John Brown has been a wine and food columnist in West Virginia since the 1980’s. His regular columns appear in the Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail under the title Vines & Vittles.
TURKEY WINE: Which wines goes with whcih parts of a turkey feast
For many of us, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are fowl affairs because the turkey will once again be the centerpiece of these traditional holiday feasts. Thanksgiving is also the beginning of the 40-day holiday season, which includes Chanukah and Christmas, culminating with the New Year’s celebration.
It is also a time of year when you will spend about 70 percent of your yearly wine budget, purchasing bottles for parties, gifts and holiday dinners. For me, it’s the most exciting time of the year. I’m like a kid in a candy store! The shelves of local wine shops are overflowing with bottles of every type and pedigree.Turkey will once again be the featured main course for Thanksgiving and Christmas in my house. In year's past, I have written about the culinary versatility of turkey which can be successfully paired with red or white (as well as light or full-bodied) wines. The reason is that the bird is blessed with meat that has a variety of flavors, colors and textures, which present opportunities for us to try a lot of different wines.
The type of stuffing you use adds a whole other flavor dimension which -- depending upon the nature of the dressing -- opens up even more wine possibilities. Thus, the holidays also offer we wine hedonists a rare opportunity to sample a virtual sea of wines.
Here are a few wine recommendations to match your holiday turkey and associated culinary accoutrementa. The traditional oven-roasted turkey with sage-flavored dressing does wonderfully well with sauvignon blanc, especially the wines that exhibit herbal characteristics (Kenwood or Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc).
Alsatian wines, such as riesling or even gewürztraminer, will also work well with this more traditional treatment (Pierre Sparr, Trimbach and Zind Humbrecht are some of my favorite producers). If you prefer red wine, you can try any number of California or Washington State cabernet sauvignons (Louis Martini, Hedges, or Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernets are excellent choices).
My mother would oven-roast her turkey, but her dressing had no sage flavoring. Rather, she would season with salt, pepper and garlic and then add roast chestnuts and Italian sausage to her bread dressing. I have used full, rich California chardonnay (Falcor, Cakebread or Talley) to accompany this meal and it has worked exceptionally well.
I also have used full-bodied Sonoma or Amador County zinfandel (try Ridge Lytton Springs or Renwood Old Vines Zins). On those occasions that I smoke or charcoal grill the “national bird,” I’ll usually create a stuffing of ancho peppers, chili powder along with chipotles (smoked jalapenos), corn bread, corn, chorizo sausage and cheddar cheese. This dressing will get your attention and it demands wines that can stand up to the more intense flavors.
My favorite wines with this spicy, smoky meal are pinot noir from either California or Oregon, or French Rhones such as Chateauneuf Du Pape (try Domaine Serene or Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir from Oregon, Cambria or Rochioli Pinot Noirs from California and Beaucastel (photo at right) or View Telegraph from Chateauneuf Du Pape).
And how about dessert (or as we call it in my home “prelude to the couch”)? Whether it’s pumpkin pie and whipped cream or some other belly-buster, you’ve got to try some late harvest riesling or moscato with the final course (Ch. St. Jean Late Harvest Riesling or Nivole Moscato D’Asti are excellent choices).
See the companion post at Rich Ireland's 'Beers To You' blog on adding the right kinds of beer to a Thanksgiving feast.
