Thanksgiving Wine
‘Tis the Season! What a great time to launch a Wine Blog!
Thanksgiving provides the perfect opportunity to talk about what you should be drinking with your upcoming holiday family feast.
From a wine pairing perspective, Thanksgiving can be challenging and forgiving at the same time. Challenging in that there isn’t a time-honored, no-brainer standard choice; Forgiving in that you can choose what works for you without fear of “what was she/he thinking?”
So, having just said there isn’t a wrong answer to this quiz, let me suggest several wines which are bound to please your guests (and if they don’t, tell them The Wine Doctor messed up your prescription). I will profile and taste three, plus suggest a few more:
Pinot Noir
If there is a go-to Thanksgiving Wine, this might be it. Pinot Noir is that versatile, cross-over wine that you can have with both lighter and more substantive food. If Turkey is the star of your meal, you will appreciate its ability to compliment both white and dark meat, as well as some of the savory supporting cast on the plate (or plates if you run out of room on the first…).
As we will get into in a future post, Pinot Noir can be a fickle grape, tough to grow at times and therefore often comes with a higher retail price tag. Below $18-19, it can start to be challenging to find a bottle with character and complexity.
Bearing in mind my pricing guidelines, I chose the Pinot Noir below, Giapoza, because it delivers on character and “drinks better” than its $16 retail price point at Heinens.
Giapoza 2016 Pinot Noir
Giapoza is produced by the Pozzan family, well-known California winemakers. It is named after their 5th generation family addition: Gianna Pozzan. This wine is labeled “California”, meaning its grapes are sourced from multiple locations. For this vintage, 25% of the grapes came from the Russian River Valley, a premier Pinot Noir growing region in Sonoma, and 75% from other areas of the California North Coast appellation, which would include all of Sonoma and Napa, as well as other areas. Since it is Pinot Noir, it probably comes from areas like Sonoma Coast, Carneros or even Mendocino further north. It spent less than a year aging in Oak.
Tasting:
In the glass, Giapoza has that typical pale ruby/garnet color. When we do a deeper dive on Pinot, you will see the color can cover a broader range than some other varietals.
Following our Wine 101 guidelines, some good swirling shows off those classic pinot noir aromas of red fruits: I got raspberry predominantly. I also picked up a subtle secondary aroma of mushroom, which should serve us well (no pun intended) at our Thanksgiving table.
Need to ask: Have you read WineMD’s Wine 101 yet? If not, no more blog posts for you until you do!
Giapoza delivers on the palate: nice cherry/black cherry and raspberry flavors, backed up by some spice notes, also a great quality to accompany what many of us will be eating. This wine has firm acidity and lower tannins, which is what you want with typical Thanksgiving fare.
The Bottom Line: Pinot Noir is a “sure to work/sure to please” pick for a meal like this. Giapoza is a great value. Allows you to buy some other choices for your guests…keep reading!
Beaujolais
Stop right there - this is not what you think. Many of you may be familiar with a very popular, affordable but light-weight wine that hits our shores every year at this time called Beaujolais Nouveau. This is a fruity, fresh wine that is made from the Gamay grape. Wine 101 Alert: this is another one of those wines where people assume name = grape. WRONG. Beaujolais is an area in the southern portion of Burgundy, not a grape varietal. All Beaujolais, not matter what quality level, are made from Gamay.
The Nouveau Beaujolais is harvested, fermented and released in the same year. Blink and you’ve missed it. Beyond Nouveau, there are two more Beaujolais designations: Beaujolais-Village and Cru Beaujolais. Cru is the superior of the two and the one we are recommending here. There are only 10 Cru designated regions in Beaujolais. The different soil and wine making process used by these Cru producers results in a red wine with firm acidity and “punch” compared to its Nouveau cousin.
The Gamay grape is related to Pinot Noir, so if we agree that Pinot works for Thanksgiving, Cru Beaujolais will as well. Actually, it is a great choice for your guests who favor white wines but are willing to try a lighter-style red.
Our wine comes from the Morgon region of Beaujolais (see map below). Amongst Cru Beaujolais, they can be a little fuller bodied than some other Cru, which can be more delicate or floral in their style. This is also a Heinens wine, priced at $19 retail.
Notice a few things on the label:
The name of the vintner: “Maison L’Envoye", which translates to “House of the Messenger”. This team focuses on the traditional grapes of Burgundy: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay. They make wines not only in France, but Oregon, Tasmania and New Zealand as well.
You see the name of the Cru, Morgon, and below it “Cote du Py”, which is the highest point in Morgon, actually an extinct volcano, where the soil is a unique combination of manganese and iron-rich schist.
On the right hand edge, you will actually see the varietal name, in this case “Gamay Noir”, and the vintage (2016). This vintage spent 8 months aging in French Oak.
Tasting:
The Morgon has a slightly darker color than the Giapoza- more of a pale purple. On the nose, the first thing that struck me was a scent of violets, but this quickly changed to a more pronounced aroma of strawberries.
I told you I don’t want to get too wine geeky on this site, but sometimes I may slip into a phrase or two that crosses over. I will consciously use one here: with this wine, I found the taste followed the nose. By that I mean what I tasted was very much what the smell suggested. This isn’t always the case, as you will see over time.
The Morgon has a taste that reminds you of strawberries. Actually, something richer, like a strawberry cobbler, which can mean only good things if there’s room for dessert. The Morgon’s tannins are a bit more noticeable than the Giapoza, and provide a nice frame for the long finish. The wine has good acidity, as well as some minerality that creeps in from the Cote du Py where the grapes are grown.
The Bottom Line: This is a very versatile wine that will compliment a lot of different foods. It is probably a richer example of Cru Beaujolais, but in the context of picking good Thanksgiving wines, that’s probably not a bad thing. Give this one serious consideration!
Syrah
Enough with the cross-overs. Let’s find a serious red that still checks the Thanksgiving meal boxes! There are several bigger red wines that are good for Thanksgiving, and your attending physician will prescribe at least one more below, but I want you to try this guy: Syrah.
We need to be specific here, and without getting in too deep on a future blog topic, the Syrah I want you to find comes from France. More specifically, the south of France known as the Rhone Valley. The Rhone Valley is adjacent to the Mediterranean, just west of Provence, and runs straight north. It is really divided into two regions: Southern and Northern. The winemaking styles and predominant varietals differ somewhat between the two.
For our meal, we are focused on the Northern Rhone, where Syrah is king. The map below will help you see where our wine comes from.
Syrah got its start in the Rhone Valley, but has moved on to Australia (where their version is known as Shiraz), and other countries. It is a rich wine that is often described as “meaty”- let’s wait and see if that is the case below...These can be higher tannin wines, with a lot of earthy, fruit flavors going on.
My recommended wine comes from the Northern Rhone region known as “Crozes-Hermitage”. Find the red colored region in the map above, just to the east of Tournon-sur Rhone. This is yet another Heinens wine, retailing for $24. A little above my blog guidelines, but hey, its the holidays, and this is good wine.
Fear not Out-of-Towners, you can find an equivalent at your local wine merchant, and I will soon be profiling wines you can order online from The Wine Library.
Let’s see what this label has to say:
No mistaking where this wine is from. The Crozes-Hermitage appellation (the defined and protected geographical designation of where the grapes are from) jumps off the label. No help telling you it is Syrah. If you like this wine (and follow this blog), you will know in the future you are drinking a Syrah from the Northern Rhone.
The producer is Delas, a family making wine in the region since the 1800s. By the 1960s, they had become one of the top producers of Rhone wines. In 1977, they merged with the Champagne producer Deutz, and in 1993 were acquired by the famous Champagne house of Louis Roederer.
Tasting:
The Syrah has what I think is a pale to medium purple hue. The nose absolutely delivers those dark fruits, but just as noticeable is a classic aroma of earth and even some smoke.
Tasting this wine you get those same dark fruits as on the nose- mostly plums. Then comes that earthy, “meaty” finish which can be characteristic of Northern Rhone Syrahs. This is a fairly full-bodied wine, with a long finish. The tannins are well structured, but this wine doesn’t spend much time in oak at all. I also get some pepper/spice notes, but more in the background.
The Bottom Line:
This is a rich, satisfying red that is a perfect match with game. It should be an ideal accompaniment to darker meats and spices. My stuffing uses sausage, which will pair well with a Crozes-Hermitage. I might be adding this one to my table- maybe you should too!
Other Suggestions
The wines highlighted above are by no means the only successful wine pairings for your holiday meal. A Thanksgiving gathering can be made all the more enjoyable with one or more of the following wines (expect future blog posts to learn more about these):
Zinfandel
This is a very American grape that goes well with a very American holiday. While Zinfandel does trace back to the Old World (Wine 101 check!), it has really been popularized in the States. It has bright fruit flavors and plenty of spice notes, all good matches with what is on your table. Depending on where it is from and the winemaker’s style, Zinfandel can be either on the jammy side or sometimes more of a spicey, almost briary finish. Expect moderate tannins and higher acidity (which also translates to higher alcohol). California makes great Zinfandel. Look for wines from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma, also Napa and Lodi.
Bubbles!
Always a good choice, and not just around the Holidays. Sparkling wine is festive and a great compliment to almost anything you are serving. It is the perfect start and end to the meal. Serve it alone or with with appetizers, as well as dessert. As I said above, we will soon be doing a deep Bubble dive for December, but for now, feel free to pick an affordable sparkler from Spain (Cava), or maybe an Italian Fanciacorta, or simply a nice bottle from California. Hard to go wrong, and your guests will be impressed!
That’s all for now. Until next time…Cheers!