This from my syndicated Copley News Service column, published earlier this week:
I vividly recall my first Thanksgiving as a wine enthusiast. This was an embarrassingly long time ago. I worked in New York and took my wine-purchasing cues from those in the know. They would have been the clerks at my favorite Manhattan wine shops.
The selection was mostly French through those years. California hadn’t really been discovered – outside the state’s borders at any rate – and the rest of the New World was considered little more than a wasteland. Italian wines were hopeless. Spain was living in the Dark Ages. Germany was still a little sexy, but who could pronounce any of the producer names?
Bordeaux was my passion at the time, but it was a bit too bold for your average Thanksgiving Day bird. So I was stuck with Beaujolais, for the most part, and the occasional red Burgundy if I was feeling flush.
Of course, Beaujolais has long been the default Thanksgiving wine because its fruitiness is a good foil for the combination of savory and sweet that is part and parcel of a traditional Thanksgiving feast.
Using that thought as a template, this year I plan to serve only domestic wines on the big day, wines that are not only fruit driven but also possess striking character. The sheer number of options can be overwhelming, but the only thing that’s really important is that you find wines that meet the criteria, deliver the character you’re looking for and at the price you want to pay.
So let’s start with an aperitif. The feathery, elegant ‘J’ Brut ($25) sparkling wine from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley is a nice way to begin if the price fits your budget. Best bubbles for the bucks, however, are the Mumm Napa Brut Prestige ($18). Not fond of bubbles? Gainey’s 2005 Santa Ynez Valley Riesling ($13) is a beautiful white wine to kick off a dinner party.
For the main event, I always slightly over-indulge. It has been my preference in recent years to serve both white and red wines with the traditional Thanksgiving feast. This not only solves any issues guests and family might have about their own personal preferences concerning the selection of red or white, but it actually works.
Bouchaine’s seriously yummy 2004 Estate Chardonnay from Carneros ($25) will be my choice of a white, but you also might want to take a look at the 2005 King Estate Pinot Gris ($15) from Oregon that has only just been released. They will work equally well, though the Chardonnay obviously packs more power and depth.
I will hold to tradition on my red wine, serving up the beautifully balanced Etude 2004 Carneros Estate Pinot Noir ($42), which should be in fine form by now. The Beckmen 2004 Purisima Mountain (Santa Barbara County) Grenache ($36) would be my non-traditional pick, and the 2004 Liberty School Syrah ($12) would be my bargain buy.
My domestic dessert wine is an old favorite, the Guenoc Port ($30) from the Guenoc Valley, which is just north of the Napa Valley. Guenoc’s vintage Ports are the best in the U.S. and compare favorably to the real thing from Portugal. The current vintage, 2000, landed a Platinum Award at the 2006 Critics Challenge International Wine Comepetition.
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