What to Drink with What You Eat -Thanksgiving Wine of the Week

by Gretchen Roberts, Posted Nov 24th 2008 @ 2:01PM

Every year around this time the food and wine world is awash in stories from how to cook the perfect turkey to how to pair wine with an impossibly diverse meal. I've had no less than 5 personal pleas for help from friends and family who are responsible for the day's beverages.

Because there is already so much ink (or keystrokes, I suppose, in the computer age) on Thanksgiving wine pairings, I won't clutter up cyberspace with even more, except to offer the following guidelines that should take the pressure off of anyone worried about bringing the "wrong" thing.

1. Buy American wine. It's an American holiday.

2. Bring a bottle each of bubbly, white, and red. (Double or triple as needed, depending on the number of guests.) Serve the bubbly for an aperitif, and if you want to get fancy, throw in a splash of pomegranate juice and a few pomegranate seeds. Put the white and red on the table and let people choose what they like. When you're talking about dishes from turkey to stuffing to sweet potatoes to cranberry sauce, there's no way one wine will perfectly match, so my motto is bring what you love.

3. There's no such thing as the "wrong" wine for Thanksgiving. If you brought a ham or a strawberry pie, you might be booted out. But anyone showing up to a family gathering with the beverages to get through the day will be welcomed with open arms.

After the jump, read my roundup of what other wine writers are saying about Thanksgiving wine pairings.

Eric Asimov of the New York Times defends his "it's ok to drink non-American wines on Thanksgiving" position.

Mike Steinberger of Slate offers up options for the quintessential American wine, Zinfandel, that won't overwhelm your turkey.

The San Francisco Chronicle's pocket guide to pairing Thanksgiving foods, dish by dish.

Elin McCoy of Bloomberg News says wine is partially about the food, but it's also about the crazy relatives.

An oldie but goodie: Lettie Teague of Food + Wine talks with sommeliers in a Thanksgiving food and wine round table discussion.

Another oldie but goodie: Cooking Light's Karen MacNeil offers four sensible pairing rules for T-day.

If you're not still asleep from the turkey, the Wall Street Journal's Melanie Grayce West, assistant to wine writers John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter, lists wine-tasting events to hit up on Black Friday instead of the mall.

Filed Under: Wine of the Week, Drink Recipes, Holidays, Drinks
Tags: america, champagne, fall, thanksgiving, wine

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-24-2008 @5:22PM doreen said... You know, in Southern Thanksgivings, ham is often on par with turkey as the meat of choice for Thanksgiving. In my early years growing up in South Carolina and spending some time in Florida with relatives for the holiday, there was always a ham served right next to the turkey on the table.
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