Pairing Thanksgiving

Oh the question begs—and begs—and begs!! I’m sure millions of families across America are wondering the same question I am—or perhaps they already know.  But still--which wine do I serve with Thanksgiving Day Meal?

As you know the old adage, White wines with White meat and Red wines with Red meat is a bit dated—and we are in the age of pairing based on our preferences.  Still—Thanksgiving comes once a year and guess what?

You don’t want to screw it up!! 

This year my Mom is hosting Thanksgiving…but since I live close, I am responsible for making the Turkey, stuffing, and the gravy.  This year we are wrapping the turkey in bacon—to add a bit of a kick to it and we are going with traditional stuffing in the bird.  That said—since we are hosting close to 30 people this year, we are also making two pans of our infamous sausage-apple stuffing!!  Oh yes—if you thought the bacon on the turkey might kick things up—this stuffing really knocks your taste buds around with delight. Trust me when I say—we have never made enough of this stuffing on any given holiday!

After researching, I found that many wines go quite well with Turkey—in both the red and white wine categories.  While I expected to find several white wines in the list, it shocked me to see certain red wines make the list!  I mean, I might have tempted a Pinot Noir, because I like the stuff (and I do mean REALLY like the stuff!) —but Zinfandel surprised me as did a Syrah!  I will have to try both of these—but perhaps I’ll wait for the left over round!  I want to get the pairing right on Thanksgiving. 

This year I’m going to serve a Riesling with dinner. And being somewhat of a novice in the pairing department—here is why.  First of all, Turkey is typically a white meat with some darker-white meat pices.  Yet. no matter which way you slice it—it is a blander meat without any real variations of flavors.  I hadn’t thought of it before I started scouring the internet—but it should go well with a variety of reds and whites because it isn’t excessively sweet, overly spicy, or really salty unless you go through measures to make it that way.  Even though, we will wrap our bird in bacon for a spicier crust and smoky flavors, the meat in the middle is still a bland white meat—although typically juicy and delicious. 

I’ve decided to go with the Riesling because of the sausage-apple stuffing we are preparing.  I’m counting on the fact that it complements well with dishes that are spicy, salty, and sweet. This stuffing has both a spicy component and a sweet component to it and has a great variety of flavors to please any stuffing lover.  What can I say??  It absolutely rocks!  Add that in with all the other dishes we are preparing and I’m sure the variety of flavors and notes found in the Riesling will work well with our feast!!

And in a day and 7 hours, I will be able to come back here and report how well the wine turned out!!  I’m definitely on a learning curve here—especially in the white wine territory.  While I’m looking for the perfect wine—I don’t have any illusions that I’ll get it exactly right the first time around.  No—you can bet I’ll have a Pinot Noir on hand—just incase the Riesling doesn’t do the trick!

Happy Thanksgiving!!