Now is a good time to get out to your local bottle shop and pick up the libations for your Thanksgiving dinner. Every year the food and wine magazines have a hay-day debating which is the best wine to serve for this holiday so centered around the delicious meal and every year I find it so interesting as they recommend wines from albarino to zinfandel as the perfect “turkey” wine.
What I think is more important in selecting your wines is thinking about what you’re serving with the turkey. From the oyster stuffing to brussel spouts with bacon to cranberry relish to the other 15 necessary dishes, the flavors of the sides served on Thanksgiving really set the tone for your pallete. This means a wine that not only tastes delicious, but has a perfect balance. It needs the zest to cut through the cream-infused mashed potatoes, the complexity to enhance the subtle seasonings in the stuffing and the umph to stand up to the smorgasbord of all the flavors of the table combined.
I’ll be taking a cue from some my favorite wine writers…
Ray Isle’s picks at Food & Wine
Laurie Woolever’s picks for whites at Wine Spectator
Dave McIntyre’s picks at The Washington Post
Eric Asimov’s picks for bottles under $25 in The NY Times
So, think about what you’ll be serving and remember, it’s supposed to be enjoyable!
