Looking for good suggestions for wine to serve with your Thanksgiving dishes? Staci comes to the rescue!
The challenge of pairing wine with Thanksgiving food is a diversity of flavors and food textures that the many traditional dishes bring to the table. It’s difficult for a wine to thread the needle between the delicate flavors of the turkey and the more intense characters of the side dishes. An abundance of butter and fat can coat the mouth and make it difficult to fully sense the wine, and therefore appreciate it.
Wines from Italy present a great opportunity for a wonderful food and wine experience at Thanksgiving. There are a few key reasons for this:
- One reason Italian white wines are interesting, and different from white wines from other regions, is the abundance of “texture” or mouthfeel they have. In addition to making some of them quite age worthy, this characteristic also makes them extremely food friendly. A wine with texture will help scrub fat and allow the wine’s flavors to be more appreciated.
- You can break the old “white wine with white meat” rule of thumb in food and wine pairing. There are quite a few Italian red wines that will bring an abundance of flavor without overwhelming the turkey. This allows red wine drinkers to pick a wine with confidence during Thanksgiving day. Witness an island like Sardegna, where the every day red wine, Monica, is consumed with seafood and poultry.
With that in mind, here are some suggestions for pairings with Thanksgiving dinner from the Wide Roots portfolio, complements of our own Staci Daniels. In Staci’s own words:
Simple White Wine Pairing: Villa Corniole Pinot Grigio Trentino DOC
Pinot Grigio is a great, crowd friendly wine pairing for Thanksgiving! Its flavor profile and fluid texture is inviting to most palates. Villa Corniole’s Pinot Grigio has a delicate flavor profile that pairs well with pre-dinner charcuterie and snacks. This Pinot Grigio, a rugged mountain wine from the Dolomites, has a fuller body than most, making it a great pairing with turkey and green beans during dinner.
Adventurous White Wine Pairing: Luciano Landi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC Classico
Typically, fuller bodied white wines are best for pairing hearty Thanksgiving dishes. Verdicchio, while not widely known, is an excellent pairing for dinner due to being fuller bodied and having substantial texture. The ripe apple and peach notes, along with the almond finish, pair perfectly with roasted or fried turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.
Basic Red Wine Pairing: Ghiga Barbera d’ Asti DOCG
A classic wine, Barbera is a great wine to pair with Thanksgiving. A red wine with great acidity and moderate tannin, Barberas pair well with the taste and texture of turkey. The complementing red fruit notes, like cranberry, and baking spices, like cinnamon, in the wine go well with classic dishes like cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes.
Adventurous Red Wine Pairing: Centopassi “Argille di Tagghia Via” Nero d’ Avola Sicilia DOC
If you’re looking for a bolder, more tannic wine that will not overwhelm Thanksgiving dinner, look to this wine. Centopassi’s Nero d’Avola is well structured with integrated tannins and balanced acidity to complement its dark fruit flavors. The baking spices, like nutmeg and clove, and pungent spices, like black pepper, will complement turkey, especially if fried, and sweet potatoes.
What are you planning to drink for Thanksgiving?