Choose one of these four types of wine to pair with your Thanksgiving meal — picked by an expert!
It’s not easy to pick what wines to serve for Thanksgiving. There are so many distinct flavors on your holiday table that finding a match is tricky — plus you want to please everyone at the gathering.
That’s why we asked for professional help.
Rachel Brody is a Wine Guide WSET Level III and a French Wine Scholar. WSET, or the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, is one of the leading wine education organizations in the world, and Level III is the second-highest level of achievement. Brody is also the co-founder of Nouveau Wine Co. — an events company that offers a wide range of highly customized wine events, including a Taylor Swift wine pairing — and she co-hosts the Somm Body’s Mom podcast.
Put simply, Brody knows her stuff. And she loves talking about wine.
“The thing about Thanksgiving and wine is Thanksgiving is so many different flavors and types of food,” she told Food Fanatic. “It does pose this interesting wine pairing conundrum.”
Think about how different a tart cranberry sauce and savory casserole taste. Add to that a high chance that different family members or attendees will have different preferences and levels of understanding about wine. And yet, for many people Thanksgiving is a more formal meal where wine is expected and often the drink of choice.
Brody picked out four types of wine that will help you jump these hurdles and create your dream experience — at least, if all your guests can avoid arguing at the table.
Good Thanksgiving Wines Have These 3 Characteristics
First, some general advice. She recommended that the best wines for Thanksgiving all have three characteristics:
- High Acid: “Acid is the feeling you get when you suck on a lemon — your mouth waters,” she explained.
- Low Tannin: “Tannin will make your mouth feel dry or gritty — think of a big, bold glass of Cab Sauv [Cabernet Sauvignon]. Picking a wine that is lower in tannin will pair with more of the foods on your Thanksgiving table. A wine high in tannins could compete with and overpower the more delicate flavors.”
- Fruit Forward: This doesn’t mean you need to pick a super fruity wine, but you want something that won’t overpower the food, Brody said. “A wine that has more primary aromas like fruit will clash less than a wine that has more complex things going on, like heavy oaked notes or aging notes like leather.”
Whether you pick wines from Brody’s list below or not, sticking to these three over-arching guidelines will help you pick something that works well on Thanksgiving. She also suggested that when selecting any white wines, you “steer away from anything that’s too green” because things on your Thanksgiving dinner table like green beans and some root vegetables “can make your wine taste sour and weird.” We’ll definitely pass on that!
4 Best Thanksgiving Wine Pairings
Here are the four types of wine Brody recommends for Thanksgiving, including more specific advice within two of the styles:
- Sparkling: “If it is in your budget, get the Champagne,” Brody said. “What better way to be thankful for another year together with friends and family! And the yeast richness of the Champagne makes me think of a warm crescent role.” Otherwise, she said, “explore Cremant.” It’s a French sparkling wine “made in the same method of Champagne, so you will get a similar tasting profile at a fraction of the cost.” Want more specific advice? “For Thanksgiving, I’d reach for Cremant de Bourgogne or Cremant de Alsace,” she said.
- Riesling: While it has the mistaken reputation for being sweet, “the vast majority of Riesling is made in a dry style,” Brody said. It’s often misunderstood, leading many people to overlook “such a fabulous wine.” So grab a bottle and encourage guests to taste it before jumping to conclusions!
- Beaujolais: When it comes to wines for Thanksgiving, the most common choice and recommendation is Beaujolais. The wine shares the name of the French wine region where it’s from and where “the reds are made with the Gamay grape.” But not all Beaujolais wine is the same, she said, meaning there’s “a big range in price and quality.” The most popular and more accessible “Beaujolais Nouveau party juice” will take over many wine shelves in mid-November, but if you’re willing to shell out for quality, Brody recommended one of the 10 Beaujolais Cru, adding, “Fleurie is a great choice with Thanksgiving.”
- Blaufrankish: I’ll admit, I’d never heard of this Austrian red wine. As Brody puts it, this is “the cutest wine to say!” It meets her criteria of high acid and low tannin, offering hints of great dark fruit along with some baking spices and pepper. Sounds ideal for Thanksgiving, and also a great way to impress guests and introduce an unexpected element to your drink options!
To please a crowd and also work with different parts of the holiday, offer more than one type of wine if your budget allows it, Brody said. Pick a red — the Beaujolais or the Blaufrankish — and a white (the Riesling or a sparkling option) for the sake of variety, and even consider setting out two wine glasses at each adult seat so people can sample both. It can add to the experience and the comparison can be part of the conversation, too.
Sparkling can be a great option to start with, a celebratory and festive way to welcome guests. A little fizz works throughout the holiday, however, so it’s totally up to you, she said. You could even serve it with dessert — but if you do, choose something a little sweeter, Brody recommended.
Use Brody’s four picks and overarching advice to narrow down your search and find something that works best for you. Anywhere that sells wine is basically guaranteed to have sparkling options, Riesling, and Beaujolais. If you’re shopping at a local wine store or bottle shop — or retailer like Total Wine — someone should be able to guide you to a specific bottle that meets these criteria. If you’re at a grocery store (like I often am), you may need to read the bottle labels and descriptions a little more closely.
If I were hosting Thanksgiving, I’d take Brody’s advice and choose a Cremant or Riesling for accessibility and familiarity for my guests, and then nab some Blaufrankish if I could find it for the sake of intrigue. Plus, I’m the one in the family with a reputation for being interested in food and drinks! If I’m attending as a guest at Thanksgiving or a Friendsgiving party, there’s a good chance I’ll splurge on a nicer Champagne or Beaujolais — because I’m only bringing one bottle!
We didn’t ask Brody about non-alcoholic wines, though there are plenty on the market. But she did suggest having zero-proof options to be inclusive of all guests, some of whom may not be drinking even if they have in the past. Luckily, we already have an extensive list of nonalcoholic Thanksgiving drinks you can serve.
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