Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Three Wines--the Key to a successful dinner

Amid all of the preparations for the Thanksgiving feast comes the inevitable decisions about which wine or wines to serve.

We believe the key to a successful Thanksgiving dinner comes in a trio of wines. Consider this--the Thanksgiving feast is probably the largest eating experience most of us have during the course of the year. One wine will just not do it.
Pre-Dinner Whites

Thanksgiving dinner has three great opportunities to pair wine with food.

First, the pre-meal appetizers. The choice here is a light white or and possibly one with some fizz. A Riesling will suit the mood very well. We have also come across a sparkling Muscat which is a nice starter. We are choosing Oregon wines for this part of the meal.

Willamette Valley Vineyards 2013 Riesling - $12
Tulatin Estate 2012 Frizzante - $15

Then for dinner, especially a turkey dinner, we like a medium to light bodied red. Our preference is for a Cabernet Franc or a Pinot Noir. This is where we spend our wine budget for the dinner. This is, after all the main event.

Fess Parker wines
This year we're going to Fess Parker in Virginia for the Pinot Noir.

Fess Parker 2012 Pinot Noir Clone 2A Bien Nacido Vineyard - $55
Fess Parker 2012 Pinot Noir Pommard Clone - $38

We think these will even go with the cranberry sauce!

Finally, comes the dessert. Our choice is a port or port-style wine, but others like dessert wines.

This year the choices are from Virginia.


King Family Vineyards 2010 Seven - $26

Pearmund Cellars Vin de Sol NV - $23

We know, we wrote that three wines will do it--so it is easy, select one from each category. We'll probably take all six just because, as one friend says, "Nothing succeeds like excess."

Can you really ever have too much wine?

We think not. 

-- Bob and Christina Doan, Elkridge, MD

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