Need help picking a Thanksgiving wine? These top experts make it easy

You haven’t yet decided what Thanksgiving wine to serve. Or you’re unsure about the selections you’ve made. And time is short.

The anxiety!

At The Washington Post, wine writers Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg know full well the pressures we’re under choosing wines for this annual feast.

“Even avid wine lovers can be struck with a temporary case of oenophobia — fear of wine — around Thanksgiving,” they say, with the wisdom of being award-winning wine authors. “The prospect of choosing a bottle that will please all of your guests and complement all of your dishes can perplex the most confident holiday host.”

But don’t despair. There’s a rich bounty of tips and picks across the Web, just waiting to be harvested.

Page and Dornenburg, for example, serve up a batch of ideas “to help calm any oenophobic tendencies.”

Among their several selections, a couple that caught my eye were the Australian sparkling Shiraz “bursting with berries and bubbles” and the Napa Valley Merlot that’s sure to come alive “with impressive blackberry and tart cherry flavors.”

Meanwhile, at epicurious, Natalie MacLean follows up on her earlier suggestions for Thanksgiving pairings with a list of “10 Top Thanksgiving Wines,” ranging from a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a German Riesling to a French Pinot Noir and an Italian Valpolicella.

All chosen because they’re “generous, juicy, fruit-forward wines that will both moisten the turkey and complement many of the side dishes on the table.”

Several full Thanksgiving menus accompany wine selections at Bon Appétit, leaving little guesswork about what goes along with everything from a country-style menu to a vegetarian feast.

For example, the Prosper Maufoux 2005 Beaujolais, Burgundy, a “food-friendly” wine boasting “plum and cherry flavors” seems a nicely priced country crowd-pleaser at $12.

Even Martha Stewart has some advice — a pocketbook-pleasing tidbit from bygone years: “Mid-priced is best. It’s not necessary to splurge on wine for Thanksgiving. That’s because the traditional menu has a lot of sweet elements, such as cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes, that aren’t flattering to complex and subtle wine. A well-made wine with more straightforward character will likely taste better.”

And the best advice of all comes from Page and Dornenburg: “After all is said and done, don’t sweat it. Thanksgiving ultimately is not about the wine, but about being grateful for the love of those you’re with.”

Let’s drink to that.

Weekend wine bargains: Thanksgiving edition, experts pick reds and whites

Comparing the picks: A special survey of Thanksgiving selections from popular wine experts and publications.

The spotlight in on bargains and best values ranging from an Italian bubbly to an “Old Vines” Beaujolais (with a couple California favorites to boot).

 

2006 Chardonnay, Justin Vineyards & Winery, Calif. Between $15 and $20
2006 Beaujolais “Old Vines” Jean-Paul Brun, France $14
Edward Deitch — Both red and white wines pair well with a Thanksgiving feast. “But which reds and which whites? That’s a somewhat tougher question…” This two-part series examines both, including the two picks listed here and several others in the linked stories: Part 1, whites. Part 2, reds.

Bisol 2005 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Crede Brut, Italy
Dr. Vino — A bubbly for starters. This dry Prosecco has been a sure hit at Dr. Vino’s wine classes. Along with other selections as the meal progresses. $15

Rodney Strong Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2001, Sonoma County, Calif.
Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher — The two Wall Street Journal wine writers serve up some favorites for the CBS News Saturday Early Show. $13

2004 or 2005 Zind Humbrecht Pinot d’Alsace, France
The Dallas Morning News — This Thanksgiving wine-tasting panel’s favorite … “rich and slightly honeyed, with intriguing spice notes.” One of several listed. $14

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc)
  • Organic (red, white, in between)

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, “Napa, California”), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!