With Christmas and New Year’s Eve season, we’ve been busy with festive events and making preparations for our own family celebrations. By now, I’m sure some of you have been stocking up on wine and bubbly for holiday family dinners and toasts with best friends. Maybe you have your own traditions but, in a season full of special traditions I thought it’d be fun to take a look at other boozy traditions from around the world.

Europe

Throughout Europe, a traditional holiday staple is mulled wine, a richly spiced warm wine. Mulled wine is typically red, slightly sweetened with sugar and flavors such as orange peel and cinnamon. However, different flavor variations have evolved in Germany, Hungary, and Sweden.

Spain

One Spanish New Years’ Eve tradition involves a glass of Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and 12 grapes. With each chime of the clock, a grape is eaten and toasts are made with Cava. Sounds like a festive evening, doesn’t it?! Some say this tradition originated in 1909 when grape growers used it as a way to lessen their production surplus from that year.

Germany

Germans used wine as a spectacle for one Christmas tradition by literally setting the wine on fire. Typically saved for Christmas Day or festive parties like New Year’s Eve, the tradition stands that the host places a rum-drenched cone of sugar in a big batch of hot wine and setting fire to it followed by a joyful celebration.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is opening up a bottle of our Reserve Red because it pairs beautifully with the prime rib or beef tenderloin we have for Christmas dinner. Taking after the British tradition, we also serve a pot of mulled wine to sip on before dinner. This is one of the best traditions because the whole house fills with the scent of Christmas! What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Cheers,
Natalie