Our family Thanksgiving tradition is generally a chaotic affair that spans two days, four generations, up to 50 people, and more meals than I care to discuss. Needless to say, fine wine isn’t really a consideration in these circumstances. The “wine service” consists mostly of unloading 3 or 4 cases of inexpensive mixed reds, whites and perhaps a few rosés onto tables for guests to grab and pour. To be honest, most of the people attending this event are more concerned about getting to the buffet table while there’s still some crisp skin left on the turkey than about which wine to pair with the mashed potatoes and gravy. And so, with this gastronomic anarchy looming ahead, I’m going to close my eyes now and imagine a different scene … there is candlelight … soft music…a table set for two–no, make that four, or perhaps even six for good conversation and a generous variety of
wines. But wait! Is that Thomas Keller I glimpse working in my kitchen? Judging from the mouthwatering aromas wafting towards us, it must be him.
We’ll have only American wines–and not all of them from California–at this fantasy feast, to go with the mostly American foods. This Michigan fizz in my glass, for example, made by Larry Mawby, one of America’s premier producers of sparkling wine, is robust enough for the caviar from California’s Sacramento River, and it also has enough zip to suit the Wellfleet oysters on the half shell that are being passed around to the guests. (L. Mawby, Blanc de Noirs Brut; made from 100% Pinot Noir from the Leelanau Peninsula, whole cluster pressed, fermented in stainless steel tanks then blended with reserve wines, and fermented a second time in the bottle and aged en tirage before dégorgement; $23.)
As we sit down to eat, glasses of Willakenzie Pinot Gris are poured. The wine is bright and lively, generous in the mouth and utterly delicious with the first course: wild rice risotto topped by butter-and-
lemon drenched chunks of Maine lobster. (Willakenzie Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley, 2008, made entirely in stainless steel, no malolactic, no cork closure, $19).
Wow, I’ve never turkey leg confit before, but what a splendid idea, especially since it frees up all that white meat that can now be used, as nature intended, in sandwiches. The confit, fabulously unctuous after roasting in duck fat, is nestled up against a bed of tender corn pudding. We’ve got two red wines here to enjoy with the dish, one from each coast. The first is a Barbera from California’s Renwood winery, a medium-bodied wine with a core of fresh fruit and enough tannins to scour away the richness of the confit. (Renwood Barbera, Amador County, 2005, aged in small barrels, $23.) In the second glass is a Cabernet Franc from Barboursville, an outstanding Italian-owned winery in Virginia, which shows sophisticated restraint, with layers of fruit anchored to a backdrop of cedar and vanilla (Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve, 2006, aged up to 14 months in new and used French barriques, $23. This wine, incidentally, was a gold medal winner at the 2008 Critics Challenge Wine Competition.)
I may be confessing to a personal failing but I’m not crazy about dessert wines with dessert–it’s usually an overload of sweetness for my palate (just give me a beautifully made sweet wine and a bowl of nuts or chunk of Stilton and I’ll be happy.) But since the caramelized pear and cranberry pie in a gingersnap crust served at this fantasy dinner is not overly sweet it’s a lovely match with Casa Larga Fiori Vidal Ice Wine, from New York’s Finger Lakes region; made in the traditional German Eiswein style, the balance of concentrated fruit sugars and bright acidity is what makes this wine so appealing (Casa Larga Fiori Vidal Ice Wine 2006, the Vidal grapes pressed while still frozen, $44/375 ml.)
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