Giving thanks for wine and more
Suddenly the leaves are falling, it’s cold outside, and Thanksgiving and the holiday season are upon us, ready or not. Are we ready to give thanks?
A lot of celebratory wine goes down the hatch at Thanksgiving and winter holiday feasts. What is your favorite wine for the holidays?
Wherever we stand on the spectrum from winter blues to holiday joy this year, I hope all of us have the opportunity to find moments of joy in gathering with family and friends during this winter season. May we enjoy good companions, good things to eat, and of course, good wine in our glasses.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that wine purchasing, and presumably consumption, increases during the period from late November through year’s end. According to Nielsen data for 2016, the most recent available, the Christmas through New Year period dominated the U.S. wine market for the year with more than $1 billion – yes, billion – in sales.
One of Norman Rockwell’s most well known and adored paintings, “Freedom from Want” was never actually on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, and it was not published for Thanksgiving Day. It appeared as an inside illustration in the March 6, 1943 issue, along with three other images that represented President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, and Freedom from Fear.
Thanksgiving came next, sealing the winter holiday period with another $830 million in sales. The rest of the year’s holidays trailed from Easter through Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, and on to Halloween, Super Bowl Sunday (yes, that’s a holiday), and on to Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo. Total sales for these holidays alone made up at least one-third of the year’s total $16 billion retail wine purchases.
That’s a lot of wine, and it’s fair to assume that a lot of it was opened and consumed at holiday feasts. But this raises a follow-up question, an evergreen query that I approach just about every year at this time: What wine shall we serve with an expansive holiday feast? Here’s a summary of the advice I’ve offered over the years:
• Drink what you like. A roast turkey will grace many Thanksgiving Day tables. This traditional American centerpiece isn’t easy to pair with wine, though, because it offers both white meat (often bland and sometimes dry) and dark meat (rich, earthy, and gamey) all on the same bird. It’s not easy to choose just one wine to match them all. If you choose this approach, simply pick something extra-special to celebrate the holiday. This isn’t a time to fret about the perfect pairing. Just enjoy the holiday and your companions with a memorable wine for the day.
• Not either-or but both-and. This is a celebratory feast, when overindulgence is forgiven, just for the day! Throw caution to the winds and open both a red and a white! Allow each guest the option of picking the wine they prefer, or take two glasses and enjoy a little of each.
• The cranberry sauce principle. If you’re still feeling the need for a proper pairing, consider cranberry sauce – the traditional condiment with turkey – and look for wines that share a similar flavor profile: something that’s fruity, tart, but smooth. If you want a white wine, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, or Chenin Blanc should meet this description. Pick a Pinot Noir or a quality Beaujolais for your red.
• Celebrate your family heritage. Tradition tells the story of the first American Thanksgiving as a grateful gathering celebrating the Pilgrims’ first harvest. This suggests choosing an American wine to support the legend. If this suits your pleasure, Zinfandel’s story makes it an American contender even if its roots are in Croatia. But given that just about all of us trace our family heritage to other parts of the world, this might be a great time to look back to the Old Country and celebrate this American holiday with a salute to our family roots, wherever they may be.
In celebration of the holiday this year, I’ve chosen an excellent yet affordable Beaujolais for the Thanksgiving feast. Jean-Marc Lafont 2022 Domaine de Bel-Air Beaujolais-Villages Les Granits Bleus would make a fine companion with just about any Thanksgiving feast, and it’s widely available in the mid-teens.
In honor of the holidays, I’m opening up this week’s tasting report to all subscribers. Happy Thanksgiving!
Today’s Tasting Report
Jean-Marc Lafont 2022 Domaine de Bel-Air Beaujolais-Villages Les Granits Bleus ($15.99)
Showing an attractive reddish-purple color in the glass and breathing appealing red-fruit scents of cherry and light raspberry with back notes of black pepper, licorice, and a hint of wet stones, Jean-Marc Lafont’s Les Granits Bleus is a delightful Beaujolais-Villages. Mouth-filling and balanced, it’s well-suited for service on the Thanksgiving Day banquet table or with any meal. It’s dry and properly acidic, with a structure framed by soft tannins and minerality that make it sing with food. 13% alcohol. U.S. importer: Skurnik Wines, NYC. (Nov. 21, 2024)
FOOD MATCH: We’re thinking of roast turkey and hearty plant-based mushroom-filled dishes for Thanksgiving week, but it’s versatile at the table with poultry, red meats, cheeses, and bean-based entrees.
WHEN TO DRINK: Although not meant for long-term cellaring, this balanced and gently tannic red would likely hold up and possibly gain complexity over the next three years or more.
VALUE:
This excellent Beaujolais-Villages is a fine value at Wine-Searcher.com’s $18 average U.S. retail, and it can be found widely for a dollar or two less.
WEB LINK:
Here is importer Skurnik’s info page on Les Granits Bleus. Skurnik also offers this interesting article and photos about the artisanal Beaujolais producers it distributed, including Jean-Marc Lafont.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Jean-Marc Lafont’s Les Granits Bleus on Wine-Searcher.com.
Read about Beaujolais-Villages and find dozens of wines and vendors for other excellent wines of the region at this Wine-Searcher link.
Follow this Wine-Searcher link for information about the Gamay grape and links to many Gamay wines and vendors.
Find the wines you want
Explore Wine-Searcher
Wine-Searcher.com is the place to go online if you want to find where to buy a particular wine that interests you. What’s more, Wine-Searcher.com offers so much more. It’s well worth a visit just to discover its many features, including its popular list of the world’s Top 10 Best Value Wines.
Good wines we’ve tried under $10.99!
Want tips to still more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $10.99 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen over the $10.99 mark since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!
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