There's enough to worry about when hosting on Thanksgiving Day, so make your imbibing selection(s) easy.
As with all things vinous, there are no rules, just options. A few of my favorites:
Be as wide-ranging as the food: Trust me, there is not a single wine that plays well with sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and green beans. And just as your guests will like some of the dishes more than others, they will have preferences about their fermented grape juice. So it's best to offer up a variety of offerings: something sparkling; sweet and dry wines; red, white and pink. Speaking of which:
Hop on board the bandwagon: Rosé is hot, hot, hot in these parts, and there might not be a more versatile wine at the dinner table. The good ones — which is most of them — deftly nail a challenging balancing act, playing up both the freshness and crispness of white wines and the plushness and polish of reds. Happily, "thinking pink" works both before and during the repast.
This also is an ideal occasion to trot out pink bubbles, the sparkling wines with color and personality.
Box scores: Not all your guests will necessarily care about wine. For some, it might be the only time all year they sip our favorite nectar. Unless you know several cork dorks will be in attendance, why break out many, if any, spendy bottles?
Boxed wines are better than ever, which is not the only reason to go that route. You'll also almost certainly have some tasty leftover juice to enjoy over the next few weeks. If you're sheepish about serving straight from the box, put the wine(s) in carafes.
Think local: Also better than ever are Minnesota wines, and both the aromatic whites and robust reds are nice options for this chowing-down fest. Equally worthy are the state's marvelous ciders. An added bonus: taking a trek to a local winery or cidery this weekend to sample the wares.
Or think semi-local and hew to a domestic-only approach. This is, after all, the all-American holiday. Herby Sonoma zinfandels, juicy Washington rieslings and silky Oregon pinot noirs are swell options here.
Drink what you like: If nothing else, you'll be pleasing yourself on this festive occasion. But you also are fulfilling what the holiday is all about: sharing something that you love with people you (presumably) love. This is, after all, a communal affair, and wine is nothing if not a communal beverage.
Bonus points if you proffer a wine that is particularly special to you and yours. Perhaps that Chianti Classico you savored on a sun-kissed afternoon in Tuscany, a wine from your wedding year or something you poured (or wish you had poured) at your nuptials, anything with a back story that will enliven the mealtime conversation.
Above all, think small: Everything about Thanksgiving dinner is big: the cornucopia and richness of the food, the size of the gathering, the hearty conversation. Well, almost everything. Ideally, the wines should be anything but "big." Super-ripe fruit, stout tannins and high alcohol are best left to other gatherings, lest they overwhelm the main event: the bounteous feast.
Instead, look for earthier reds (cabernet franc, barbera, Beaujolais — and not the Nouveau, unless for some reason you're trying to pair with bananas); sparkling gems (Cava cremants from France) and sprightly whites from Oregon, the Loire (Muscadet!), Austria or northern Italy. And definitely riesling from Germany's Mosel region.
The acidity in these wines has a mouthwatering effect that cuts through the fattier foods and perks up the rest. The lighter body and lower alcohol might keep Uncle Herb from overindulging and launching into a political diatribe.
The idea, after all, is to have the wine help make this an especially memorable occasion for all the right reasons.
Bill Ward writes at decant-this.com and Twitter: @billward4.
