Turkey Wine Pairings for the Traditional Thanksgiving Menu

Wondering what Wine goes with Turkey?

As the Thanksgiving countdown is upon us and we prepare the traditional Thanksgiving menus and shopping lists, don’t forget to add wine for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving wines should not be a last minute afterthought, nor should you always leave the wine choices up to a guest unless they are suited to make the turkey wine pairing selections.

Thanksgiving Wine Selections can be Confusing

The traditional standards for wine and food parings change for the Thanksgiving holidays. 

While one might automatically think “white meat equals white wine”; the poultry aspect of turkey is compounded by the heaviness of the traditional Thanksgiving menu. Plus, with a range of guest, especially if you host a larger Thanksgiving meal, you need to account for the personal tastes of your dinner guests.  With our quick and easy wine paring guide here and our Thanksgiving wine recommendations; you’ll be all set even if this is your first Thanksgiving meal!

Appetizers for Thanksgiving

Even if you aren’t planning a full selection of Thanksgiving appetizers for your guest to nibble on, it is a nice touch to any traditional Thanksgiving mean to offer a wine before the actual dinner.

Roederer Estate Sparkling wine is a great for starting for any Thanksgiving . Roederer produces a  rich version of a sparkling wine  that is loaded with spicy cinnamon notes that really compliment the season. With bold apple aromas, a whiff of yeast, and a  complex, layered pear, creme brulee &  baked apple flavors that linger. It has a wine rating of 91 and will be sure to impress even the most finicky guest. What is not finished with the appetizers at Thanksgiving could be served with dessert! Look for our upcoming review of this tasty holiday treat!

While a glass of bubbly sets both the festive mood and gives your guest reason to stay out of the kitchen while you scramble during final preparation; a glass of sparkling wine during the appetizer portion of your Thanksgiving meal also helps your guest pallet to open up and prepares them for the fine feast that will follow.

Best Wine for Thanksgiving  Turkey

Thanksgiving turkey and all the many sides need a turkey wine that can stand up for itself and hold its own against all the other flavors. It helps to have a wine that will compliment the herbs and spices that you cook with. Think about how rich and heavy so many of our traditional Thanksgiving meals items are, and known that the wine must keep up with allot of other influences going on!

Since a white wine is still favored by many and since turkey IS poultry, we also have a great fondness for Beringer 2007 Private Reserve Chardonnay with its wine rating of 92.

Beringer is known for producing California’s top Chardonnays and bound to be recognized by your guests as well.  Full-bodied, rich, and pure, it has toned down the toasty oak component making it acceptable for even those anti-chard people like myself!  With exhibiting excellent nutty, honeyed, buttery notes of orange marmalade, brioche, and spice, it also favors the underlying flavors of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Red Wine Paring with Turkey

With the heavy sides, and great prominence of dark meat, softer reds also make great turkey pairings. Though I adore drinking Pinot all the time, Pinot Noir really lends itself to a perfect Thanksgiving Turkey wine companion. Two that will be perfect for your  Thanksgiving table this year are both 2007 Pinots which makes sense; by all standards 2007 was  very good year for the Pinot Noir grape harvests!

Our California Pinot Noir Thanksgiving Selection  is the 2007 Paraiso Pinot Noir. If the notes from the 92 point Wine Spectator rating are not tempting enough, then check out our review that we did back in October: Paraiso; a Californian Pinot Noir. If I dare quote myself:

“The Paraiso does that “thing” that I love Pinot Noirs for; there is like an explosion of joy in your mouth upon sipping.  First sweet, full of berry, then a long finish with tannins and goodness that is well structured and leaving the drinker wanting more.”

Then another well deserving Pinot Noir from Oregon: Pali Momtazi 2007 Pinot Noir.  This Pinot is also ripe and focused, with modest tannins around a velvety core of earthy berry and spice flavors. The Pali Momtazi will be harmonious and expressive with all your Thanksgiving Day menu items. Also with a rating of 90, you can be guaranteed that if any guest critiques your choices of turkey and wine parings, that the fault is with their pallet.

Add to your Thanksgiving Shopping List!

Hoping you are dully inspired now, we would be amiss not to remind you  that if you order now from Wine on the Way, you should have your Thanksgiving Wine selections right in time for your traditional Thanksgiving Day meals! We have all our Thanksgiving Turkey wines available and ready to ship! Another reason to be thankful….

Cheers and of course, Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tags: Best Wine for Thanksgiving Turkey, Wine Pairing with Turkey, Wines for Thanksgiving

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Wine Pairings with Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post