5 Reasons Pineau des Charentes is the Perfect Wine for Your Holiday Lineup

Some say that Pineau des Charentes is Cognac’s best kept secret. (In fact, we’ve mentioned it in an article highlighting Pineau des Charentes back in 2018.) The word is more out now on Pineau than it was then, thanks to the efforts of organizations such as Pineau Academy and people such as American bartender Ms. Franky Marshall, who has become a more-or-less official ambassador for the spirit. But I’ll still take the opening sentiment a step further: Pineau des Charentes is the most underrated spirit available, especially when it comes to holiday drinking options.

Pineau des Charentes is a sort of reverse fortified wine hailing from the department of Charentes in Western France, also home to its much more famous spirit cousin, Cognac. Whereas fortified wines such as vermouth and Madeira have spirit added to a base wine in order to “fortify” them, Pineau des Charentes adds fresh grape juice to a base of cognac eau de vie in a move that is almost akin to dilution of spirit, rather than fortification of wine. What likely began as an accident by a Cognac producer, however, resulted in something unique and wonderful. After a turn together in an oak barrel, juice and spirit each enhance the other, creating a flavor profile that manages to be both rich and fresh simultaneously. Pineau des Charentes AOC was created in 1945 to codify its production, ensuring that its purity and authenticity remain untarnished.

If you’ve not much heard of Pineau des Charentes, now is a great time to get to know this enigmatic tipple. If you are already familiar, now is equally perfect to make sure you have a bottle—or several—on hand. Pineau des Charentes is an ideal holiday drinking option, for the following 5 reasons.

 

  1. Pineau des Charentes Brings the Holiday Flavor

First and foremost, Pineau des Charentes is delicious, otherwise, I wouldn’t be bothering with this ode. What’s more, it has a flavor that echoes other iconic tastes of the holiday season, mirroring and enhancing things that are on the dinner (or dessert) table. Despite being a fortified (or reverse fortified) product made entirely of grapes, its natural juiciness, combined with notes from its barrel aging process, brings to mind apples and baking spices on the palate. Listen, in 6 months’ time I will probably be singing Pineau’s praises as an ideal candidate to swap for gin in summer tonic drinks, but that just brings me to my next point...

 

2. Pineau des Charentes is Versatile

Pineau des Charentes can be something bright to sip before dinner to enliven the palate, its natural acidity rising to the challenge of an aperitif. It can be something light to sip after dinner to refresh palate fatigue from all the richness, while still offering the satisfaction of that which can be appropriately sipped from a snifter. It can be used in a cocktail. (More to come on this score.) What’s more, it can do what its cousin Cognac can’t begin to do so gracefully: it can pair well with food. Spirits such as brandies and whiskeys are ideal after dinner drinks that ease you out of eating and slow the pace of consumption, but high ABV spirits don’t do any favors to the taste buds where enjoying the interplay between food and drink is concerned. Pineau des Charentes offers the essence of brandy, but with an alcoholic content that is gentle enough to allow the nuance of food’s flavor to still shine. And its flavor plays nicely with everything you’ve potentially got going on, food-wise: from turkey, (or ham,) to sides, to dessert.

 

3. Pineau des Charentes Can Be Used for Cooking

Speaking of which, Pineau des Charentes can be of service as much in the kitchen as on the bar cart. (And not just to prop up the beleaguered cook.) Any holiday recipe calling for a deglaze—gravy, perhaps?—can be handled nicely by Pineau’s balance between strength and acidity. It can feed a less-intense, fresher fruitcake. If you’re looking for an elegant alternative to turkey for a smaller celebration, consider these Chicken Thighs with Pineau des Charentes from cookbook author Paula Wolfert, or if the Feast of the Seven Fishes is on your holiday calendar, why not try Mussels Stew with Pineau des Charentes?

 

4. Pineau des Charentes Can Be Used in Cocktails

Pineau’s ambassador, Ms. Franky Marshall, first discovered the product when she was a bartender at Manhattan’s The Tippler and was looking for something to set apart a cocktail she was designing for a competition. Rather than reaching from the back bar, she reached into the lowboy, and the magic of Pineau des Charentes in cocktails was born. It plays nicely with just about everything you might have on the bar cart, but has the special ability to add richness and seasonal flair to clear spirits, while also pulling its own weight in the acidity department. Ms. Marshall’s creation Martinelle offers an elegant sipper that would be equally worthy ahead of Thanksgiving dinner as it would on New Year’s Eve. See the recipe in Chilling with Pineau des Charentes.

 

5. Pineau des Charentes is Low ABV

Maybe this isn’t necessarily a selling point for some, depending on how much numbness you may require in getting through your family festivities, but hear me out. Clocking in typically between 17 to 19 percent alcohol, Pineau des Charentes is especially great as a sipper throughout a long holiday meal or celebration, because of its low-octane vibe. It functions more like a spirit than like a wine, but at a fraction of the alcoholic cost. For me personally, including low-ABV sippers like Pineau in the lineup allows for a good progression of drinks throughout a marathon day: a progression that includes wines, (or beers,) and other spirits or even cocktails as the various moods arise. Pineau des Charentes, I would go so far as to say, is a holiday mood unto itself.

 
Wine, SpiritsPamela Vachonholidays, christmas, fortified wine, wine varietalsComment