Thanksgiving wine pairings to make your dinner unforgettable
With Thanksgiving about three weeks away, I wanted to share a range of food friendly wines that can be enjoyed alongside your meal and throughout the entire holiday season. Impress your friends, family and host this season with these red, white and bubbly options!
Smoke Tree Pinot Noir 2016 (SRP: $24.99)
Tasting notes: Plum, dark cherry, forest floor, raspberry, and cola aromas are a seductive sensory start to this wine. Its pleasing texture and freshness create an ideal structure for the ripe plum, raspberry, and watermelon fruit flavors that make this wine irresistible. The balanced acidity cuts through buttery sauces and gravy, and the spicy fruit profile adds new dimension to your choice of herbs used in the dish.
Pairs well with: Freshly made seasonal beet salad or lean meats such as turkey.
Numanthia Termes 2015 (SRP: $23.99)
Termes shows Toro’s quintessential fruit: Ripe but fresh, with velvety texture and lively structure, this wine leaves a general impression of balance and elegance.
Pairs well with: Lightly smoked meats and creamy polenta.
Terrazas de los Andes Reserva Malbec 2016 (SRP: $19.99)
Full-bodied with a great structure, the Terrazas de los Andes Reserva Malbec stands out for its volume and silky mouth-feel. It is complex, boasting smooth, well-rounded tannins that give way to a staggeringly long and lingering finish.
Pairs well with: Rich and spicy chorizo cornbread stuffing.
Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2017 (SRP: $18.99)
Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillion takes a minimal approach towards this classic Margaret River blend. Featuring vibrant aromas of lime, grapefruit, and white flowers such as jasmine and honeysuckle are enhanced by chalky mineral notes and wet stone that ends with a fine, long, and elegant finish.
Pairs well with: Freshly grilled side green sides including asparagus and brussel sprouts drizzled with balsamic.
Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2013 (SRP: $35.00)
The Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva opens with aromas of red fruit with notes of balsamic and spice. On the palate, flavors of berries and earth are supported by a firm structure and supple tannins. The flavors are balanced with light acidity — typical of the Sangiovese grape.
Pairs well with: Crispy mac and cheese and maple cauliflower.
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2018 (SRP: $30.99)
The latest vintage from Cloudy Bay and their signature Sauvignon Blanc, 2018 is now launching! Just in time for Thanksgiving, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc offers bright, lifted citrus aromatics of kaffir lime and grapefruit abound, supported by ripe nectarine-like notes. An elegant, concentrated palate reveals juicy stone fruit and lemongrass, supported by a lovely minerality. Its crisp acidity leads to a mouth-watering and persistent finish, suggesting a sauvignon blanc with age-ability.
Pairs well with: Pepper-glazed goat cheese gratin, green bean casserole or winter vegetable salad.
Marqués de Riscal Reserva (SPR: $19.99)
Sourced from Tempranillo vines planted pre-1970s and grown in the best clay-lime-stone soils of the Rioja Alavesa, this Rioja is cask-aged for 25 months in American oak. This aging process produces a wine in the traditional Rioja style; cherry-red color with spicy, balsamic aromas of great complexity, notes of ripe dark berries and light toasted nuances. Full and tasty, elegant tannins. Finish is long with a slight echo of fine oak.
Paris well with: Ham, mild cheeses, poultry, red meat, grills and roasts.
Newton Single Vineyard Cabernets (SRP: $190 per bottle)
Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
Produced from Newton’s historical estate, this rich and silky wine shows distinctive red and black currants and blueberry fruit with a lifted perfume of violets, mint, soy sauce, and dried thyme. The 2015 Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is full-bodied, with a grapey freshness and deeper dark flavors of mocha, red currant, and asphalt.
Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
The 2015 Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from a vineyard located at the heart of some of Napa’s most prestigious wineries, on the lower slopes and foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains. It is a wonderfully intense wine revealing bold aromas of licorice, blueberry, couverture, and aged tobacco. The palate is dense, dark, and powerful with mulberry and blackberry fruit complemented by chocolate and aniseed.
Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
This wine’s Cabernet grapes are sourced from Newton’s Mount Veeder property, located in the Mayacamas Mountains on the Western edge of the Napa Valley. The 2015 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon reveals aromas of classic cassis, pulverized rock, and wet slate with cool, inky fruits, black olives, and aniseed. It is focused and intense with a spine of fine slate-like tannins running the length of the palate.
Paris well with: Lean meats such as ham and turkey and vegetables such as butternut squash and roasted carrots.
Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Reserve (SRP: $36.00)
Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte’s signature Brut Reserve exhibits aromas of fresh white fruit of apple, pear, and peach intermingled with curry and turmeric spices. On the palate, the wine is clean, elegant, and complex upfront, while a delicate bead imparts freshness on the finish.
Open a bottle to serve as a welcome to your Thanksgiving dinner or pair with your favorite dessert dish.
