Wine Article Index

The Right Wine for Thanksgiving

Red White, Rose… Cabernet, Chianti, Gamay…

What’s a Fella to Do?

Like the mouse in the maze, there are too many choices.  Couple that with everyone’s tastes being different and you have a BAZILLION, that’s right, more than a GAZILLION choices.  So we’ll try to sort that out for you and give you a fighting chance to make a good decision.  Granted one can serve anything for Thanksgiving, but if your choice is steak, brisket or something like that, what wine you select is what you’d drink whenever these foods are on the table.  Thanksgiving doesn’t change that.  But turkey and ham are traditional favorites and create problems when it comes to wine.

Let’s start with turkey, the traditional Thanksgiving meal:

Before we start, we need to explain that Turkey is one of the hardest foods to pair with wine.  Turkey itself has a neutral taste, which is why most people cook it with a stuffing.  Anyone who has ever had turkey knows that the taste changes according to what you cook with it (or should we say “in it”).  Given that everyone has their favorite stuffing or secret family recipe handed from mother to daughter (OK we’ll be politically correct… parent to child), the tastes to match up are lots, to say the least.  But because turkey takes the flavor of what’s in it, it’s those flavors that have to match up with your wine. 

So the first thing you need to decide is what will be in the stuffing and what will you serve with it.  Once that’s done the selection of wine becomes somewhat easier… note we didn’t say easy, we said easier.

First let’s start with stuffing:  There are basically 2 types of stuffing, each with totally different tastes.  There is sweet stuffing, characterized by the use of fruits such as raisons, apples, apricots, dates and currants; and there is savory stuffing, characterized by such vegetables as celery, onions, mushrooms, pine nuts and earthy spices.

Now let’s talk about what accompanies the turkey:  Things like sweet potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and maple syrup infused sweet potatoes, traditional baked potatoes and mashed potatoes, traditional or with garlic or onions. 

Already you can imagine the number of different flavors that need to be factored into your decision.  So with all that to consider, we’ll try to make it simple by giving you some simple rules to follow. 

Let’s divide what we’ve talked about into two general types: Sweet and Savory (rustic/earthy).

Sweet: Should go well with a slightly sweet white wine.  Dry Rieslings, Johannesburg Riesling, and Riesling Kabbinet wines from Germany or New York’s Finger Lakes region, or an Orvieto Classico from Italy

Savory: Should go well with dry whites like Pinot Gris and Chenin Blanc.  Try Hogue Cellars wines from Washington State, consistently good and always inexpensive.  Savory will also go well with Beaujolais Nouveau (see our article titled “Don’t Get Flucked for Thanksgiving” for a complete discussion on Beaujolais Nouveau).

Remember, what we’ve done is give you some general guidelines using a simplified view of what you need to consider.  Individual tastes should eventually factor in AND sometimes opposites will attract so a dry, earthy wine might go well with a sweet stuffing and sweet potatoes.  If you have a personal preference towards these more rustic, earthy wines, go for it.  Wine, after all, is an individual preference.

Ok now we’ll tackle ham:

This is easy, we suggest a good beer.  Anything from lighter lagers to the more amber beers works well.  We prefer an amber beer with ham, and suggest Sam Adams Lager.  And if you decide to offer up “hot” mustard, you might even like a good stout or porter.  Their deep, heavy flavors work well the hot, spicy or Creole mustards.  But if you insist on a wine you might try a good Fume (Chenin) Blanc from California or Washington State or a moderately priced Pinot Noir from Oregon.

~WA