The Annual Thanksgiving Dilemma
Written by Erika Sato
Do you agonize every year about what wines to have with your Thanksgiving meal? Or are you longing to try something a little different than the traditional tried and true? Put the annual w(h)ine about Thanksgiving wine to bed.
Obviously, let’s not overthink. It’s not much of a risk to say that there is no one wine that will go with everything on the table. So… let’s talk turkey … pairing wine and food is partly science, partly art, and partly personal preference. The solution is to bring a few different wines! But how to choose?
Let’s pare this down to a few concepts.
If you don’t want to deal with all the details – skip down to the What Wines Should I Get section. If you want to delve in, read on!
In wine and food pairing, you can match the food to the wine, or the wine to the food. In the case of Thanksgiving, I might go with the latter.
What are the important characteristics in a food dish that you want to concentrate on to choose a wine?
Well, the first is the main ingredient. In our case, let’s talk turkey (again). In and of itself, not intensely flavored, although it does have a stronger flavor than, for example, chicken. So maybe consider a medium weight wine. If you go too delicate a wine, it may get overwhelmed by the food, and seem a little tasteless. On the other hand, you may not wish to go with a big, opulent wine – the flavor of the turkey may get totally buried by the wine. This thinking about weight applies to whatever your main course ingredient is, by the way.
The second thing to think about is – the cooking method. If you are baking the turkey, you will have much milder flavors than smoking or grilling or deep frying. Smoking can impart sweet as well as smoky elements; grilling a slightly bitter or acrid flavor, and deep frying a slightly sweet, fattier texture. Depending on the cooking method, you may want to consider wines that have smoky elements, or some amount of tannin to match.
Third – sauces and sides. Do you have vinaigrettes, chutneys, herbs, cream/butter sauces…
When considering a vast array of foods, let’s talk about acid in wine. When pairing wines with food, acidity is your friend.
Serving a higher acid wine with foods that are cream or butter-based, oily, or strong tasting can cut the richness and be refreshing.
Pair a high acid wine with tart foods such as a vinaigrette or tomatoes, etc. If you have a low acid wine with these kinds of foods, the wine can come off as quite flabby.
Think about serving a slightly off-dry (slightly sweeter) wine with foods that have a little spice to them. The sweetness serves to offset the heat. Slightly sweeter wines also go well with sauces that have a little sweetness themselves (chutneys, raisins etc.). Drinking a wine that is not at least as sweet as the dish you are eating can give the wine some bitter characteristics.
And finally, red fruit flavors can mimic the tartness of cranberry sauce and match with spices such as clove, allspice and cinnamon.
To recap – match the weight of the wine to the weight of the food. Match flavors in the wine to flavors in the food. Make sure your wine has enough acid. This may not be as important if you are just sipping the wine on the deck, but with food it’s critical. Match the sweetness of your wine with the sweetness of the food or pair with spicy foods.
What wines should I get?
Get multiple wines to cover your bases. There are the “tried and true” choices, ones that have stood the test of time. If you are feeling adventurous, there are also the “let’s try something a little different” choices. I’ll give you both to pick and choose – try and pick wines that have different characteristics off this list.
Here are a few suggestions, pick one (or more) from each group.
Group 1: Medium bodied whites that will go well with slightly richer or sweeter foods/sides such as richer gravy, ham, sweet potato etc.
Weingut Spreitzer Lenchen Riesling Kabinett: Riesling is an exceptional food grape – it has high acid to cut through fatty foods and refresh the palate, and can be found with a range of sweetness. This Riesling is made from grapes sourced from the highly regarded Oestricher Lenchen vineyard in the central Rheingau area of Germany has classic Riesling aromas of peach and apple, with a subtle sweetness and clean finish.
Willm Pinot Gris: Pinot Gris from Alsace typically is richer and has off-dry characteristics, and this is no different. Aromas of ripe fruits and quince blend with a round mouth feel and notes of honey and spice on the palate.
Leth Ried Scheiben Roter Veltliner: Ried Scheiben is one of the famous sites on the Wagram hillside in Austria. The vineyard is made up of two parts, one with vines older than 50 years, and the other with vines at 12 years old. As a result, this wine has a rich mouth feel and some weight. It also has notes of apricot and dried fruits, mandarin orange and quince – the fruit is balanced perfectly by the acid.
Group 2: These wines have slightly higher acid and will pair well with foods that have some greenness to them (green beans, for example) or salads etc.
Monte Tondo Casette Foscarin Soave: The region of Soave in Italy is arguably one of the most famous DOC for white wines. Located in the volcanic hills near Verona, the primary grape in Soave is Garganega. A Soave typically has flavors of peach, honeydew and citrus. The Monte Tondo Casette Foscarin is from a specific vineyard located on steep hillsides of Monte Foscarin, and is considered a “Cru” Soave Classico. Aging in large, old oak gives the wine a little weight, and this one maintains good acidity as well. This wine is very versatile and will go with things like green beans and salads, as well as more delicately flavored turkey and gravy.
Domaine du Colombier Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie: Melon de Bourgogne is the signature grape grown in Muscadet Sevre et Maine (Loire Valley, France). The grape is known for notes of citrus and green apple. The wines aged “sur lie”, or “on the lees”, gain a weightier, creamier feel in the mouth while still maintaining the fruit and acid needed to pair well with salads as well as richer, buttery foods.
Group 3: Light, fresh and juicy, these have bright red fruits to pair with richer foods, cranberry sauces etc. They also pair well with sauces like BBQ.
F. illi Bellei Lambrusco de Sorbara: Lambrusco is produced primarily in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. This is a dry Lambrusco, made from the Lambrusco di Sorbara clone. This wine is dry, and subtly bubbly with bright red fruits. Who doesn’t love a bubbly?
Santa Tresa “Rina Russa” Frappato: This is also a light bodied red, made from the Frappato grape, the most typical grape grown in Vittoria, on the island of Sicily off the coast of Italy. With a beautiful light cherry color and a palate of wild strawberries and smooth fruit.
Group 4: Medium weight reds with good red fruits and a touch of earthiness. These will pair nicely with cranberry, but also have the body and savoriness to pair well with the gamey quality of turkey and stuffing as well as heavier sides such as mashed potatoes or ham.
Borell-Diehl Pinot Noir: This style of Pinot Noir maintains some earthiness to match the flavor of turkey, along with sweet red fruit and good acidity. Hailing from Pfalz in Germany, this is a great example of an Old World Pinot Noir from somewhere other than Burgundy in France.
Juliénas-Chaintré Vignerons Associés Juliénas: This is a Cru Beaujolais. Beaujolais is a region just to the south of Burgundy, in France. The signature grape is Gamay, and the wines are characterized by raspberry, tart cherry and cranberry flavors, but the better offerings (Cru) will also have flavors of mushroom, forest floor, violet, and smoke. There are 10 Crus, of which Julienas is one of the more structured and powerful, with some aging ability.
Manincor “der Keil” Schiava: “der Keil” vineyard is a monopole (single vineyard owned wholly by one estate) situated on south-facing sites overlooking the Lake of Kaltern in Alto Adige in northern Italy. It is a medium-weighted wine with fresh red fruits, juicy in the mouth with notes of cherry and spice.
Domaine Rolet Arbois Trousseau: Trousseau is a once-obscure grape that is swiftly gaining attention in the wine world. It is native to the Jura region in France, and is known for its cherry and plum flavors, as well as its earthy character and savoriness as it ages. The Domaine Rolet Arbois hails from the Arbois region in the Jura. The grapes are aged in foudre (large format barrel) and true to its origins, the wine maintains a red-fruited freshness as well as some underlying earthiness and a spicy savory quality.
Group 5: Bigger, richer reds that nonetheless have enough ripe fruit and (relatively) lower tannins to match with turkey, ham etc.
Dancing Crow Vineyards Zinfandel: The grapes for this Zinfandel come from the Red Hills and Kelsey Bench AVAs in Lake County (California). This wine showcases aromas of dried raspberry, ripe fig and flavors of Bing cherry, blackberry, strawberry and lavender. Just hints of oak, leather and cedar add complexity and refined tannins while still maintaining smoothness and freshness.
Bodegas Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha: Bodeaga Borsao is situated in Borja, in northeastern Spain. Campo de Borja is known as one of the premier DOC in Spain for Garnacha. The Tres Picos Garnacha is 100% Grenache, produced from 35-60 year old vines in mountain vineyards with an altitude of 600-700 meters. Concentrated aromas of flowers and ripe red fruit give way to a structured, rich palate with blackberry, plum and notes of leather and vanilla and soft, silky tannins.
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About the Author
While Erika may not be a Rochester native, she now calls the Flour City home. A Certified Sommelier and WSET level 3 certified, Erika spends her time thinking about the perfect food and wine pairings and finding the right wines for every situation. A self-professed “wine geek”, working at Parkway is the ideal match, as she can spend her time exploring different wine regions and less well-known grapes. She is also passionate about passing along her wine knowledge and enthusiasm for wine to others, and is excited to be able to put together educational and fun wine packs and seminars for our customers.
When not at the store, Erika spends her time practicing and playing music, and hopes to be out performing again soon. She has also been a sales representative and sommelier for a winery and judged numerous national and international wine competitions.