Thanksgiving: A Fine Day for Wine

By Aariana Adams

Thanksgiving Day finds more of us enjoying a glass of wine than any other day of the year. It’s no surprise. The Thanksgiving table is laden with a riotous mix of flavors from rich and spicy to sweet and sour. Perhaps no celebratory dinner embraces diverse wine styles quite like Thanksgiving. It’s a fine day to serve wine.

Thanksgiving is not a day to ponder wine and food pairing. It is a great day to try some wonderful new varietal flavors. That means leaving our old friends, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, to serenely snooze in the wine rack.

Choose several wines - mix it up a bit and give your guests a choice. Two white wines and one red is a good place to start. More choices are certainly appropriate. The white wines should include at least one with a touch of sweetness and one that is dry. The red wine should be dry but round and ripe, as well.

Here are seven wines that will remain as memorable as your prized pecan pie.

Dry White Dinner Wines:

Sauvignon Blanc: This wild-child of white wine will cozy right up to Grandma’s sage and cornbread stuffing. Unabashedly food-friendly, count on it to tame Aunt Betty’s cranberry and marshmallow dish, and satisfyingly prove that buttery mashed potatoes can love a crisp, fresh wine.

Viognier: A well-made Viognier (fermented in stainless steel - not oak aged) is an exotically beautiful wine. The pungent fruit of the Viognier grape equals the delectable aromas wafting around the Thanksgiving table. This is a decidedly opulent wine and it is more than “up-to” the intensity of traditional Thanksgiving fare.

Sweeter White Dinner Wines:

Gewurztraminer: This enticing and spicy wine tricks the senses into thinking it’s a sweeter wine, but it is technically off-dry to dry. It will flirt shamelessly with a voluptuous fruit stuffing, turn your baked ham into a masterpiece and caress your pumpkin pie. A quality Gewurztraminer is delightful straight through dessert. If the budget allows, buy an Alsatian Gewurztraminer. Vintages from 2000, 2001 and 2002 are outstanding.

Riesling: This unappreciated and undervalued grape is one of the world’s finest wine grapes. World-class Rieslings are produced in Germany, and the recent vintages of 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 are exceptional. Shop for a German Riesling with the word “Spatlese” on the label, insuring a touch of sweetness. Try Rieslings from the Rheingau or the Mosel – vintages 2001 through 2004. Washington State produces some lovely Rieslings. If not as complex as the German Riesling, they are more affordable and offer a crisp, fresh and fruity style of wine. Choose one considered less dry (about 1.5%-3% residual sugar).

Dry Red Dinner Wines:

Syrah: Deep, rich and lush (think of a swath of plush burgundy velvet) this full-bodied red wine has a round, emollient mouth-feel. Words like plumy, black cherry, violets, and hints of licorice and smoke are often descriptors of a well-made Syrah. The breast of your 22-pound turkey may "plump" a tad at sharing the spotlight with this ripe beauty. From California’s Napa Valley, vintages from 1999 - 2001 are outstanding and Sonoma in 2000 and 2001. From France’s Southern Rhone Valley, try vintages from 2000-2003. From Australia, the Shiraz: vintages1999 and 2000 from Coonawarra, 1999 and 2000 from Barossa and McLaren Vale and 2000 and 2001 from Victoria.

Pinot Noir: The sensual and seductive nature of good Pinot Noir makes it the quintessential Thanksgiving wine. This grape is the noble grape of Burgundy, France. It produces one of the world's most incredible and longest-lived wines, the French Burgundy (not to be confused with "jug-wine" burgundies from the United States). The reality is that most of us cannot afford French Burgundy – especially in quantities to pass around to a host of friends on holidays. That being the case, Pinot Noir is admirably made in the United States. Choose a lighter style, which should be affordable, available and exceedingly well suited to a smorgasbord of flavors. Try Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir from vintages 1999 through 2003.

Beaujolais Nouveau: Some households will not consider a Thanksgiving dinner without the first wine of the harvest, Beaujolais Nouveau. Made from the Beaujolais grape, produced and shipped by air from France on the third Thursday of November (yes, flown over the ocean – no time for shipping) or from California (sometimes arriving a bit earlier), this lighter-styled wine heralds the start of the holiday season. Some vintages are better than others but Nouveau is not as much about quality (no time for bottle aging) as it is about tradition. A light and fruity freshness is the hallmark, along with its very affordable price.

If shopping for wine isn't a task you relish, find a good wine shop with an "attitude" of passion about its wines. If the wine you want is not affordable, ask the wine professional for substitutes. Thanksgiving wines are often on sale the week before the holiday. Wine ratings and tasting notes should be displayed.

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