Best Local Wines For New Year's Eve

BOSTON (CBS) ---- It's not New Year's Eve without a toast to celebrate where you've been and where you're going in the next year. No matter what your plans are, these five wines from local wineries will leave you feeling festive and ready for 2014.

-By Katie Curley-Katzman, CBS Boston

Here are our picks for best local wines to serve your New Year's Eve revelers:

1. Angelica Rosé, Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Pomfret, Conn.

This wine received the highest score among New England wines in an article published in Wall Street Journal Magazine and has also been featured in the New York Times. The wine is in the halbtrocken style, meaning half-dry. It's a lovely fruit forward wine with a beautiful color. This can be served more in a dessert style at room temperature or slightly chilled to 40 to 45 degrees as you normally would serve a rosé wine.

Cocktail Talk:Sharpe Hill Vineyard has received over 250 medals in International tastings.

2. "RJR" Robert James Russell Brut, Westport Rivers, Westport, Mass.

It wouldn't be New Year's without a bottle from Westport Rivers. This sparkler has been served in three White Houses and raved about by both national and international press. It's a beautiful gold color with flavors of brioche, peach and lemon. Skip the Prosecco or other champagne alternative and get this. This is major bang for your buck.

Cocktail Talk: The sparkling wine was featured on the television series "The West Wing." In the show, the fictional president Josiah Bartlet, is from New Hampshire. Producers on the show liked to use New England products in the show.

3. Perry Reserve, Russell Orchards, Ipswich, Mass.

The Perry Reserve will bring you back to simpler times. Perry, or "Pear Cider" is wine made from fermented pears and it's making a huge comeback in the United Kingdom, as we speak. The wine is delicate like an apple cider but sparkling and slightly sweeter because the perry pears have higher sugar content than cider apples.

Cocktail talk: Farmers in the U.K are seeking out old perry pear trees and orchards to find lost varieties of pears, many of which now exist only as single trees. The Welsh Cider Society recently rediscovered the old Monmouthshire varieties "Burgundy" and the "Potato Pear" as well as a number of further types unrecorded up to that point.

4. Kiyo' Sparkling Wine, Les Tois Emme, Great Barrington, Mass.

Kiyo' Sparkling Wine is a demi-sec, made from Chenin Blanc grapes. The wine is perfect to serve with appetizers and cheeses for your New Year's Eve celebration. It's a traditional sparkling wine with nice acidity and flavor.

Cocktail Talk: Certain times of year the winery opens its doors and asks for the community to help them out with anything from bottling to packing up cases. The volunteers are then considered "friends of the winery" and a meal and wine breaks are given.

5. Sailor's Delight, Nantucket Vineyards, Nantucket, Mass.

If you have a red-wine drinker at your party this one is sure to please. This dark, plum-colored wine is a good match for those who enjoy Merlot, Syrah, or even Cabernet, and pleasing to nearly all red wine drinkers.

Cocktail Talk: Nantucket Vineyard is also the home of Cisco Brewers and Triple Eight Distillery.