Turkey Day

Let's experiment!

People count on AWS members to be knowledgeable about wine. It's normal.

Normally, the  pairings for your Turkey Day meal are reds made from Pinot Noir or Gamay grapes and whites made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. Occasionally, American Zinfandel, Champagne, or whites such as Chenin Blanc, Riesling, or Gewürztraminer will get invited, too. These are the "usual suspects" for one reason: they’re good with standard Thanksgiving food staples.

We would never advise anyone against these conventional wine picks.  People love Beaujolais (made from Gamay) on any day of the year. That said, the holidays are an opportunity to try food and wines that are unexpected, as we learned at our last tasting. Part of the fun of celebration is having things you don’t normally eat or drink, because a holiday is ultimately just a party. Let's get away from "normal" for one day!

Instead of domestic Chardonnay or Chablis, try semi-dry Vouvray 

Wines from the Loire Valley are popular right now, and the grape Chenin Blanc is having a renaissance. Vouvray is an appellation from the Touraine region of the Loire that produces whites from Chenin Blanc grapes with a little Arbois mixed in. They range from dry to sweet and can be sparkling, semi-sparkling, or still.  What’s great about Chenin Blanc is that it isn’t necessarily the most fruit-forward white, so a semi-dry bottle can have notes like honeysuckle and spice. If you’ve ever dipped a French fry into soft-serve ice cream, you’ll understand why the contrast of slightly sweet with salty works here.

Instead of domestic or French Sauvignon Blanc, try one from the Marlborough region of New Zealand

Marlborough’s unique terroir gives these wines a palate with tropical notes like grapefruit or passion fruit. While tropical fruit probably isn’t the first flavor that comes to mind when you think about fall in the U.S., the acidity of these wines matches up nicely with the tartness of cranberry sauce. When buying a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc for Thanksgiving, look for one with a moderate ABV that won’t overpower the food.

Instead of Champagne...get a Champagne

When it comes to Champagne, just spend the money to get real, capital-C Champagne. A brut nature (no sugar added during secondary fermentation) Blanc de Blancs (made entirely from Chardonnay) is great.  If you splurge for Champagne, you should enjoy it before your meal unless you’re  a Rockefeller heir, in which case, you should drink Champagne with every meal.

Beyond Champagne, there are lots of sparkling beverage options for actually pairing with your food. A French sparkling wine made in a region other than Champagne is a great option as they can have really great flavor components for a more reasonable price. Try a Crémant de Loire or a Crémant D’Alsace. Another great choice is to get a Cava from Spain.

Another great sparkling beverage to have with your Thanksgiving meal is a sparkling apple cider! Apples are very autumn, ciders are cheap, and they have a lower alcohol content, which makes them approachable for most of your guests and appropriate for marathon eating and drinking. The stewed fruit flavors, round mouth-feel, and crispness accent the saltiness in savory dishes, enhance the fresh flavor of vegetables, and tone down the sweetness of your sweet sides.

Instead of domestic Pinot Noir or Burgundy, try Jumilla Monastrell  

Jumilla is a DO in southern Spain. A number of red grapes are grown in the region, but Monastrell (also known as Mourvèdre or Mataró) is the most successful varietal grown there.  You'll find enough acidity in the wine for it to clear the palate, and the notes of vanilla, cocoa powder, green pepper, and olive are smooth and offer some complexity with the food pairings. The flavor characteristics are subtle enough not to clash with the cranberry sauce or the green beans, but they're really good with a bite of turkey and gravy.

Instead of domestic Zinfandel, try an Amarone della Valpolicella

Not only is Zinfandel good with game meat, but we grow a lot of the stuff in the U.S., making it an American classic in some ways. They’re also notoriously high in alcohol, making them great for pairing with assertive foods like BBQ and roasted peppers. If you can find one with high enough acidity, these wines are balanced enough not to overpower Thanksgiving dishes, but the price tag for a good California zin can be high.

Like a Zinfandel, Amarone della Valpolicella is a powerful wine high in alcohol, bursting with flavors. They usually run well above the $20-a-bottle mark, but regulations in the wine producing regions and sub-regions of France, Spain, and Italy make wine quality more consistent across price points. Amarone della Valpolicella is made near Venice from mostly Corvina grapes left to partially desiccate in whole bunch clusters before being slowly fermented. This process brings out intense raisin, currant, fig, and fruit compote richness while rounding out tannins. Because it is high in alcohol, you’ll want this wine to come last. Think of it as the wine to drink with your plate of seconds and up to your pre-pie nap.

If you can’t find an Amarone on the cheaper end, look for a “ripasso” wine instead. Ripasso della Valpolicella are red wines that are “passed through” the pomace (grape leftovers) from Amarone, lending them some dried fruit flavor and viscosity. Because this process is less labor-intensive, they run on the cheaper side.

Remember, unusual wine pairings are holiday fun in an experimental way, so don’t stress. You can’t pick a “wrong” wine. And, if you discover an unconventional pairing that works, tell us about it!

Leftovers again!

The REAL Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The day after Thanksgiving, or as it’s become known lately, Black Friday, is the real holiday, but not because of the sales and shopping.  No crowd, no stress, no gifts – just leftover food! If you’re like me, you have stuffing on the brain. Thanksgiving is the meal I most look forward to all year (especially when Chef Mark is doing the cooking), and that’s largely because of the leftovers sandwich that comes the next day. After the Thanksgiving dinner leftovers are stashed safely in the fridge for the night, it seems only right to give them the attention they deserve when they inevitably re-emerge the next day.

Reheated Thanksgiving dinner plate

You kept declining the offer to “make you a plate,” but they wouldn’t let you leave without it. Now, you’re hungry and that congealed mess of browns, greens and smattering of reds looks delicious. Pair it with a Beaujolais, because you’ll probably already have some left over anyway, and it worked for dinner, so it will work with a bit of everything. 

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Villages

PRODUCT CODE: 000007237

Roast turkey (no cranberry), provolone and arugula on ciabatta sandwich

We welcome this Italian twist on an American classic and recommend pairing it with an Albariño, because sometimes there’s no need to overthink things.

Casa Do Valle Grande Escolha Vinho Verde Portugal 2014

PRODUCT CODE: 000049841

Turkey Pot Pie

The meat pie, an old American standby, goes back to the Roman Empire, when live birds were sometimes cooked under the pie crust. Don’t worry. Your bird will be cooked (twice, in fact). Pair it with a barrel-fermented chardonnay. The oak complements the turkey, gravy and crust. 

Chateau Ste Michelle Chardonnay Columbia Valley

PRODUCT CODE: 000006813

That last slice of pumpkin pie

The remaining slice is a sweet start to the morning after and, a glass of sherry makes everything better. If you’re going to get the jump on your holiday shopping, you might as well get a head start on eggnog, too. An Oloroso sherry makes a nice choice.

Bodegas Yuste Aurora Oloroso

PRODUCT CODE: 000074886

Green bean casserole

We have a hunch why this dish appears only once per year.  What goes best with this soggy, defrosted green bean casserole bathed in mushroom soup concentrate? If you love it, go for Sancerre. We won’t judge.

Florian Mollet Sancerre 2016

PRODUCT CODE: 000048684

Cold yams and marshmallows

Last night it was a warm, sweet side dish with butter and maple syrup. In our opinion, adding a spongy sugar confection to an already sweet carb makes it a dessert, so warm it up like you would apple pie and enjoy it with a dessert wine like a Vin Santo or a Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé.

Domaine Sigalas Vin Santo Santorini 2009

PRODUCT CODE: 000073743

Happy Thanksgiving from The Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Wine Society!

Click here for the blogspot!

It's "Sparkle Season!"

It’s after Hallowe’en, so people inevitably start asking for Thanksgiving wine suggestions. The typical answer is Pinot Noir or Cote du Rhone, or a reasonably priced French blend, because they’re easy to drink and work with food.

But, as AWS members, you never do what’s typically recommended, do you? Venture down some different wine aisles this Thanksgiving. Your guests will appreciate your inventiveness and it’ll help get the conversation going.

There are few standard things to remember, though.

·         Don’t break out the expensive stuff (unless you’re inviting me for dinner). Odds are that the majority of your guests won’t appreciate your Chateau Margaux, so save it for another day.

·         Pick low-alcohol wines because you need to be able to drink all day with your mother-in-law sitting across the table.

·         You’ll need quite a few bottles on hand so be price-conscious.

·         Finally, regardless of what you pour with dinner, it’s always nice to start with a glass of sparkling wine. Whether it’s Champagne, Prosecco or Cava, it all works, so let your budget decide. It prepares the palate for all the food to come. Plus, it’s festive and generally puts people in a good mood. So at least the day starts off on a good note.

Pick a Red: Try Good (Not ‘New') Beaujolais.

Pinot Noir and Cote du Rhone may always be the Thanksgiving red wines, but try a Cru Beaujolais this year. Beaujolais, which is also a small area in France just south of Burgundy, is made from the Gamay grape. Think of Gamay as Pinot Noir’s little-sister. And the Cru wines, or the higher quality versions, have soft tannins, taste like cherry and have a little spice, and will pair well with turkey and a variety of sides. Plus, these wines are lower in alcohol.

The problem is that Beaujolais has gotten a bad name thanks to the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau, which basically means "this year’s wine.” The Nouveau wines are harvested every September bottled and shipped worldwide to your favorite State Store by mid-November. 

They’re fine and fun but don’t have the complexity you need for dinner. So instead, pick a bottle that says “Cru” or “Villages” on it. And the best part is they’re all around $20.

 Try a Rosé

Rosés are no longer unfairly associated with the sweet styles of white Zinfandels (think 1980s). The best are dry, delicately flavored wines that are great with turkey.  We had a tasting (Drink Pink) of a few different Rosé wines recently, and they were all very food friendly wines.

Pick a White: But Try a Different Grape.

Often people assume red wine should be served with the Thanksgiving meal but don’t overlook the whites. They’re light, refreshing, easy drinking, but, try some new ones.

Chenin Blanc.

South Africa is the largest producer of the Chenin Blanc grape. The first Chenin Blanc grapes were found in France but South Africa owns it now because it grows so well there.

The wines are light-bodied, like a Sauvignon Blanc, but thanks to the land and wine production methods, they have more zest than the French versions. South African Chenin Blancs are slowly getting the attention they deserve, but for now, they’re still undervalued. As an added bonus: most South African wines are screw top, which makes opening bottles all day very easy.

Pinot Grigio

Travel across the ocean to Italy and meet some new white grapes.  Italian whites are often overlooked because the overpowering Barolos and Super Tuscans get all the press. But the whites are very refreshing.

One white wine I’d urge folk to consider serving this Turkey Day is Pinot Grigio from Italy. As a category, this might just be the ideal Thanksgiving wine. The wines are neither too light nor too heavy. They always have plenty of fruit, and generally, not too much oak. Plus, the price of a decent Pinot Grigio remains, for the most part, reasonable.

Riesling

The vote for perfect white wine pairings, however, has to go to German Rieslings. Well made, a great value, low in alcohol and tasty. Don’t be scared off by the incomprehensible labels. Just look for labels that have Kabinett or Spätlese written on them.

 For Dessert

We can recommend any number of delicious dessert wines, but the one that stands out is Quady’s Essensia Orange Muscat wine. (Orange Muscat is the type of grape) It has bright golden amber color. Lively, fruity aromas and flavors of dried apricot, golden raisin, with a lively, sweet medium-to-full body, fine, fruit tannins and no oak.  A delicious, zesty and flavor packed dessert wine.

So go and be adventurous. Try something new. The holidays often become stressful but picking out wine shouldn’t be. It's a weekday, and we're with people we care about, in the middle of the afternoon, with an abundance of comfort food on the table. Thanksgiving is the pause that refreshes.

We adore the mixed up menu because we adore the holiday. It's adoration by association. Food might be the focus of the day, but if that combination of flavors is so good, why don't we have it more than once a year? On Thanksgiving, cherish the food in the moment. It’s the same with the wine. And with your people.

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