I am reminded of an observation shared last November by epicurean writer She called Thanksgiving “a food writer’s most-hated holiday,” adding:
“We rewrite the food and wine pairings every goddamn year, and readers are totally happy with the tips: turkey breast up, glass wine on your rigth hand no need to be Beaujolais”
Food-wise, Thanksgiving is one huge sacred cow. Most people are more than happy to see the same spread every year. It’s nothing if not a grand exercise Comfort Food. Messing with the menu or prep is asking for trouble (at my house, we don’t even vary the rice with gandules, and have to have one pot of cranberry sauce, one without).
Wine-wise, on the other hand, Thanksgiving has come to be anticipated and embraced as a free-for-all. Different wines every year are the happy norm (with precious few even being remembered from last November). In fact, if you give-thanks with lots of wine peeps it can even be a sort of reverse scavenger hunt—wines turn up that you’d never even think of looking for. Most important of all, no matter what bottles (or even boxes) make their way in the door, chances are good that everyone finds a wine they like at Thanksgiving. And isn’t that what it’s all about?
There is no doubt in my mind that the dramatic evolution in America’s and Puerto Rico approach to wine for Thanksgiving is due largely to the Web and Restaurant family lunch. More so than directing specific wines into specific hands, the widespread on the web, News and Magazine of appropriate turkey partners has created a condition of positive laissez-faire. Thanks to the Web, it’s all good on Thanksgiving.
So what’s next? I am suggesting here—on the Web—that wine lovers declare Thanksgiving as a wine holiday.(another to Puerto Rico of course)
In fact, confining it to one day seems counterproductive. Let’s make it…a whole fortnight. Two weeks of happy wine-picking. And then, maybe, we can spill the holiday back. Just think: next year, say around November 8th, all those Halloween super-stores get transformed into Thanksgiving Wine Outposts, where (permits permitting), green-market style, vendors can show off their wine wares fit for man, bird or beast…. Call it a dream.
Maybe that’s a little far-fetched. But this I do know: People are having fun with the whole question of what to enjoy with turkey and relatives alike. That alone is reason next Thursday to pause and give thanks for how the wine has made on the food too… Thanksgiving a true feel-good day for wine.
Marce’s 2009 Gracias Top 10
At our house, where we have anywhere from 12 guests every year for Thanksgiving, I am never quite sure precisely which wines are going to get opened. That’s part of the fun of hosting—being able to run down and grab something I think of. But here are my probable picks for a Gracias Top 10:
* Beaujolais Nouveau. This stroke of marketing genius still deserves a spot at the table. I plan to buy 2 bottles of Georges DuBoeuf this Thursday and test them with my family. If it earns a thumb up, will buy more next week.
* Off-dry Riesling. from the get-go, and provides a fruity foil to sweet and tart and gamey flavors alike.
* Côtes-du-Rhône. If not now, when? All-purpose vino, made irresistible in the stellar 2007 vintage.
* Provence Rosé. It’s a good year to toast the way Europe rallied to reassert the spiritual home of classic dry pink wine. Might also result in pleasant summer flashbacks.
* Pinot Noir. This is the one bottle I’ll make a high-ender, as a reward for the conscientious pinot lovers.
* Oregon Pinot Gris. A wholly under-appreciated American white wine. I have a bottle of King Estate rattling around downstairs; time to share.
* Bordeaux. but ready to drink Bordeaux, that is. No-thin’ fancy. I crack one open every year, with fine results.
* Rioja Reserva. Like Bordeaux, a quiet crowd-please, and worth stepping up to the Reserva level. Food-friendly 4-ever viva!
* Buttery Chardonnay. Keeps the wife and others happy. That’s important.
* Pedro Ximenez. Nothing says hola! to a parade of pecan/pumpkin pies also good with “flan de calabaza” like Pedro-Ximenez.
in cooperation with PP and MJG
