When Sally and I went on our annual trip to Napa last April, we discovered a lot of white wine that we really liked.

Summer was getting closer and we had plenty of ideas. We imagined ourselves relaxing on the patio with a bottle and some cheese and crackers. Or perhaps we’d pair a bottle with a light meal and take it on a picnic.

Consequently, we added a lot more white wine to our collection than we had planned on.

We tried to put a dent in our inventory over the summer. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t drink wine daily. We still had a large supply of white wine by the time fall came around.

This had us a bit worried since white wines often don’t cellar nearly as long as reds. This is especially true of the whites we typically like which often reach their peak at three years old. Many of the whites in our collection were already there.

Something magical happened a few weeks ago that changed our lives.

We discovered you can still enjoy white wine in the fall. (*gasp*) In fact, white wine goes very well with a lot of fall food. We paired some amazing Cuvaison Kite Tail Chardonnay with lemon chicken made in the slow cooker. We enjoyed some Saddleback Viognier with our Thanksgiving appetizers. A Saddleback Chardonnay was a perfect pairing with apple cider pork chops.

Winter is upon us and Christmas is coming up in a few days. Some people like a nice ham on Christmas. Guess what pairs with ham?! Fume blanc and Pinot Gris are among my favorites. Or, perhaps you’re a turkey kind of family. A neutral Chardonnay or a dry Riesling would go awesome with turkey.

Sally and I plan to keep chipping away at our white wine inventory over the winter so we’ll have room for more when spring arrives!