Know how to say “cheers!” in several languages? Here are a few

Thanksgiving was just about perfect at our house. I hope yours was, too.

If you paired dry roses’ and sparkling wines with your meal, you’re part of the reason sales have tripled in the past two years. They are readily available, fairly priced and definitely food friendly. If you are considering ham for Christmas dinner, give the pinkies and bubblies a try.

Since we’re on the topic of fine dining and popping corks, here are the foreign language equivalents of “Cheers” to impress your visiting friends.

Danish: “Skaal” (skawl)

Dutch: “Proost” (proast)

French: “A votre sante” (ah vo’ tra san’ tay)

German: “Prosit” (pro’ sit)

Italian: “Salute” (sah loo’ tay) or “chin chin”

Japanese: “Kanpai” (kahn pay)

Portuguese: “Saude” (ser oo’ dher)

Spanish: “A su salud” (ah soo sah loodh)

Hebrew: “L’chayim” (leh khy’ yim)

Giving Thanks

I have to confess, writing this column is not that difficult. The Navigator and I have been on the Wine Trail for more than 45 years and have enjoyed every minute. The wine regions are beautiful and the wines are amazing, but most of all, the people in the industry are great human beings. They are passionate about their jobs, diligent in protecting the environment they live in and work well together, helping make a visit to the wine country a pleasurable experience. A survey by John Dunham and Associates revealed that the wine industry’s benefit to the U.S. economy reached almost $220 billion in 2017 and supports 1.8 million jobs. Visit wine country, and you’ll meet some wonderful people.

What’s On Our Table

Three well priced and readily available wines that made the Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines of the year are the 2015 Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay, the 2016 Matua Sauvignon Blanc and the NV Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut. Also try the 2016 Mendocino Artezin Zinfandel. It’s 84 percent zinfandel, 14 percent petite sirah and 2 percent carignan. The wine was perfect with the second round of Thanksgiving dinner and at $16, well worth the hunt. Cheers!

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Know how to say “cheers!” in several languages? Here are a few."