Happy Thanksgiving! What’s on your table?

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Who’s ready for the annual “what wine with the feast” advice? Who’d rather skip it? I sense a changing attitude this year.

Looking at some wine-writing colleagues on Substack, I see signs of resistance to the usual pairing advice.

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• “I will NOT be writing about my Thanksgiving wine recommendations in this Sunday’s article,” declared David Mastro Scheidt at Case by Case on Substack. He had better fish to fry with a fascinating article, Catfished on Substack: How an AI Bot pretended to be a Winemaker.

• “Rather than adding to the ‘Thanksgiving noise,’ by contributing yet another post about what we’re pairing with our 100% ‘plant-based’ meals this year, we’ll do something much more economical,” wrote Isaac and Zach, who describe themselves as “Two clinically anxious brothers freaking out about wine” at the Substack column Tannic Panic! They chose the simple path of repeating last year’s Thanksgiving advice column, Gobble & Glug.

• “Wine writers dread the Thanksgiving column. How many ways can we say the same thing?” lamented Dave McIntyre, former wine columnist for The Washington Post and, back around the turn of this century, WineLoversPage columnist. “Wine can still help us remember what we have to be thankful for,” said McIntyre, who now publishes Dave McIntyre’s WineLine on Substack.

AARP New York’s Instagram recently featured this vast plant-based Thanksgiving feast without the meat. I’ve reached out to ask about that turkey-like object at the far right. (AARP NY photo)

With these good examples before me in this special Wednesday edition of The 30 Second Wine Advisor, what should I do? Whose example should I follow? I hear that fellow writers are saying. I know that a lot of you have already made your choices and don’t need help. But I also know, based on the email and social media queries I get, that some of you appreciate a helping hand.

So let’s make this simple: I’ll refer you to last year’s Thanksgiving column, Giving thanks for wine and more, which contains several tips that may help you make your own choices.

I’ll briefly summarize those points for those who don’t really want to go read another article:
• Drink what you like. No one wine is going to go with everything on that loaded table, so don’t even try to match. Just open something you like.
• Not either-or but both-and. Throw caution to the winds and open a couple of bottles. Maybe even a red and a white.
• The cranberry sauce principle. Cranberry sauce goes with a variety of holiday treats. Choose a wine with a similar flavor profile: Fruity, tart, smooth. Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Riesling, or Chenin Blanc make good starting points.
• Celebrate your family heritage. Celebrate America as a melting pot and mosaic on this American holiday by choosing a wine that your immigrant ancestors might have enjoyed!

This week’s featured wine, Biokult 2024 Grüner Veltliner from Austria’s Burgenland wine region, is just one wine among thousands that would serve well on a holiday table. Its complex fruit-and-herbal aroma profile, its textured flavor, and its gentle acidity make it a versatile food wine.

Happy (US) Thanksgiving Day, everyone! Do you have big food and wine plans for a traditional feast, or something different this year?

Today’s Tasting Report

Biokult 2024 Burgenland Grüner Veltliner ($17.99)

Billed as natural, vegan, and certified organic, Biokult 2024 Grüner Veltliner shows a clear, bright straw color with a greenish hue. It lifts up appetizing, complex aromas that start with honeysuckle and add notes of fresh herbs, then pears, and distant notes of white pepper. Its textured, medium-bodied flavor integrates the aromas into a citric, gently acidic mix, with stony minerality around the edges of a long finish. Alcohol is on the light side at 11.5%. U.S. importer: Natural Merchants, Santa Maria, California. (Nov. 22, 2025)

FOOD MATCH: The importer suggests a range of tasty pairings from Wiener Schnitzel to modern vegetarian dishes; Asian fare, sashimi, sushi, spiced Thai dishes, grilled shrimp, crustaceans, and oysters on the half shell, and more generally, lighter meats, egg dishes, and light cheeses. It would make an excellent option with the range of dishes on the Thanksgiving holiday table.

WHEN TO DRINK: You could drink this crisp, food-friendly white over the next two or three years, but it’s at its best while it’s young and fresh, so why wait?

VALUE:
Wine-Searcher.com’ lists a $17 average U.S. retail price. This excellent Austrian white is a bargain in the upper teens and justifies a price into the $20s.

WEB LINK:
Here’s the importer’s detailed fact sheet.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Biokult Grüner Veltliner on Wine-Searcher.com.

Read about Austria’s Burgenland and find other wines from this region at this Wine-Searcher link.

Go to this Wine-Searcher link to discover more about the Grüner Veltliner grape and browse wines made with this classic Austrian grape.

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!

• Casal Garcia “Alegria” Vinho Tinto ($9.99)

• Boutinot Cuvée Jean-Paul Rouge ($7.99)

• Santa Cristina Toscana ($7.99)

• Santa Marina Toscana Rosso ($7.99)

• Famille Perrin Ventoux La Vielle Ferme ($8.99)

• Boutinot “Uva Non Grata” Vin de France Gamay ($9.99)

• Laroque Cité de Carcassonne ($10.99)

• Famille Perrin 2019 “La Vielle Ferme” Rouge ($7.99)

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