Chef Daniel Bruce of Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel offers tips on which wines make your holiday events sparkle and best set off the flavors of the season.

If you spend a month planning a holiday meal, a week shopping at five different grocery and specialty food shops, and days prepping in the kitchen, all to impress family and friends this holiday season, let Chef Bruce's wine pairing recommendations put the final touches on a fabulous holiday meal that will surely be remembered.

With a traditional roasted Thanksgiving turkey there are more options due to the flavor and fat differences between white and dark meat, allowing you to choose from a full bodied Chardonnay to a medium bodied red.

Recommendations: Being an American holiday, a full-bodied Chardonnay from Napa, for example Groth, is good for white meat. For dark meat, any red wine with tart red berry flavors will work well, for example Atlas Peak Reserve, San Giovese.

With baked ham, particularly when served with a white fruit glaze or sauce, sweeter wines work well to play off the saltiness of the ham and as a complement to the fruit garnish. Reislings have a good fruit base and acidic backbone.

Recommendations: Trimbach Federick Emile or Ch. St. Michele Eroica from Washington State

With roast rack or leg of lamb, the addition of mint to highlight the flavors of the meat and a red wine with lots of red fruit is an ideal match. Australian Shiraz usually has a lot of cherry fruit, as do many Californian merlots.

Recommendations: Barossa Valley Estate Ebenezer from Australia or Clos La Chance from Santa Cruz Mountains

The fattiness of Christmas goose or roast duck balances well with a pinot noir because of the wine's tart fruit and clean finish.

Recommendations: Try an Oregon pinot noir, such as Willamette Valley Lange, or a young Beaune Clos de la Mousse Bouchard, a red Burgandy

Roast beef and sirloin are full flavored meats that stand up well to robust style wines.

Recommendations: Napa Valley meritage, such as Cain Cuvee, a Stonestreet Cabernet from Sonoma, or a Chateau Potensac from Bordeaux.

For the past 14 years, Chef Bruce has served as executive chef of the internationally recognized Boston Wine Festival where he pairs more than 200 dishes with outstanding wines from around the world. This year's Boston Wine Festival kicks off on January 9, 2004 and runs through April 9, 2004. The Festival includes winemaker dinners and tastings paired with Chef Bruce's exquisite cuisine.

Meritage -- a wine-focused restaurant in the Boston Harbor Hotel -- features fresh, seasonal cuisine impeccably matched to the primary characteristics of wine year round.

Rancho Zabaco Zinfandel complements Thanksgiving flavors.