Thanksgiving Wine
by Ed Young
Frugal MacDoogal's Monthly Guest Wine Letter November, 2005
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As Thanksgiving approaches, it is normal to feel a bit of stress. Maybe your boss is coming for the big dinner, or maybe it is your turn to host your family for turkey day, or maybe you are spending Thanksgiving with a friend or relative and don’t know what to take. We’ve been there, done that, and we are here to relieve your apprehensions.
Thanksgiving has been called THE dinner of the year. It is Thanksgiving that brings togetherness, cooking, and great expectations. This has to be the toughest day of the year for a wine guy. A big Thanksgiving dinner includes so many disparate (even clashing) tastes and textures that it is virtually impossible to recommend a single wine for the occasion. So, we aren’t even going to try. Let’s take it a step at a time.
STEP 1. You’re probably not going to eat until mid- or late afternoon. This means you may be spending a few hours with your in-laws watching football or otherwise passing the time. If you like beer, this would be a perfect time to serve something a bit different like one of the special ales we wrote about in our last newsletter (you weren’t really planning to serve an ordinary brew on a special day like this, were you)? If your guests aren’t beer drinkers, try a nice delicate Viognier or Pinot Grigio. My favorite wine under $10 of the past decade is Renwood Viognier at $8.99. Mezza Corona makes an outstanding Pinot Grigio at $8.99. These are very light, drinkable white wines that won’t fill you up. If you prefer reds, try the 2004 Louis Jadot Beaujolais Village (currently on sale at $7.99).This is a light, simple, inexpensive, aromatic red wine that is perfect as an aperitif, and two steps up from a Nouveau Beaujolais.
STEP 2. Hours have gone by, and it is time to carve the turkey and serve the dinner wine. As we said, it is almost impossible to match all the different flavors, so we recommend that you just put several wines on the table and let your guests suit themselves. After all, this special day is about dining well in pleasant company, so just try to make everyone happy by providing several choices. We suggest two whites and two reds. The first white should be light, food friendly, and maybe a little mysterious. Either a Gewurztraminer or a Reisling would be perfect. Not every guest is going to be familiar with these, so a little novelty tasting will add spice to the occasion. The Columbia Winery in the state of Washington makes a very nice Gewurztraminer for $12.99. Our recommended Reisling is the Chateau St. Michelle Eroica at $23.99. The other white definitely should be a Chardonnay. This is easy. My favorite Chard is the Newton Unfiltered 2002 at $49.99, but the best Chard for the price is Barnett Vineyards 2003 at $27.99. If you prefer a lighter Chard with less oak, go for the Hendry at $26.99. We guarantee that any one of these will make an impression! Now for the reds. The first should be a Pinot Noir, and by far the best I’ve had this year is Belle Glos Santa Maria 2001 at $37.99. If you want to hear glowing feedback about the wine, serve this one! Good Pinot Noirs are hard to make, and this is one wine where the price point is usually critical. Our recommended mid-point Pinot Noir is Benton Lane at $18.99. But remember, Thanksgiving comes just once each year. If you’re going to splurge, this is the day to do it, and you can’t do better than the Belle Glos. This is what we’re going to serve at our house (we don’t recommend wines to you that we don’t drink ourselves). The second red should be a Zinfandel. It will be slightly heavier than the Pinot, but fruity enough to pick up the flavor of cranberry sauce, and delightful enough to make anyone overlook any deficiencies in the cooking. The best Zin of the year, we think, is Rosenblum Rockpile Road Vineyard 2002 at $31.99. This is just a big old fashioned chewy, fruity, wonderful wine! At a lower price point, we recommend the Renwood Old Vine at $15.99. Put four of these recommended wines on your Thanksgiving table and your wine worries will be over!
STEP 3. This final step is one that is too often overlooked. Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the U.S., in one of his poems about a special meal, wrote that “…the lion of contentment has placed a warm, heavy paw on my chest…”. When the lion of contentment has touched your guests, it is time to think about the after-dinner drinks. What better way to finish a great meal, and a great day with special friends and relatives, than to linger at the table in good conversation with a nice Port, or ice wine, or Sauterne, or a liqueur? This is the special time of any dining experience. Our favorite Port is Graham’s Six Grapes at $20.99. A great ice wine would be Jackson Triggs Vidal at $18.99 (375ml. bottle). Nashville loves this wine-we have trouble keeping it stocked. My personal favorite after-dinner wine is Lilly Pilly- a fortified Australian Reisling that tastes of honeyed apricots and goes for $14.99. Lighter than Muscats or Ports, this will be enjoyed and remembered by your guests (and you). If you haven’t tasted the new Starbucks Coffee Liqueur, try a bottle of that at $21.99.
Finally, we would be remiss not to mention what this day is really all about-being grateful for friends, family, country, and all the material things that we enjoy. Especially this year, we should remember those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed by hurricanes, and those who have lost loved ones in foreign wars. Here are some of the things to be grateful for that I wrote down several years ago. How about making up your own list? Happy Thanksgiving from the wine guys at Frugal’s.
Things To Be Thankful For
The golden blanket of leaves around a bare sugar maple. The smell of woodsmoke. The unconditional love of mothers and dogs. Fresh ground coffee. A baby’s laughter. The softness of wool socks. A roaring fire on a cold winter’s night. The aroma of sugar cookies baking. Watching woods fill up with snow when there is nowhere you have to be. Old cemeteries where people you love are buried.
The squeal of a child catching her first fish. Beethoven. Winnie the Pooh. The grain in wood that has been shaped into something beautiful. A chair that remembers you when you sit in it. An unexpected letter from a dear friend. The poignancy of an old photograph. People before us who planted trees they would not live to sit under.
The greenness of sprouting hillsides in the spring. The murmur of water flowing over a gravel bar. The exuberance of a mocking bird’s song. The fragrance of honeysuckle. The freshness of the air after a cooling summer rain. All the things that we can become.
Miss last month's letter? >click here<
For A List of Ed Young's Archived Newsletters >click here<
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