Thanksgiving Day Wines

By Nikki Berglund
Staff Writer

This week I found myself in a bit of a time management dilemma. I am trying to prepare for myholiday employee meeting while also attempting to get my article written on time.

The meeting at this time of the year mainly entails educating the staff on the perfect wines to suggest to customers for the Thanksgiving holiday. I wanted to give them something a little more general in order to keep their selling options open in accordance with what the customer was looking for.

So in order to kill two birds with one stone (article and employee meeting), I set down a basic list of wines (talking about specific styles rather than specific brands) that can be served successfully with practically any Thanksgiving dinner.

Pairing wines for this holiday is difficult (or easy depending on how you look at it) because there are so many different flavors and types of food. Turkey itself is very wine-friendly- it is all of the side dishes that screw things up!

No one is ever really “wrong” (hence the easy part) when it comes to pairing wine with T Day dinner since chances are it will pair well with something. I think the trick for me is trying to find the most versatile wines in order to make the most people happy; because who doesn’t want everyone to be happy on T Day?!

There are some basic tricks to help pair your wines with the greatest variety of dishes. Wines with a lot of oak (Chardonnay) tend to overpower your T Day dishes because of their full-bodied and robust flavors. High-alcohol wines in general are also not recommended because many of the spices used, such as nutmeg, cloves, etc., make a high octane wine taste hot on the palate.

High acid, low tannins and abundant fruit are ideal. Here is a list of some basic wine types that are guaranteed be fabulous with your meal.

Bubbly

Sparkling wine is great before, during, and after your T Day meal. Before, it makes a great celebratory beverage, giving everyone that nice holiday glow. You can go inexpensive with an Italian Prosecco or a Spanish Cava, or spend a little more for a nice NV (non vintage) Champagne. Sparkling wines make a great palate cleanser, making them great throughout the entire meal. Rosé sparkling wines are especially delicious, with some characteristics of both red and white wines.

Rosé

Dry rosé wines are perfect for a complicated meal such as T Day because they are neither sweet nor dry, neither red nor white. I am not talking about White Zinfandel (a sweet pink wine), although your Grandma might disagree. Personally I do keep a bottle of the stuff (White Zin) on hand because I am not about to disappoint this very important person!  But Rosés do not overwhelm a dish and have a huge range of successful pairing choices, and they are generally low in alcohol but high in fruitiness.

Riesling

Considered an “aromatic white wine,” this incredibly food-friendly wine ranges from off-dry to sweet, with dominant flavors of apples, citrus and spices. You can purchase some great Rieslings from Germany or from Washington without spending a ton of money. If you have been asked to bring a bottle to T Day dinner, Riesling is almost always a safe bet.

Pinot Gris

Although Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the same grape, it is the style that accounts for the different descriptions. The Alsace style of Pinot Gris with its rich spice aromas and notes of honey and almond is best done by the French but has also had a successful run in Oregon. If you want to serve white wine but don’t love the sweetness of a Riesling this makes a great alternative.

Pinot Noir

Like Riesling in the white wine category if you want to go for one sure-to-please red wine this holiday season, Pinot Noir is the way to go. This lighter style of red wine matches well with a lot of the earthy-type flavors in T Day food. It is a versatile wine with the best examples comingout of Burgundy France. Beware, these are not inexpensive. Oregon is also making some pretty fabulous Pinot Noirs these days, which are a little less expensive but still not cheap!

Syrah/Shiraz

I absolutely love Syrah/Shiraz with T Day dinner or any time in between. Whether you go with a French version from the Rhone Valley with its smoky peppery deliciousness or the Aussie version which has less tannins and more blackberry flavors of fruit, this is a great choice for reds.
Do keep an eye on the alcohol levels, as some Syrahs/Shiraz can get up there in booze levels and may detract from the meal rather than enhance it.

“Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!”

Every year on the 3rd Thursday of November an interesting phenomenon takes place in the wine world with the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau. This young (7 to 9 weeks old) wine is the first of the year from the Beaujolais region of France. What started as a local custom long ago, has since become a worldwide tradition meant to celebrate the harvest and is obviously the perfect (symbolically at least) wine for T Day.

Made from the Gamay grape, this light and fruity wine, although a red, is considered to be almost a white. Since it is picked so early, it barely has any time with the skins, making it light and fruity and very young tasting. It is sort of like Kool-Aid for adults and is meant to be drunk as such (sans plastic cups!).

This wine is the best if consumed within a few months of its arrival but can be drunk for up to a year, although will lose some of its youthful flavors. This might not be my first choice for T Day dinner, but I can tell you that people go nuts for this stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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