$24.99 I 88/100

UPC: 8410113005793

Chile’s indigenous, ancient and much-maligned pais or mission grape is behind this sparkler that comes in pink, making it a fun selection for weddings. Pink roses, fragrant strawberries, bitter melon, and bone dry, this creamy bubble is the perfect wine to serve solo at the reception or with lighter foods at dinner.

CedarCreek Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2020, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada 

$20.99 I 88/100

UPC: 778913800627

The savoury/herbal sage and antelope brush that marks the summer air in the south Okanagan positively affects Sauvignon Blanc grown in the region. In this case, a grassy, herbal, citrus note pervades the wine from front to back. Marlborough’s style is undoubtedly trying to tackle the massive import market share for Sauvignon head-on. In the end, it is fresh, grassy and clean with grapefruit and lemon grass notes, which is all you need at this price point. At $21, it is wedding friendly.

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Meyer Chardonnay 2020, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada 

$20.00 I 89/100

UPC: 808755007479

A rare B.C. find that links high-quality Chardonnay at a moderate price. In 2020 the fruit popped with vibrancy and freshness, with classic green apple, a bit of toast and creamy lees that finish clean. The introductory Meyer Chardonnay provides incredible value for a bottle of quality local wine and a versatile wedding dinner choice for real wine drinkers.

Gérard Bertrand An 806 2017, Corbières, Languedoc, Sud de France, France 

$19.99 I 90/100

UPC: 03514123101768

A Bertrand GSM blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre from the famed Corbiere region is an overachiever for the price. Post-fermentation, it spends eight months in 225-litre barrels. The result is a delicious 2017 packed full of blackcurrants, black plums and black cherries dusted with garrigue. The tannins are dense but fine-grained and only add to the weight of the wine and its finish. Drinkable now with grilled meats or chicken. There is real value here. The 806 references the first traces of the Cathars who built the towering citadels that overlook the vineyard in Corbières.

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Road 13 Seventy-Four K 2019, British Columbia, Canada 

$23.99 I 89/100

UPC: 626990331858

The latest Seventy-Four K is a big winner, led by a fantastic fetching texture that fills the wine with dense, fine-grained tannins and a support system for big black fruit. The roundness and softness come from 61 per cent perfectly ripe Merlot, with support from 14 per cent Malbec, 9 per cent Syrah, 8 per cent Petit Verdot, 5 per cent Cabernet Franc and 3 per cent Mourvèdre. It is a magical blend with all you could want in a great, well-constructed Rhone-Bordeaux-Okanagan-Similkameen mix. The components were all separately harvested, fermented and aged in 20 per cent new French oak before final blending and then aged ten more months in a bottle before release — back up the wedding van.

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Recipe match: Spinach mushroom strata

Created by Karlene Karst, a B.C.-based nutritionist and author of This Kitchen is for Dancing, this dish is billed as being both “delicious” and “healthy.” Featuring a sliced loaf of bread, the savoury recipe packs in vegetables and eggs for a main that could be enjoyed at any time of the day:

Spinach Mushroom Strata

1 sliced loaf of Oroweat 22 GRAINS & SEEDS bread, a few days old and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter

1 small sweet onion

1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh rosemary

2 cups (500 mL) sliced mushrooms

3 cups (750 mL) fresh spinach, packed

2 cups (500 mL) grated Swiss cheese

8 organic and free-range eggs

2 cups (500 mL) full-fat coconut milk

1 cup (250 mL) full-fat Greek yogurt

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2 tsp (10 mL) sea salt

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) black pepper

1 tsp (5 mL) Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp (1 mL) nutmeg

1/2 cup (125 mL) crumbled goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Turn the oven down to 350 F.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, cook the onions, mushrooms and rosemary in the butter until vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes. Add the spinach to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes until the spinach is wilted and completely cooked down. Pull the pan off the heat, and let cool.

Line a 9-inch square or round casserole dish with parchment paper and lightly grease; set aside. In a large mixing bowl add the toasted bread cubes along with the mushroom-onion mixture and 2 cups of Swiss cheese; toss to combine.

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In a blender combine the eggs, coconut milk, Greek yogourt, salt, pepper, mustard and nutmeg. Blend for 10 seconds until combined.

Add the bread and mushroom-onion mixture to the baking dish. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the bread.

Press the bread cubes down to make sure they’re totally submerged. Sprinkle it with goat cheese.

Bake the strata uncovered until it has puffed slightly and it’s golden brown on top, about 1 hour and 15 minutes (check at 40 minutes). If the strata gets too dark, cover with foil and continue cooking. Let the strata cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

Serves 8.

Recipe match

This week we say scrap the mimosas and orange juice and reach for a glass of sparkling wine to take on this spinach mushroom and egg dish.

Varias Cava Genui Brut Nature N/V, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Penedès, Catalunya, Spain $17.99

Clean, super dry, light and fresh, this almond-scented sparkler with creamy texture is a perfect foil to the mushrooms and spinach.

Concerto Reggiano Lambrusco 2020, Emilia-Romagna, Italy $18.99 

Expect a fresh red fruit nose and a dark plum palate with savoury, earthy undertones. A hipster sparkler to take on the mushrooms and fat in the dish.