Jules Polonetsky

Chanukah is a sommelier’s playground. The holiday’s menu is dominated by salt, fat and sugar, three pillars of flavor that make wine sing. Here is a guide to pairing your kosher wines with the “big three” of the Chanukah table: the latke, the doughnut and chocolate gelt.

The debate over latke toppings was once sour cream versus apple sauce, but today the range of options seems endless, with chocolate spreads, pumpkin butter, sweet jams, yogurt dips and more. However, for this week’s analysis we will stick to the classics.

If you belong to Team Sour Cream, you are eating a dish that is essentially a study in richness. You have the oil from the fry, the starch of the potato and the heavy, cooling dairy of the cream. To cut through that weight, you need acid. Think of wine

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