Selecting Wines for Thanksgiving Dinner Can Be a No-Brainer

Thanksgiving is less than 10 days away, so for today and next week I’d like to offer up some suggestions for wines that can help complement your Thanksgiving Day dinner.

With dinner preparations to consider and relatives to deal with, this is the time of year our stress levels seem to kick into high gear. So you might be relieved to know that the wine selection process for Thanksgiving dinner can essentially be a no-brainer. That’s because most traditional Thanksgiving fare isn’t too spicy or heavily seasoned, so there’s very little risk that the food you serve is going to overwhelm the flavors of the wine and render it tasteless.

Of course you can’t just grab any wine and expect it to work, and you also can’t serve just one wine and expect everyone to like it. The key is simplicity and variety – that is, don’t offer big, overly bold-flavored wines, and remember to provide your guests with several choices to keep them happy.

If you like to choose your wines from closer to home, Washington State offers plenty of variety, from lighter bodied rieslings to flavorful chardonnays and merlots to sweeter late harvest wines that work great with desserts.

With that in mind, let me give you a couple of Pacific Northwest wines for starters. The Pontin del Roza 2007 Pinot Grigio (about $13) makes a nice choice, with lovely floral and pear aromas, pleasant rhubarb flavors and a spritz of lime and lemon zest on the finish. The wine’s natural acidity will cut through heavy creams and sauces, allowing you to enjoy the flavors of both the food and the wine.

Another good white wine choice is the Washington Hills 2006 Riesling (pictured at left; about $11), with gentle pear and melon flavors and a whisper of honey on the finish. This is a nice, unobtrusive wine, with a low alcohol content (only 11 percent) and a light, refreshing quality.