I love winter in Santa Fe. As fall eases into winter, I tuck my outdoor tables and chairs under the portal of my small adobe home, fold up the hammock and stack firewood.

It is time to hunker down indoors. I wrap up the grill and dust off the braising pots and roasting pans. The mixed aromas of a braise in the oven and a piñon fire from the wood-burning stove make me salivate for heartier red wines.

With slower and longer cooking methods, winter foods take on layers of flavor, and so do the concomitant wine choices. Rather than the bright and zippy Sauvignon Blanc for sipping on the summer patio, the winter wines I gravitate toward are red wines with more robustness and complexities of flavor. Spicy wines from the southern Rhone, hearty Cabernets from Bordeaux and earthy reds from Burgundy take center stage at the table and are slowly savored after dinner at the fireplace on a cold winter's night.

As well as regular Tuesday night choices for wine, winter brings holiday gatherings with friends and family that call for special wine choices. At Thanksgiving, there are a lot of different flavors on the table. As it should, conversation and food take center stage. Is this the right time to pull out your favorite bottle of Burgundy you have been saving and expect everyone to comment on it? Do you really want to watch your uncle grab your precious bottle of Burgundy and pour it over ice with a shot of Sprite while you attempt to explain the difference in soil from a Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyard? Why not choose an inexpensive wine from southern Burgundy that is pleasing to drink, like Beaujolais?

For turkey day, or any large gathering with lots of different foods, my go-to wine is Beaujolais, and I don't mean the overmarketed Beaujolais Nouveau — a cheap plonk meant for early quaffing that almost ruined the true purpose of Beaujolais. Not all Beaujolais is intended to be drunk so young or so savagely. As misunderstood as Riesling was a few years ago, Beaujolais is an example of the mystical French pairing of ground and place. A sandy clay over granite soil unique to the region, the Gamay grape thrives in Beaujolais and produces a wine with vivid and refreshing color and fruit.

While Beaujolais' Gamay grape may not compete with the noble pinot noir grape in Burgundy, it does make a singular wine worthy of attention, and it's affordable. The top quality level in Beaujolais is Grand Cru Beaujolais, wines good enough to be named for their village. These are wines with enough complexity that they are best enjoyed at least three years from vintage. There is no race to drink these wines as soon as they are released as there is with Beaujolais Nouveau. And, with longer aging, Cru Beaujolais can take on the compelling aromatics and palate of pinot noir from Burgundy.

When hosting a casual holiday party, I like to choose a wine theme that is easy to appreciate and doesn't compete with the mortgage. I like to put out one roast or one pot of food that everyone can nibble on over the course of the afternoon and select a wine theme, laying out a dozen or so different bottles. It can be a grape theme, 12 different producers of Zinfandel or Syrah, both great winter wines. It can be combined with a regional theme, pinot noir from California, Oregon and New Zealand. I make it simple, leaving the bottles open on a sidebar in a suggested drinking sequence, giving each guest one glass for the day when they arrive.

For smaller, more intimate dinner parties, winter is certainly a time to trot out your most precious bottles. For me, that means Burgundy. For a special meal with shellfish, there is nothing more compelling than the lemony minerality of a white Burgundy like a Montrachet or Mersault. For that special roasted duck or goose, it has to be red Burgundy, an elegantly red-fruited and perfumed wine that is a worthy partner for the Christmas dinner table.

For New Year's Eve, I like the celebratory quality of serving wine in magnum-sized format. Wine in magnum ages at a different and longer pace than regular sized bottles. And aside from its visual appeal, magnums can go around a table of 10 with a generous glass for each guest. When I can find them, I buy magnums of my favorite wines — Oregon Pinot, Napa Cabernets, Rhone Valley Reds, Bordeaux, Champagnes — and squirrel them away for special occasions. So, when I am having 10 of my best friends over for a long winter's night five-course meal, I can get by with just five bottles!

But ultimately, the best part of winter is simple Tuesday night dinners, snug with loved ones by the fire. A slow-roasted stew, savory baked pasta or a simmering pot of cassoulet puts me in the mood for a complex, layered, deep and satisfying red wine like a southern Rhone Gigondas, Brunello from Tuscany or a simple red Bordeaux.

Greg O'Byrne is executive director of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta. His column appears in Taste on the third Wednesday of every month. Questions or comments? Write to vinevents@aol.com.