By Jane A. Nickles
If your family and friends are anything like mine, there will be an eclectic array of tastes, flavors and aromas scattered about on your Thanksgiving table. From tangy cranberry sauce to gooey-sweet marshmallow yams, spicy stuffing, and meaty turkey, it’s the most schizo meal of the year.
What makes food-and-wine pairing on Thanksgiving a challenge is not the turkey, which can happily pair with a wide variety of wines, but the side dishes. The side dishes surrounding your bird will most likely contain a broad range of tastes and textures, and include items with the wine-challenging components of sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness, not to mention a myriad of competing flavors.
In order to find the perfect multi-tasking wine that can blend well with all of these flavors, stand up to the multitude of tastes on your plate, and run little risk of a food-versus-wine clash; I have developed the following guidelines for finding the perfect wine for a Thanksgiving feast.
Rule #1 – Choose a Wine with Lots of Crisp, Lively Acidity
High acid wines are food-loving wines. Here’s why: tangy foods, such as cranberry sauce, citrus, or anything from the relish tray are going to make any wine taste less acidic. To counterbalance this effect, you need to serve a wine that has very lively acidity to begin with. High acid wines are also palate-cleansing wines and can wash your mouth clean of buttery, spicy, or meaty flavors and make you ready for one more bite!
Rule #2 – Choose a Wine with Lots of Fruity Flavors
Cranberry Sauce, Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Corn and Yams…I hope I have ALL of these dishes on Thanksgiving Day! And since I know I will, I will be sure to choose a wine that has a very fruit-forward style. The reason? Any fruity or sweet flavor in food will diminish the fruitiness or sweetness of a wine. On Turkey Day in the U.S.A. we need to start with a wine with a good deal of fruit flavors, and maybe even sweetness, in order to give the wine flavors a fighting chance!
Rule #3 – Choose a Wine that is Low to Moderate in Tannin
Tannin is an integral part of the taste, flavor, and structure of most red wines, and the component that gives many wines their “velvety” feel. So, even though we love it, we must be careful with tannic wines on Thanksgiving, as too much tannin can clash with salty tastes or spicy flavors. Keep those red wines smooth!
Rule #4 – Choose a Wine with Very Little, if Any, Oak
Oak is a beloved flavor enhancer of many wine styles. However, highly oaked wines can clash with some food flavors. The groaning-board meal style of most holiday feasts usually has at least a few dishes that are slightly sweet, a bit fruity, overly salted or a tad spicy. All of these flavors can spell trouble when combined with oak!
Rule #5 - Choose a Wine that is Moderate in Alcohol
Alcohol, while part of what makes wine so delightful, has a tendency to clash with certain tastes and flavors. If at all possible, keep your wine choices in the moderate alcohol range. Let’s face it…turkey already has enough sleep-inducing tryptophan to make you woozy. We don’t need any help from excessive amounts of alcohol!
What wines fill the bill? Try one of these Wines for Thanksgiving Day:
Riesling
Riesling is one of the most food-loving wines on the planet. I tell my student-chefs at the culinary academy that if they want a wine that shows off food well, choose a Riesling. What makes Riesling so special is its ability to retain high levels of acidity even while very ripe. Riesling will blend fabulously with your turkey, while its fruitiness will allow its unique flavor to stand up to the sweetness of your cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes.
Viognier
Viognier is a medium to full bodied white wine that is intensely aromatic. Typical flavors of Viognier include ripe pear, apricot, citrus, apple, honey, clove, and nutmeg. If these sound like flavors you might find on your Thanksgiving table, you can see why this wine is such a good match for Turkey Day.
Sangiovese
Sangiovese is the super star grape of Chianti fame, and can be a perfect turkey day wine…fruity, earthy, medium bodied, always on the low tannin side…there’s nothing here to clash with your cranberry sauce or sweet potatoes. As a matter of fact, you just might catch a scent of cranberry in that glass…and you will definitely notice some cherry, berry, and spice flavors…all those things that go so well with a turkey dinner.
Merlot
Fruity, spicy, floral-scented Merlot is a sure bet for your Thanksgiving Table. First of all, Merlot is one of the most fruit-forward red wines out there…look for flavors of red grape, cherry, blackberry, and plum. Many people detect a hint of a fruitcake aroma in Merlot, thanks to some candied fruit, spice, and yeasty-toasty aromas…better buy a few bottles for Christmas!
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir might be the best Turkey day choice for those of you that just can’t choose between red or white. Pinot tends to have low tannin, moderate alcohol, and the perfect blend of cherry-berry-smoky-spice aromas and flavors. You might even detect a hint of cranberry aroma in the glass. Pinot Noir is among the best bets for a Thanksgiving wine.
Other Good Choices include Chenin Blanc, Sparkling Wine, Champagne, Dry Rosé, Prosecco, Malbec, and Beaujolais. Whatever you choose, be sure and just…enjoy!