Thanksgiving Wine Tips

We know these tips may be late, but hopefully "better late than never" for at least some of our readers.

Pairing wine with Thanksgiving dinner is difficult because of the variety of flavors and sweetness levels traditionally on the table.  We recommend serving several wines with Thanksgiving dinner and finding out what you, your family and friends, like best.

Light reds like Gamay, light Pinot Noir, and dry rose (semi-dry depending on your taste) go well with turkey.  Light reds and dry roses also stand up to dressings and many side dishes, although cranberries and sweet potatoes (especially with brown sugar and marshmellows) may make the wine taste a little too light and maybe a touch bitter.  Vynecrest produces a Nouveau Beaujolais made from 100% Gamay and Pinnacle Ridge produces a Chambourcin Rose, both of which should pair well with turkey. 

Some whites also pair well with turkey but too often whites will be overwhelmed by cranberries, sweet potatoes, and some stuffings.  A light white with touch of sweetness, rather than a heavy, oaked chardonnay, should work well.

We especially like dry and semi-dry white and rose sparklings with turkey and other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. 

What We're Drinking

This Thanksgiving we're drinking a dry rose from Barren Ridge (one of our favorite Virginia wineries), Brut Rose from Pinnacle Ridge (a very dry, light, sparkling rose made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes), and Trapiche Extra Brut Sparkling from Mendoza, Argentina, which we've reviewed several times and have used at several large wine tasting events. We also highly recommend Manatawny's Blanc de Blanc sparkling, especially if you like your sparkling with just a touch of residual sugar (sweetness) and Pinnacle Ridge's Blanc de Blanc if you like even a touch more sweetness to your sparkling.  Vynecrest has produced a sparkling Chambourcin, but we have not tried it.

More about Sparkling

Pinnacle Ridge's Brut Rose and Trapiche Extra Brut are very dry and so may be too dry for some readers.  The Brut level of sweetness (dryness) is more popular and many readers will prefer a semi-dry level of sweetness in their sparkling wine.  Both Manatawny's and Pinnacle Ridge's Blanc de Blancs are good bets in this medium range (with Mantawny's being a bit drier than Pinnacle's).  Extra Dry sparkling is a little sweeter than Brut and Demi-Sec is clearly a sweet dessert-type sparkling. 

Korbell produces a full line of sparklings (from naturel which is the driest to demi-sec which is the sweetest), with most of these usually available in most PLCB stores.  Flexinet from Spain also produces several sparklings and is worth a try. 

Let us know what you've been drinking and what you like !

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!