WF Archives, November 2005: Thanksgiving Wines

November is synonymous with Thanksgiving, and no wine is associated as closely with Thanksgiving turkey dinner than a light and fruity Beaujolais Nouveau wine.

Because Beaujolais Nouveau is from France, it is a named after a region instead of the grape varietal. The region of Beaujolais is located near Burgundy and north of Lyon, and the wine is made strictly from Gamay grape. While Beaujolais produce different styles of wines, Nouveau is unique in its production process. After the grapes are handpicked, they are fermented by carbonic maceration. In layman’s terms, the grapes are fermented as a whole rather than crushed. This minimizes the exposure of the wine to the skin of the grape, resulting in a fruity and aromatic red wine low in tannins. The suggested serving temperature of Beaujolais Nouveau is slightly chilled at 55F, served within 6 months of the bottling.

Beaujolais Nouveau wines are traditionally released on third November of each year. Since the release of the wine is roughly 7 weeks past my deadline for this article, I would not be able to offer you tasting notes of the 2005 Beaujolais Nouveau wines, unless they are byproduct of my active imagination and series of fantastic lies. As an alternative, I decided to conduct a month- long food and wine pairing experiments between the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and wines not named Beaujolais Nouveau.

The tasting mainly focused on pairing wines with turkey and gravy, stuffing, and turkey and cranberry sauce. I also limited wines to those priced $15 or less, in order to be competitive with Beaujolais Nouveau prices. In the end, I sampled seven red wines and two white wines.

The first white wine pairing was conducted in the Tap Room, when I ordered a glass of Rodney Strong Chardonnay along with open faced turkey sandwich with giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Rodney Strong Chardonnay is your prototypical full- bodied Chardonnay with lots of oak. The flavor is mixture of citrus and melon, softened by the oak with solid yet balanced acidity. The pairing was very solid, if unspectacular, as the flavor of the wine shone without overwhelming the dish. However, the interaction between the two did not elevate the flavor of either element to the next level.

Perhaps it is best if my mother were to skip this paragraph, where I make the following disclosure: the rest of the tasting was conducted in my apartment with sautéed turkey breasts, instant stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, instant gravy, and canned cranberry sauce. In my defense, buying instant food was a necessity in order to ensure consistency in preparation while saving me countless hours for cooking.

The second white wine was 2004 Portal do Fidalgo Alvarinho ($12) from Portugal, a departure in style from Chardonnay. This light and off-dry wine possesses nose of honeyed peach, bracing acidity, and balanced combination of minerality and white fruit on the palate. I think of this wine as an off-dry version of Muscadet. Unfortunately, the pairing with this wine was below average. This wine experienced a common problem of the wine not being sweet enough to complement the cranberry sauce, leaving the wine tasting astringent. Thus, I would question the wisdom of serving other off-dry white wines such as Chenin Blanc, Gewurtztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Viognier with the turkey dinner.

The first two reds I tried were red Zinfandels, as some claimed that it’s a natural to go with turkey. I tried the lighter style (2003 Cline’s Zinfandel, $10) and richer and creamier style (2004 Joel Gott Zinfandel, $15). This would be a good time to refer to the October Edition of the Winged Foot from your archives for tasting notes on those wines. My preconceived notion was that Cline’s with their lighter style would be a better match, due to its similarity in structure to Beaujolais Nouveau. Although the pairing was good for turkey and stuffing, Cline’s came across as bit astringent when paired with cranberry sauce.

Joel Gott was an interesting pairing. It had the widest variance in the result, as it was the best complement for turkey and gravy, while ranking near the bottom with cranberry sauce. I rated the stuffing as slightly below average, as the wine had too much body and overwhelmed the spices of the stuffing. This would be a great choice for those who are serving richer stuffing such as sausage stuffing, or those not concerned about cranberry sauce.

I had high hopes for 2003 St Magdalener Classico Suditrol ($12), a light, fruity, Pinot Noir- like wine from Alto Adige in northern Italy. The wine did not disappoint, as it earned solid review in all aspects of pairings. It ranked very high with both turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce, a rare feat among the wines I’ve tasted. It was also very good with the stuffing, making this selection a fool-proof one.

Perhaps the best of the experiment was a jammy and spicy Pinot Noir from California, 2003 Ramsey North Coast Pinot Noir ($15). It had the second best pairing with turkey and gravy, while earning high marks for both stuffing and cranberry sauce. Best of all, Ramsey should be readily available in many stores.

Other wines I tried include fruity, punchy, and dry 2004 Gulfi Rosso Ibleo ($15) from Sicily, perfumey and medium- bodied Coté du Rhone by Vidal-Fleury ($10), and full- bodied Carmenére by Laura Hartwig ($10) from Chile. Rosso Ibleo, a wine based on Negroamaro grape, was a good selection overall. It had more body and drier finish than St. Magdalener. Vidal-Fleury was average at best, as its body, presence, and lasting finish competed rather than complemented with the dishes. Bringing up the rear was the Carmenére, as its body turned out to be too much for the dishes. The biggest fault, though, was evident in the combination of the turkey, gravy, and wine that detrimentally amplified the flavor of the oak.

Of course, there are suitable alternatives outside of the wines I have tried or the parameters I have set. For those looking to exceed the $15 threshold, I would recommend lighter and fruitier Nebbiolo-based wines such as Sandro Fay Sforzato ($36). The success of Pinot Noirs pairing indicate that there are promising leads pointing to both the New World, such as Mount Difficulty ($30) from New Zealand, and Old World Burgundy wines. For those who are really thinking outside of the box, I would recommend rich and fruity Junmai Saké such as Nanburyu ($22), the winner of my tasting experiment from last year.