The OFFICIAL Thanksgiving Wine Recommendation(s)

Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations + Review of What I Will Probably Serve for My Family

That's right people. I'm writing above the picture! Unprecedented. Anyways, before I gave a review of the wine I'm most likely going to serve at my own family's Thanksgiving dinner (spoiler alert mom), I figured I'd talk about pairing wine with everyone's favorite "impossible-to-pair-wine-with" feast (I mean seriously. Whoever picked these dishes clearly did not have sommeliers in mind.).

Pairing food and wine is an art. It takes lots of thought and care to complement, and more importantly, not overshadow flavors. Thus, my official Thanksgiving recommendation is- don't overthink it! And that applies to pairing in general. There are no food and wine pairings that are set in stone. Obviously, some wines will work better than others, but if a wine is good enough, it'll work with just about anything. Which is perfect for Thanksgiving because it's pretty much impossible to pair wine with! So, the wine styles I'll recommend are centered around playing well with all sorts of foods. Basically, shy away from extremes. No Cali Cabs, no "oaked to high hell" Chards- unless you're absolutely in love with these kinds of wines in which case, you can do whatever you want. They'll probably work fine too! However, try to shoot for balance and finesse for Thanksgiving because of the variety of foods and delicate nature of poultry. Lighter reds, fresh whites, maybe even a rosé cause you can!

The most common recommendations you'll see on every single blog are Beaujolais and Pinot Noir. And these are great recs! Lighter reds, play well with poultry and spice. I will sadly not be roasting those recs because they are proven to work well time and time again. I WILL, however, throw in some fun curveballs. How about a Sicilian red? Or maybe a Virginia Viognier. Perhaps an off-dry Riesling!? Have fun with it. If you're not getting the biggest red you can find, you have literally no chance of messing up! 

And as I say this, I'm going to proceed to recommend a Beaujolais because I'm boring and not creative. But this one is COOL to be fair.

Vintage: 2019

Region: Moulin-a-Vent, Beaujolais, France
Winery: Domaine Diochon

Varieties: Gamay

Price: $25 (found at Wine Warehouse for CVille peeps)

Rating: 94 Points

My Rating: 92 Points

The Review: The 2019 Domaine Diochon Moulin-a-Vent is everything you've always wanted Beaujolais to be. It's what you envision when you think about it and it's what you long for when you're let down by low-quality Beaujolais over and over. This wine is cool because it's from one of the crus of Beaujolais- or in other words, designated vineyard sites/regions that have historically produced higher caliber wines and are recognized by the government. These wines have a bit more power, bravado, and structure than your typical wines from Beaujolais. Thankfully, the naming system in Beaujolais is a bit more simple than in other regions. There's "Beaujolais," "Beaujolais-Villages," and if there is a name of a place on there, it's a cru!

This wine, a cru Beaujolais, shows aromas of wild berry, plum, cherry, as well as some licorice and baking spice. The tastes of this wine are concentrated, with nice ripe dark berry, cherry, plum, and a bit of strawberry. There was a bit of spice and this sort of Concord grape note that was interesting. Now, I know what you're thinking. Drew, you just said grape juice tastes like grapes. And yes, it does. No further comments and I will not be taking questions.

Basically, this wine is really versatile and the tasting notes just sound like Thanksgiving. If you can't find this particular bottle, head to a local bottle shop or even Wegmans to find another cru Beaujo. And if you can't find one, the Louis Jadot Beaujolais can be found at Kroger and is super delicious too.

Happy early Thanksgiving, and I hope everyone has fun pretending to enjoy what is easily the worst poultry out there.

drink what you like,

db