I was sorely tempted to flout tradition next week and ditch the traditional turkey in favor of roasting a goose, which I vastly prefer. The very best turkey I’ve ever had was really just okay in my opinion, whereas a well-roasted goose can be fabulous. Moreover, my rebellious inclination was encouraged by the fact that I’d only be cooking for three people, negating the 
only shortcoming of a roast goose, which is that it doesn’t provide lots of meat.
Then I reflected on the fact that the other two people present would be my 90 year-old father and my 89 year-old mother, who are wonderfully agreeable people but also quite traditional about their holidays, and hence likely to be disappointed to miss a turkey on Thanksgiving.
At which point I chickened out, opting for a turkey yet again this year.
[Just for the record, for fear that you’ll think I’m such a jerk that nobody wants to be with me on Thanksgiving, my siblings and their kids will all be off to see their in-laws this year, and my wife happens to be one of very few people required to work on Thanksgiving day. She’s Managing Producer of public radio’s The Splendid Table, and if you are a little unsure of your cooking skills for this Big Meal, you should check out host Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s live, nation-wide, two-hour broadcast of “Turkey Confidential,” which is full of useful advice and hilarious phone calls from freaked-out cooks. And by the way, please excuse the shameless nepotism involved in this digression.]
Anyway, having chickened out on the bird of choice, you can be damned sure that I won’t be chickening out on the wines I’ll be serving this year. None of the usual suspects for me! No Pinot Noir, by Jove, and no bloody way, Beaujolais. No Gewurztraminer either. The world offers plenty of exciting, un-customary wines that can prove very successful for this utterly customary meal, so here are seven whites and seven reds that you should consider:
Whites:
Chasselas from Switzerland
Pinot Blanc from Alsace, Austria, or Oregon, or Pinot Bianco from Friuli
Garnacha Blanca / Grenache Blanc from Spain’s Catalonia or France’s Rhône
Moschofilero or Roditis from Greece
Savennières from the France’s Loire Valley
Verdelho from Australia
Grüner Veltliner from Austria
Reds:
Nero d’Avola from Sicily
Montepulciano from Italy’s Abruzzo
Garnacha from Spain’s Navarra
Dolcetto or Dogliani (a Dolcetto specialty zone) from Piedmont in Italy
Agiorghitiko from Greece
Cariñena from Aragón in Spain
Zweigelt from Austria
All fourteen of these wines will perform very well at your Thanksgiving table, and 13 out of the 
14 could be purchased for less than $20. Indeed, given the fact that a typical Thanksgiving meal involves a lot of variation in flavors and textures, relatively simple wines tend to perform especially well, so you’d be well advised to purchase reasonably priced examples of these wines. That will minimize the chances that you’ll get an oaky rendition.
The 14th wine that would likely cost you more than $20 is the Savennières, which is the world’s premier dry Chenin Blanc from a tiny appellation that is fortuitously sited on a little bend along the Loire River. It would be sensational with most preparations of Thanksgiving dinner, but if you can’t pony up for a bottle, you could substitute a Vouvray (also from the Loire) or a Chenin Blanc from South Africa and probably be very happy with the outcome.
So there you have it…there’s no excuse for drinking the same old wine along with that same old meal!
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