9 Wine Pairing Tips for a Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving Wine and Food Pairing Menu Enclosed
What wines do I serve with my Thanksgiving Dinner? My inbox is overflowing! All sommeliers get the most wine pairing questions during the holidays. I always want to give a satisfying answer. Still, I usually say, “It depends.” What are you serving? How do you prepare your turkey/ham/brisket? Will the turkey be roasted, brined, smoked, or deep-fried? Will you start with appetizers? Will you have a salad? What are your side dishes? Do you want to serve a dessert wine?
And would you like to have my Thanksgiving Menu? Yes, I do put out a menu with wine and food pairings every year. This year my wine choices come from California’s Napa Valley, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, France’s Burgundy, Texas’ Hill Country, France’s Champagne, New Mexico, and Portugal’s Douro River region. See .pdf below. For a .doc version, please send me your email by responding to this email newsletter.
Here are my top 9 wine pairing suggestions for Thanksgiving.
Remember, these are not hard and fast rules, just guidelines:
1. Serve what you like to drink, not what you think you must serve.
2. Be festive. Serve a sparkling wine as a welcoming aperitif. I am serving both a French Champagne and a New Mexico Sparkling Rosé.
3. Match the weight of the food with the weight of the wine. A light wine with a light appetizer is a good example.
4. Use bridge ingredients (cheese, fruit, nuts) in a recipe to make wine more compatible with vegetables, salad dressings, and spices. Pear, Walnut, Blue Cheese Salad courtesy of Birmingham’s Hot and Hot Fish Club.
5. Avoid heavily tannic wine with turkey and spicy casseroles. Pinot Noir is always a good choice for roasted white meats as it has lighter tannins. Dry Rosé works well, too. Keep that special Cabernet Sauvignon in the cellar/shelf, as the tannins will fight the spiciness of the food. Tyler Florence Spatchcocked Turkey with Sage Butter Gravy
6. Red Zinfandel’s flavors of plum, pepper, jammy blackberry, and tobacco can hold up to a smoked or deep-fried turkey.
7. A Garnacha/Grenache-based wine, domestic or international, works well with ham--especially those honey-based hams or if served with cherry sauce. The raspberry, baked cherry, and spice notes are a perfect pairing. Baked Ham with Brown Sugar-Honey Glaze courtesy of Trisha Yearwood, Food Network Magazine.
8. Full-bodied white wines like Chardonnay and Viognier pair well with heavier sauces, root vegetables, or cheese. I am serving both a French White Burgundy (Chardonnay) and a California Viognier. Melange of Roasted Root Vegetables courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
9. Dessert wines should be sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste flat/sour. [picture of pie here] I am serving a 20 year Tawny Port which matches well with the pumpkin pie. Classic Pumpkin Pie courtesy of Martha Stewart.
A Thanksgiving Wine and Food Pairing Menu
See my sample menu and pairing suggestions and download the .pdf menu below. Alton Brown’s Good Eats Turkey is a favorite recipe traditionally in my home, but now I also use the Tyler Florence Spatchcocked Turkey recipe, too. We brine the turkey the day before and the resulting roasted turkey retains optimal moisture. Have you ever spatchcocked a turkey? Check out Tyler Florence’s recommendations. I recommend it!
Let me know what wines worked for you this year. A Happy Wine Wanderings Thanksgiving!
My Wine Choices
2006 Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV, $65
Ratings: Decanter -- 94 points.
Gruet Winery Brut Rosé ,$17
Ratings: Wine.com’s Wilfred Wong – 91 points
This is a lively USA- New Mexico-grown sparkling rosé with a fruity nose of red currants, and the bubbles are soft and pleasant.
2020 Bending Branch Texas Tannat Rosé, Tallent Vineyards, $23
Ratings: Tallent and Bending Branch shared top honors in the FWSSR/BRIT Texas Sustainable competition.
An irresistible bright pink! Charming, refreshing, refined, and with plenty of juicy, enticing, strawberry and berry fruit. Great with goat cheese and toasted walnuts.
2016 Jadot Puligny-Montrachet White Burgundy, $85-$125 – I’ve been aging this wine.
The 2018 Jadot Puligny-Montrachet is $125
Ratings: Vinous -- 94 Points.
A luxurious White Burgundy from one of the more “affordable” Burgundy producers.
2020 Chappellet Prichard Hill Viognier, $35
Cold Creek Vineyard is a great source for this delicious Viognier. One of the best in the region.
2020 Mondavi Fumé Blanc, $30
Ratings: Wine Spectator 91 Points
2018 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Merlot, $50
Ratings: Wine Enthusiast -- 92 Points
Willamette Valley is one of America’s best Pinot Noir regions. Vibrant raspberry and violet aromas, with cherry and black tea accents.
2018 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, $45
Ratings: Robert Parker 93 Points
Pinot Noir is considered turkey’s perfect pairing. This is one of the finest.
Warre’s 20-Year Old Tawny Port, $43
Ratings: Wine Spectator 91 Points
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