If you're getting ready for a Thanksgiving feast with your family or friends, the right food and wine pairing can make a big difference in the quality of the experience. Here's what you need to know about making preparations for dinner and ensuring that your guests get the right wine to complement the food you're serving.
One of the biggest problems you'll encounter is that it's not easy to choose just one wine for your Thanksgiving feast. There's a wide variety of flavors and textures to a complex dinner like this, and a wine that goes with some of the foods may pair poorly with others. Fortunately, there are options for sweet and savory dishes, different meats, pumpkin pie, buttered potatoes, and much more. Serving more than one wine is the answer to finding the best one for all your dishes.
Choose wines that are easy to pair with classic foods like turkey and stuffing, and include other wines that are personal favorites of yours. That can reduce your stress and make dinner preparation and service more convenient, so you can worry less and appreciate the time you spend with your loved ones, instead. Half-bottles are great choices if you're only having a few people over, so you'll have less leftover wine to dispose of.
Lower-alcohol wines that are light and lively are generally the best kinds for a classic Thanksgiving feast, because the food is often heavier. You don't want to add heavy, complex wine flavors on top of that. A sparkling wine can work especially well, because nearly everyone likes bubbles. You can even serve champagne if you want to, along with having other options.
White wines including Riesling and Gewurztraminer can provide spicy, fruity flavors that easily complement the meal you're making and can also carry over into enjoying with a dessert like pumpkin pie or other holiday favorites. It's also possible to serve red wines with your turkey, but it's best to avoid Cabernet due to its tartness and dry nature. Consider a dessert wine to go with your pie, and you'll have all the courses well-covered. Then you can just enjoy the meal!
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Until next time,
Knifey Wifey