Thanksgiving Wines

Text by Mary Brown Malouf,
Graphic by Jessica Noel Berry
The Salt Lake Tribune

Which wine goes best with turkey is the No. 1 wine question this time of year, but it may be the wrong thing to ask, says Brett Clifford, Utah state wine director.

Turkey, after all, is a mild meat, and this is one day of the year when the American meat-and-potatoes menu goes wild. The flavor components of a typical turkey dinner are more like the aromatics and spice of Indian or Thai food than the simple salt and sweet favored on most United States daily plates.

More than light or dark meat, these are the flavors that challenge the wine. So to choose a wine with your annual feast, think about your meal's dominant flavors. Otherwise, you'll end up with a great wine to go with turkey sandwiches.

Tips:

• The state wine store helps out by labeling Thanksgiving-friendly wines with turkeys on the shelf talkers. Pay attention.
• Stay away from the most popular reds -- Cabernet and Merlot. Most will overwhelm, if not fight, with your dinner flavors.
• Light to medium-bodied reds are better than heavy ones -- go for grenache, pinot noir, rioja and soft shiraz. Old reds with softened tannins can work.
• Speaking of pinot noir, a blanc de noir sparkler will go with everything, soup to dessert. And this is a great time for rose champagne, an overlooked, food-friendly wine when it's fine.
• Cheaper, fruitier wines blend better with the spectrum of flavors.
• Stay away from the most popular white wine, too -- oaky chardonnay. Go with fruitier white -- Gewurtztraminer, Alsatian wines (think of Alsation cuisine, it has the flavors of Thanksgiving -- rich, dried fruits, sausage).
• Pinot Gris is good -- if it's Italian or Oregon style. Avoid most pinot grigios.
• Think about matching the body of wine to the weight of the food.
• In whites, consider German, Idaho or Northwest riesling.
• Choose the new style, lusher sauvignon blancs from New Zealand -- not the dry French sancerre type.
• And here is Brett Clifford's If All Else Fails Thanksgiving Wine Cooler: Mix one part red wine to one part cranberry juice and top with sparkler -- plain soda water or, for those with a sweet tooth, Sprite or 7UP.