Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Don’t fret over Thanksgiving wine pick
On Thanksgiving day, two things are more important than the wine you pour.
No. 1, of course, is the people you are with. (If you thought “watching football” was No. 1, you might need a re-education on the meaning of Thanksgiving; start with a “Charlie Brown” special.) No. 2 — and I’m sorry to say this, fellow wine lovers — is the food. I’m even sorrier to say that wine is a distant third. Distant.
Even the most passionate wine champions among us can cop to the idea that wine’s role is always to make food taste better. Then again, we know that wine can be far superior to the food it is paired with. How many times have we walked away from meals talking more about what was in the glass than what was on the plate? Many times.
The crazy, disjointed collection of food we expect every Thanksgiving has achieved an identity all its own. You know exactly what the various turkey day dishes are, and you could not conjure up such a clear list for any other holiday. Easter ham? Sure, but what else does an Easter dinner include? Fourth of July barbecue? All I can picture is a grill and some coals.
The idea of the entire holiday hinges on eating food. Thanksgiving is not merely a holiday that includes a feast — it is a celebratory feast that is also a holiday. Pity not the wine. Just be glad that, since the food is the focus, the pressure is off for wine pairing.
Matching wine to the magnificent hodgepodge of stuffing, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce — wildly varied flavors and textures — is kind of like matching wine to the people at the table.
If it’s a big family, the people are part of the same collection but also different in many ways, like the foods in a Thanksgiving dinner. If your table is surrounded by an unrelated group of folks who have come together on this one day for this one specific reason, well then, that sounds a lot like the foods in a Thanksgiving dinner too.
A wine that is pleasing on its own to Aunt Sarah might not be so pleasing to Uncle Joe. And who knows which of their Thanksgiving staples they like to swirl together or at least eat in the same bite. The combinations and calculations are enough to make your head throb. With that in mind, below are notes on some bottles that would work well with a Thanksgiving dinner. earthy and full of rich, luscious strawberry, mineral notes, spice and a crisp, dry finish.