The Best Fall Wine Pairings, Seasonal Tips, and Splurge Bottles From an Expert at Community Wine

As the weather cools for fall, the right wine can elevate any dish and occasion. David Weitzenhoffer of Community Wine and Spirits—a New York City wine shop that goes beyond selling bottles and focuses on helping customers experience its wine through on-site experts and unique events like wine-tasting classes and tarot cards and mixology—shares his expert wine pairing and serving tips for this season. Read on to discover the best rounder reds and weightier whites for fall, of-the-moment entertaining tips, and how to stock your home cellars with confidence. 

Wines to Ease Into the Season

As summer turns to fall, Weitzenhoffer recommends easing into fuller flavors. “As the weather changes, my whites get weightier and my reds get rounder,” Weitzenhoffer tells us. 

For white wines, Weitzenhoffer suggests Spanish whites as a good place to start. “I love moving from crisp summer whites to wines that have a more tactile and slightly more viscous characteristic,” Weitzenhoffer says. “Spain is a good place to look for albariños and other blends with just a bit of skin contact. This skin contact is a spectrum, but orange wines (we call them minimal intervention wines) are an increasingly important category at the table.” 

When it comes to reds, Weitzenhoffer recommends different flavors for different times of the day. “For red wines, I think about daytime and nighttime reds,” Weitzenhoffer tells us. “On slightly cooler days, try a serious Beaujolais (no, that’s not a typo, some are very serious) or Italian reds from Liguria or the Alps. In the evenings, when it cools down, there’s just something about the crisp fall weather that makes me want to visit the Rhone Valley.”

Unique Fall Wines

If you’re searching for a great fall wine from an under-the-radar region that shines this season, Weitzenhoffer once again points to Spain. “Basically, all of Spain is overlooked,” he says. “And minimal intervention wines, those white wines I mentioned that have extended skin contact, which makes them more orange, there is a whole world of interesting wine that doesn’t fit neatly into typically traditional categories.”

Wines That Pair Best With Autumn Dishes 

Early fall is synonymous with heartier dishes like truffles, more meats, and soups. So, which cozy reds pair best with top fall flavors? For truffles, Weitzenhoffer points to his time living and working in Piedmont, Italy, and picks nebbiolo. For hearty soups or slow-cooked meats, he calls out a bottle of Côtes-du-Rhône or even Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

When it comes to whites, what bottles transition best into more autumn-focused meals, such as seafood, roasted chicken, or fall salads? ”Try a more textured albariño from Rías Baixas in Spain if you want to stay bright, but it’s also a great season to start experimenting with slightly more weighty chenin blanc and chardonnays,” Weitzenhoffer suggests.

Fall Wine Bottles for Your Home Cellar 

With fall comes cozier entertaining opportunities. So, what bottles should you have on hand this season?

For whites, Weitzenhoffer says that “sauvignon blanc is the fastest-growing grape varietal in terms of sales in America, while chardonnay is still the most popular white wine. So, these are safe choices to keep on hand. Our top two sellers are Sancerre for sauvignon blanc and Chablis for chardonnay. Grüner veltliner from Austria is a nice way to split the difference in body weight and add something interesting.”

When it comes to red, Weitzenhoffer tells us that “pinot noir is the grape of choice in NYC, but anything sangiovese—Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano—will be a great food wine with just about any dish.” 

Tips for Serving Wine This Season

When it comes to serving wines this season, we turned to Weitzenhoffer for tips on ideal temperatures, preferred glassware, and to decant—or not to decant. 

“I like my whites warmer than they are typically served by most people and my reds a little cooler—served at 50-56 degrees,” Weitzenhoffer suggests. “If a wine feels a little tight and not very expressive, you can try a decant, but I don’t always decant my wines. As for glassware, it’s hard to beat the Italesse glasses we import from Italy.”

Splurge Bottles for Fall Dinner Parties 

Whether it’s a celebratory housewarming, an elevated Halloween party, a Friendsgiving, or commemorating an event like getting engaged, some fall occasions call for more expensive bottles. For those times, Weitzenhoffer recommends Barolo or Barbaresco. 

“They make them more accessible to drink at a young age than they used to,” he explains. “So, while you can age them, you don’t have to. They aren’t cheap, but you can still find many under $75, and the best for current release may hit $200-$300. The equivalent quality in Burgundy (pinot noir) would cost you two to three times as much. You’ll be opening up a wine people have heard of, and they will know it comes from a great wine-producing region. And best of all, it will be especially delicious this time of year.” 

Versatile Wines for Thanksgiving

Lastly, it’s never too early to have a game plan for which wine to bring to holiday gatherings. For Thanksgiving, Weitzenhoffer says that—luckily—almost any wine works with turkey. “A few traditional dishes can make for trickier pairings (like candied cranberries), but for the most part, it’s hard to mess up Thanksgiving pairings,” he tells us. “My go-tos are chardonnay and zinfandel.”

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