The holiday season provides plenty of opportunities to gather with friends and family with good food and good wine. It also offers a chance to turn those gatherings up a notch and host an educational wine tasting to give guests a glimpse inside the world of wine, with a festive holiday flare. Never hosted a wine tasting, but want to learn how to get a friendly, tasting up and running in no time? Find the goods to get your tasting going here.

I recently had the chance to try this extraordinary Chardonnay at a lunch with Beringer's Winemaker, Laurie Cook. "Let the fruit drive what you are doing in both the vineyard and the winery," summed up Laurie's winemaking philosophy and is certainly put into practice in this particular Chardonnay.

Layers of rich concentrated fruit make this wine interesting from the get go. On the nose, expect citrus and stone fruit along with warming oak tones. The palate profile continues with the citrus theme, but expands the fruit into opulent lines of apricot and lush tropical fruit. Beringer's Private Reserve Chard is a full-bodied, well-rounded wine with plenty to offer the palate and the plate - definitely a wine to consider for Thursday's Thanksgiving feast.

Beringer's Private Reserve Chardonnay may be purchased direct through Wine.com.

Thanksgiving can be a high pressure event with all of the food prep, guest preferences, wine selections and seating arrangements, but it doesn't have to be!

We'll try to pare down the preparations by offering up a starting point for wine picks and pairings. You will also find that most of the wines fall right under the $20 price point, as a houseful of guests can clip the wine budget fairly quickly. Check out the 2009 Thanksgiving Wine Picks here.

Yes, it's here again - the third Thursday of November and the "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!' signs (The New Beaujolais has arrived) are out in full force at local wine shops. Beaujolais Nouveau is always the first vintage released, a mere six weeks post harvest, and just in time to be a festive partner at the Thanksgiving table (be sure to serve it slightly chilled). Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the thin-skinned Gamay grape and typically offers little to no tannins, a light-body and red fruit flavor along with a bit of banana in the profile (thanks to carbonic maceration). It is an easy-going, fun wine that doesn't take itself or it's role to seriously - and that is something to celebrate!