The Thanksgiving Wine Thread

A couple of red zins and a sparkling apple juice. The tastes in our T-giving dinner go just fine with a red even a big one. There is smoke (turkey), sweet (candied sweet potatoes), butter and spice (cornbread stuffing), and more smoke with the roasted marinated veggies; and of course cranberry jelly!

A couple of red zins and a sparkling apple juice. The tastes in our T-giving dinner go just fine with a red even a big one. There is smoke (turkey), sweet (candied sweet potatoes), butter and spice (cornbread stuffing), and more smoke with the roasted marinated veggies; and of course cranberry jelly!

Sounds like a meal of eppig proportions, Carl. (Sorry; I've always wanted to say that. )

[James Roscoe]

And people say Hoke doesn't have a sense of humor..... (Okay, they are correct! )

I did have the 2004 Maysara Pinot Noir, and the 1996 Kurt Darting Ungsteiner Bettelhaus Rieslaner beerenauslese with Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, carrots, baked brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pumpkin pie for dessert). We had the Maysara wine with dinner, and the Darting wine afterwards. Both were very good. The Maysara (jamsheed bottling) was made from grapes grown in the McMinnville ava and the estate Momtazi vineyard was in its 6th year at the time (planted in 1998 and 1999). My note from cellartracker reads as follows: "This wine evolved over 2 hours in the decanter and the glass. Shy nose of black fruit, then whiffs of black cherry, followed by a musty aroma that blew off after some airing. Later, the wine had very clean black cherry flavors with a slight hole in the midpalate (due I surmised to the youth of the the vineyard in 2004). Decent acidity and a quite smooth presentation all in all, it stood up to the multitude of traditional Thanksgiving flavors. Shows good flavors and having had more recent vintages I can say that this vineyard is getting more mature and has a bright future. Nice wine."
The Kurt Darting wine made me wonder why I don't drink more of this type of wine: my cellartracker note reads like this: "Beautiful dark orange/golden color with a panoply of tastes, bracing acidity, and giving real pleasure at the moment. Flavors of apricot, orange, peach, strawberry, and vibrant acidity make this a mouthful. It is at the stage where I can tell that it echoes the great sweetness it once had, but the flavors have evolved and the sweetness has lessened over time. Wonderful dessert wine."
Note to self: buy more Maysara, buy more Kurt Darting.

Happy Thanksgiving Jim. I always enjoy your posted notes, special wines indeed.

[Robin Garr]

Perhaps surprisingly for a wine enthusiast, Thanksgiving isn’t really an “open some great bottles” feast for us, as we generally celebrate the day with friends who enjoy wines but aren’t at all geeky about it.

During the day, we enjoyed the annual community feast with about 100 of our friends at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, a traditional turkey-and-trimmings dinner where Mary and preside over the wine bar, using a bunch of the unsolicited freebies we get from wineries who don’t read our “no-freebies” policy through the year. I saved for our table a fancy Napa red with a $60 MSRP in a bottle with the heft of a mortar shell and a punt large enough to lose a Chihuahua in:

Stephanie 2008 Napa Valley Proprietary Red Wine
From Hestan Vineyards, a 56-acre vineyard located at the base of Okell Hill on Napa Valley’s eastern slope; a blend of all five Bordeaux varieties: 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Petit Verdot, 16% Merlot, 12% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Franc, barrel fermented and aged 28 months in 50% new and 50% one-year used French Oak barrels. Despite all the oak, and hefty 14.9% alcohol, it’s not entirely spoofulated but seems to show some restraint. Good wine making or good lab work? Who knows? Our pals enjoyed getting a taste of upscale Napa “juice” that none of us would ever be likely to buy, and in fairness, yeah, it was drinkable, violets and blackberries and black coffee and surprisingly subtle oaky spice.
http://www.hestan.com

Later in the day we went over to join a bunch of Mary’s old college friends who get together for a holiday potluck every year, and I took a couple of pleasant, reasonably affordable California items:

Mosby 2010 Marche Passerina IGT
Very pale straw color. Fresh melon and citrus, mmm. Dry and crisp, fresh-fruit acidity and a long shot of lime.

Castoro Cellars 2010 Blind Faith Paso Robles Pinot Noir
Ruby, rather pale. Subtle Pinot aromas, cherry and tobacco leaf. More intense flavors, still well balanced, red fruit and fresh acidity, smooth texture.

[James Roscoe]

Let me just reiterate my opinion, confirmed yet again yesterday, That ESJ Bone-Jolly is the most awesome Thanksgiving red wine I have ever had. The 2008 Gamay Noir was everything you want in a wine with food. Two bottles were on the table with about ten wine drinkers along with a Willm Riesling and Willm Pinot Gris. There was nothing left at the end of the meal. Other wines were open during the course of the day most notably a Jadot Puoily Fuisse and A Cornas which were also awesome. Some great dessert wines were opened too including Croft's Ruby port and some wine from Malaga. All in all a great day.

Let me just reiterate my opinion, confirmed yet again yesterday, That ESJ Bone-Jolly is the most awesome Thanksgiving red wine I have ever had. The 2008 Gamay Noir was everything you want in a wine with food. Two bottles were on the table with about ten wine drinkers along with a Willm Riesling and Willm Pinot Gris. There was nothing left at the end of the meal. Other wines were open during the course of the day most notably a Jadot Puoily Fuisse and A Cornas which were also awesome. Some great dessert wines were opened too including Croft's Ruby port and some wine from Malaga. All in all a great day.

NJ enjoyed the 2009 Bone Jolly Gamay with her T-Day meal. She thought it wonderful as well and there are leftovers for leftovers tonight.

A couple of red zins and a sparkling apple juice. The tastes in our T-giving dinner go just fine with a red even a big one. There is smoke (turkey), sweet (candied sweet potatoes), butter and spice (cornbread stuffing), and more smoke with the roasted marinated veggies; and of course cranberry jelly!

Sounds like a meal of eppig proportions, Carl. (Sorry; I've always wanted to say that. )

You would have loved it Hoke. We enjoyed it with 2007 Tobin James Fatboy first, and then a Rosenblum Vinters Cuvee XXXIII. Chio!

We enjoyed the 2004 Montelena Chardonnay (from a mag), but had less luck with a Garagiste buy of the 2003 Oddero Barolo (also from a mag) which was OTH already.

And then the tequilas came out.... 3 or 4 different ones, with a couple of the bottles drained.

My eclecticism in wine selection worked out - 3 1/2 bottles went down, and the majority of the 15 people there weren't drinking.
It was a really pleasant family gathering, 4 generations of people who like each other.
The reds went faster than the whites, and the Chard went faster than the SB. People who brag of drinking Two Buck Chuck often show a surprisingly good palate and sense of what works well with the turkey and stuff. Food was good home cooking, too.

John

2010 Dry Rose--Scherrer
2009 Soave..Gini
small family dinner, just the 4 of us..Queen Mother, our 2 princesses and yours truly

We didn't have the traditoinal feast on Thursday, but I cooked a fish on Saturday and that was an excuse to do a mini-vertical of Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec, where we pulled the corks on a 2002 and a 2005. Some concern after cutting the foil on the 2005, only to find damp an mold; the 2002 cork looked great. But in the end, the '02 was perhaps a bit more golden than I would have expected and, while rich and concentrated, was a bit tired. Checking CellarTracker on this one shows that some people have suspected premox on this, and I would say my bottle was more advanced that it should have been (stored at 55F since purchase). On the other hand, the 2005 was very youthful, with delightful cut and length.

The best white of the long weekend was the 2010 Muros Antigos, Alvarinho, Anselmo Mendes, Vinho Verde. Very bright with peachy lime fruit and lots of minerals, some grassy Sauvignon Blanc like notes too. I prefered this to the Huets, so shoot me. A nice buy at $14. Also had a couple glasses of 2008 Duas Quintas Douro, Ramos Pintos, which was an aromatic, nicely balanced everyday Douro but nothing to get excited about. A step above the 2007, which was very dull.

We enjoyed the 2004 Montelena Chardonnay (from a mag), but had less luck with a Garagiste buy of the 2003 Oddero Barolo (also from a mag) which was OTH already.

And then the tequilas came out.... 3 or 4 different ones, with a couple of the bottles drained.

Well. c'mon, give it up. You named the wines, now let us know what the tequilas were...especially the ones that were drained!

Having read through the posts, I'm kind of surprised only one other person went entirely domestic. For a holiday that celebrates the fruits of our newly colonized continent, I always make an effort to have food and wines that are distinctly American, though like many of you my consumption the rest of the year leans heavily Euro.
To start, I opened a 2006 Husch Chenin Blanc, which didn't get touched because people were too busy slurping down ginger-infused sweet vermouth sangria (I cheated and used Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau, since I couldn't get Beringer Nouveau). Boy, that drink started strong and sweet, and finished dry and tangy (I love orange bitters).
For the meal, I like to pick a single red and white, to avoid shortchanging either end of the table. The red was 2008 Patton Valley Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Noir, which showed excellent balance between the earthy aspects that I love so much and the fruit that makes it easy for non-geeks to enjoy. The "white" this year was actually Wyder's dry cider, which worked really well. Very compatible with a range of food due to bubbles and slight sweetness, I served it in wine glasses and it was heartily enjoyed. This was a Canadian cider, I couldn't find any U.S. ones locally.
For dessert I opened a 2004 Navarro Anderson Valley Cluster Select Riesling and a 2000 Grgich Napa Valley Sauternes-style "Violetta." Both were excellent, and as I hoped, in highly contrasting styles. The Navarro, my favorite, was sweet but pure, while the Violetta had interesting dark caramel notes.
One of my favorite Thanksgivings ever, with 19 apps, dishes and sides for 8 adults. All things in moderation, including moderation.

Walt

I thought I was taking a Trimbach Gewurztraminer but had picked up a 2009 Riesling at the grocery store by mistake so I opened a 2009 St. Urbanshof Ockfen Bockstein Riesling Kabinett and a 2008 Trimbach Riesling and for a red the 2005 Londer Paraboll Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley, CA. I didn't get around to opening the 2006 Domaine Bruno Clavalier Bourgogne/Pinot Noir Champs d'Argent or the Renardat-Fache Bugey Cerdon at the communal Thanksgiving dinner at church. We had roasted and deep-fried turkey, spiral ham, a couple candied yam dishes, mashed potatoes, a couple potato casseroles (one that I brought), squash casserole, cranberry sauce, several stuffings including a Cajun crab stuffing and an oyster stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, cake, etc. During the church service we had seven baptisms--all in the same family. One was a 16-year old foster child who heard about the others being baptized and said "I've never been baptized. Can I be baptized too?" Nice!

I didn't take notes during the meal. I had just a few sips of the Trimbach Riesling before and between two pours of the Pinot Noir. It was crisp with nice acidity and balance. I think I will purchase another bottle to enjoy at home. I had had a bottle of the St. Urbanshof recently so mainly had the Londer Paraboll Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley. It has grapes from a couple sites--one being Ferrington Vineyard which also furnishes grapes to Williams Selyem. I really liked the wine and thought it went well with turkey and ham. It was also well received by my Episcopal priest and his wife.

[Robin Garr]

Having read through the posts, I'm kind of surprised only one other person went entirely domestic. For a holiday that celebrates the fruits of our newly colonized continent, I always make an effort to have food and wines that are distinctly American, though like many of you my consumption the rest of the year leans heavily Euro.

Assuming you're talking about my freebie haul, Walter, that wasn't really intentional, more based on what I had that fit the need.

I like your idea of American wines for an American holiday, but to be honest, when I've gone with more memorable wines for Thanksgiving at home in the past, I've generally chosen European wines consciously, not only because it's my usual preference, but philosophically to raise a glass to all of America's rich mosaic of ancestors, largely from Europe but also around the world.