All of which presents a dilemma.  I want to have a good glass of wine with dinner.  But the quantity of food and the flavors makes choosing an appropriate drink a bit of a challenge.  With candied sweet potatoes, oyster stuffing, and turkey legs waiting to send you into carbo-overload and tryptophan nappy-time, this is not an opportunity to whip out the best vintages.  That being said, Thanksgiving is a “special occasion” with friends and family gathered around the holiday table, and cheap plonk just doesn’t seem right.

So, what’s called for are decent wines that won’t get lost or be squandered competing with the bounty of the rest of the table.  They also need to be assertive enough to hold their own against a fair amount of heavy eating without adding too much of their own weight.  To this end, I would suggest serving three wines, scaled in quantity to serve all of your guests at least one glass of each.

To start the meal, I’d like you to consider a dry rosé.  Something from Tavel or somewhere else along the Rhône valley, including the southernmost AOC from the Rhône, Costieres de Nimes.  Tavel wines are more famous, and thus more expensive than the Nimes offerings, but either offers good aperitif dryness and solid red-berry fruit flavors.  These are typically blends of Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and/or Grenache Noir.  While dry, they give the impression of a slight sweetness through their bright flavors.  White Zinfandel has been the inoffensive choice of many a Thanksgiving feast, and this changes things up a little without presenting a huge challenge to the average palate.  You should be able to find a good Rhône rosé for $10-12.

Once everyone’s tucked into their stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green-bean casserole, the intensity of the wine needs to step up as well.  I’ll be getting comfy at this point, and lighter flavors are not going to play well.  Still, there’s plenty of food on the table, and I’m usually eying seconds, so this is no time to drink a glass that’ll make me want to curl up on the couch.  Enter the secret weapon – Alsatian whites.  Riesling, Gewürtztraminer, and Pinot Gris from Alsace are still dry white wines, but they have an intensity of honeyed, floral perfume and bright apple, pear, peach, melon, apricot, and citrus flavors.  Their balanced, forward acidity refreshes the palate and cuts through heavy foods.  A solid vintage will be a $15-20 wine.

For that last go-round of the dark meat on the turkey platter, the stuffed mushroom caps, and giblet gravy, I want a red wine.  Not only that, I want a red wine that wraps everything up in a velvet package with a nice little bow on top.  That calls for a pinot noir or Beaujolais.  However, being that I’m probably stuffed to the gunwhales at this point, I’m not breaking out the best vintage Burgundy, Moulin-au-Vent, or a big-buck “cult” Californian.  There are a few Sonoma Valley pinots and Burgundian vin de pays (Burgundy wines bottled by varietal name, rather than the AOC) that fit the bill, for somewhere around $10-15 a bottle, and Beaujolais nouveau is on the shelves.  Young pinots should be opened and decanted before the start of the meal, and served at the end.  Beaujolais should be slightly chilled, but not cold.

We’ve whetted our appetites with rosé.  We’ve re-stimulated our taste buds via the graces of Alsace.  Finally, as a prelude to a nap, pie, and coffee, we wrapped everything up with a restrained, approachable red – a cushion on which our weary stomachs may fall in repose.  We’ve tread the treacherous path of the Thanksgiving wine list, and emerged with a pleasant, wistful, if slightly drowsy smile.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Last time we had Riesling, it was a German vintage from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region.  Rieslings from Alsace, France are a different beast.  They retain the fruit, acidity, and floral nose of their German counterparts, but are fermented completely dry, or very nearly so.  The Jean Albrecht 2006 Reserve is a clean, crisp wine that is well suited to summer dining as well as the roasted, toasted flavors of fall.

This wine is as different from the Moselle variety as can be – bracing acidity, big, honeyed aromas, and moderately full body.  If you dislike the sweetness of the German types, Riesling from Alsace may very well be your thing.  They’re under-appreciated wines in the US and, even with the weak dollar, a good value for a wonderfully food-friendly wine.

Details:

Name: Jean Albrecht 2006 Reserve Riesling
Type: White
Country: France
Region: Alsace
Grapes: 100% Riesling
Price: $16

My score: 88 points (out of 100) – solid wine, interesting qualities.

Notes:

Color: greenish-gold

Nose: My initial impression is of clover or golden tupelo honey, canned pears in syrup, and granny smith apple.  The floral component comes through very strongly.  As I get accustomed to the most forward flavors, there are suggestions of ginger and a sweet botanical component.  Maybe mint, maybe licorice root.  A pleasant nose.

First Taste: I like it.  This wine has a good, solid body.  The acidity balances well with the mouth feel and very forward fall-fruit flavors.  The tartness is pleasant, not overwhelming, with lots of green apple flavor and some unripe pear.  Theresa mentions she doesn’t like the drier style as much, but goes back for seconds anyway.

Second Taste: More fall fruit.  I like that the acidity is balanced nicely with the barest hint of residual sugar.  I’m getting some dried apricot coming through.  The finish is moderate, with a transition from the initial fruitiness to honey flavors on the back end.  Leaves a clean, fresh palate.

Impressions: This is a very good food wine.  The acidity works well with meatier fishes (we had blackened rare tuna) and would probably stand up to roasted poultry.  I have a feeling this would be a great Thanksgiving wine – it holds its own against a lot of flavors.  The transition from the attack to the finish is a bit abrupt, with not much interest on the mid-palate.  However, this is a solid dry Riesling and a good sub-$20 pick.