Have a late inclusion for the Xmas menu............BAKED HAM with a Fruity Glaze

Please Forumites, I need some ideas on what wine would be appropriate to accompany this Xmas dish :?:
Pardon my ignorance, but I'm really at loggerheads as to what would be most suitable!

On Apr 15, 1:02*am, livefuz >
wrote:
> Have a late inclusion for the Xmas menu............BAKED HAM with a
> Fruity Glaze
>
> Please Forumites, I need some ideas on what wine would be appropriate to
> accompany this Xmas dish :?:
> Pardon my ignorance, but I'm really at loggerheads as to what would be
> most suitable!

The most suitable wine is what you like, but you might want to
consider a thing or two. What kind of ham is it? Hams range from very
mild "city" hams to anything-but-mild country and several long-aged
classics from Europe and the US. A very mild wine might have much of
the taste and bouquet masked by a long-aged ham. Next, how sweet is
the ham with glaze? If the ham is fairly sweet, a very dry wine might
seem too tart to many when tasted after a taste of the sweet ham. For
a "city" ham with some sweetness, I likely would select a Riesling
from Germany or Alsace with a bit of sweetness.For a very strong
classic ham aged a year or two, I might select a sherry which can be
had in various levels of sweetness. A Gewurztraminer which can be had
dry to a bit sweet also might please me for a "city" ham. If you have
not had the wine before, the sales person may be able to tell you how
sweet it is and if it is likely to go well with the ham dish. If you
decide you can tolerate a rather sweet ham dish, consider serving the
ham with a bit of mustard fruit preserves. These are made in Italy and
elsewhere. They contain large chunks or whole fruit, and the mustard
content usually is fairly mild.

On Apr 15, 2:06�pm, cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> On Apr 15, 1:02�am, livefuz >
> wrote:
>
> > Have a late inclusion for the Xmas menu............BAKED HAM with a
> > Fruity Glaze
>
> > Please Forumites, I need some ideas on what wine would be appropriate to
> > accompany this Xmas dish :?:
> > Pardon my ignorance, but I'm really at loggerheads as to what would be
> > most suitable!
>
> The most suitable wine is what you like, but you might want to
> consider a thing or two. What kind of ham is it? Hams range from very
> mild "city" hams to anything-but-mild country and several long-aged
> classics from Europe and the US. A very mild wine might have much of
> the taste and bouquet masked by a long-aged ham. Next, how sweet is
> the ham with glaze? If the ham is fairly sweet, a very dry wine might
> seem too tart to many when tasted after a taste of the sweet ham. For
> a "city" ham with some sweetness, I likely would select a Riesling
> from Germany or Alsace with a bit of sweetness.For a very strong
> classic ham aged a year or two, I might select a sherry which can be
> had in various levels of sweetness. A Gewurztraminer which can be had
> dry to a bit sweet also might please me for a "city" ham. If you have
> not had the wine before, the sales person may be able to tell you how
> sweet it is and if it is likely to go well with the ham dish. If you
> decide you can tolerate a rather sweet ham dish, consider serving the
> ham with a bit of mustard fruit preserves. These are made in Italy and
> elsewhere. They contain large chunks or whole fruit, and the mustard
> content usually is fairly mild.

I like sparkling rose with most ham(s).

cwdjrxyz > wrote in news:6ff10d2b-e281-4343-8d7a-
:

For a very strong
> classic ham aged a year or two, I might select a sherry which can be
> had in various levels of sweetness.

I really do not know how a baked ham is, since in Spain we tend to prefer
ham air cured. But the kind of sherries you would serve with meat are
usually bone dry. Fino and Manzanilla (biological maturing), and
Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado are bone dry. Only PX and Cream (a
mixture of a finished dry sherry with a tad of finished PX) are sweet, but
we would not serve them before the cheese course.

That said, I second your recommendation of paying attention to the
sweetness of the dish.

s.

On Apr 15, 2:21*pm, santiago > wrote:
> cwdjrxyz > wrote in news:6ff10d2b-e281-4343-8d7a-
> :
>
> For a very strong
>
> > classic ham aged a year or two, I might select a sherry which can be
> > had in various levels of sweetness.
>
> I really do not know how a baked ham is, since in Spain we tend to prefer
> ham air cured. But the kind of sherries you would serve with meat are
> usually bone dry. Fino and Manzanilla (biological maturing), and
> Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado are bone dry. Only PX and Cream (a
> mixture of a finished dry sherry with a tad of finished PX) are sweet, but
> we would not serve them before the cheese course.
>
> That said, I second your recommendation of paying attention to the
> sweetness of the dish.

I am guessing the poster is in the US and is referring to a fruit
glazed baked ham that is often severed in addition to, or instead of,
a baked turkey for Christmas. This usually would be a very mild ham
that may have a bit of smoke, likely is aged only a short time, and
that is kept very moist and tender. Excess fat is trimmed from the
whole ham, and fruit such as pineapple, even candied cherries,etc as
well as whole cloves may be attached to the ham. It is covered with a
sweet sauce made from fruit juices and slowly baked until done, taking
care to baste often. Since the sweet sauce will not penetrate very
far into the interior of the ham, the sweetness of the serving will
greatly depend on how much of the roasting pan sweet sauce is served
on top of the ham. Also there may be a sweet side dish such as candied
sweet potatoes, which can be quite sweet, especially in the hands of a
Southern cook. This is very different than a strong, long aged,
Smithfield ham which is more like the styles of famous hams in Italy
and Spain, for example. Baking one of your Spanish hams made from
those black pigs that are fattened on a wild acorn diet likely would
ruin such a ham and be extremely expensive, at least in the US where
we can now get some of the better Spanish acorn diet hams at a price
that likely would shock you.

In the US and UK markets the dry grades of Sherry often have been
sweetened a bit in the past, and perhaps some still are for the
cheaper examples of Sherry on the US market. Then there was a
tradition of California "Sherry" that was legal to sell for a very
long time, and this tended to be sweeter than a like-named grade of
Sherry sold in Spain.