It’s the holidays, so of course no one at all is over-indulging. Especially not with drinks or sweets. Yep, me neither. So I went to a dinner for Luberon wines, where we only had 7 wines and 13 desserts.

Luberon is a small region in the southern Rhone valley in France. Southern Rhone wines (like Chateauneuf du Pape) are some of my favorites in the world, but can get super pricey. That’s why appellations like Luberon come in handy – they’re blends of similar grapes (Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache), still tasty, and way less expensive.

The whites are mostly light, delicately fruity, and white florally. We had: the Château La Canorgue Blanc 2011 (Clairette, Roussanne, Marsanne and Bourboulenc), Château La Verrerie Blanc 2014 (25% Roussanne, 12% Grenache Blanc, 30% Clairette, 33% Bourboulenc), and Domaine de Fontenille Blanc 2014 (45% Grenache blanc, 45 % Clairette, and 10% Rolle), my favorite of the three with a really nice waxiness. I always dig Grenache Blanc, so underrated and amazing in spring.

The reds we had were generally light and pleasant, a little red fruit and some earthiness. Domaine de la Citadelle Gouverneur St Auban Rouge 2013 (mostly Syrah with some Grenache and Mourvèdre), Notre Dame de Cousignac Luberon Rouge 2012 (63% Grenache, 32% Syrah, 5% Counoise) and Grand Marrenon Rouge 2013 (70% Syrah and 30% Grenache). The Domaine de la Citadelle was the most expensive wine all night – and only $38! The rest were all under $20. Great value region for sure.

Along with all these wines come some standard regional foods – garlic, tomatoes, truffles. And in Luberon, Christmas dinner tradition is many of these local dishes plus an enormous amount of desserts. So the chef at Boulud Sud crafted a Christmas dinner menu based on these flavors but kicked it up like 18 notches.

This Aigo Boulido (“boiled garlic”) was soooo delicious! Sage and garlic-infused chicken consommé, sage oil (YUM), and a confit of potato.

Scrambled egg brouillade with shaved black truffles

Provencale monkfish en papillote that they cut open right at the table

This was AMAZING!!! Wild boar civet with potato gnocchi, tourni vegetables, lardons, and chestnuts.

And then – 13 desserts! A lot was chalked up to just fruit and nuts, but we had some amazing tortone, cookies, and bûche de Noël with a gorgeous chocolate glaze. The reason for 13 is to rep Jesus and the apostles – we could’ve used all those mouths to help us finish all these incredible sweets.

They even have these cute little figurines called santons that a guy in the village makes based on people who actually live there! So cute. I’d totally want one made of me!