The Best Wines for Thanksgiving

Best Wines for Thanksgiving

The holidays are a special time of year. We take a break from our busy lives to gather with family and friends around a beautifully set table to break bread and enjoy one another's company. So what better chance could there be to explore new foods and wine pairings?

Sharing new experiences (and tastes) with the ones you care about the most is a beautiful thing. It's celebratory, and it brings you together. But where to start? 

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For Firstleaf club members, it's easy to find amazing wines to pair with a holiday dinner; there are six bottles in every shipment that have been specifically chosen to match their taste preferences. However, with the variety of dishes on the holiday table, it can be a little confusing to figure out what wine you should choose for a given course. 

Never fear. The wine lovers at Firstleaf are here to help you find the most versatile wine for your menu, so you can get back to perfecting your menu, picking the right place settings and glassware, and spending time enjoying the company of those you love.

Thanksgiving Wine with Food

Pairing wine with food is a polarizing subject. It's either viewed as something that only wine nerds care about or as something incredibly important to any balanced meal. What's most important as you think about your options is how your family approaches wine. For some family members, a perfect wine is simply cold, maybe even with an ice cube or two to chill and dilute the flavors, and for others, only a top-tier French wine will make them happy. 

When in doubt, serve what makes your guests happy! The most important rule of wine pairing is to enjoy the wine you are drinking. If you want to ensure that your guests are having a good time, ask them about their preferences. 

But if you want the wines to perfectly match the food you worked so hard to make, learn the basics of how to pair wine with food in our in-depth pairing guide. If you just want some of our favorite pairings for basic holiday dishes, scroll on.

Wine Pairing Basics

No matter what you are pairing, the best results are about balance. To truly do this, it takes a practiced hand and experience with a particular wine. It should be noted that even the most steadfast pairing "rules" are generalizations. 

The best pairings understand the elements that food and wine have in common, even if it is used to contrast the flavors or textures.

Acidity and Wine

Acidity plays with our perceptions of sweetness and sourness. It makes wine taste rich and well-integrated.

Sweetness and Wine

Sweetness is almost the opposite of acidity. Sweetness in food makes wine taste bitter, sour, and astringent — especially dry wine.

Rich Meats and Wine

Rich meats pair fantastically with young red wines. Tannins can bind with the proteins in red meats, reducing your perception of the tannin and amplifying the red fruit flavors. 

Salt and Wine

Salt's effects are large, so be careful when pairing with very salty foods. Salt amplifies sweetness, so adding salt to a dessert dish can boost the flavor of your dessert wine. It also makes wines taste less astringent and less bitter but can easily overwhelm a wine.

Thanksgiving Wine Pairings by Course

Thanksgiving Wine Pairings for Appetizers

At the beginning of a holiday meal, the goal for a pairing is to stoke the appetite. We think that sommeliers have the right idea. They often start meals with a glass or two of sparkling wine (especially a bone dry brut with an aroma of stone fruit flavors)—the lively acidity and bubbly texture accent the flavors of most food pairings. Charcuterie boards, sausage rolls, and freshly baked bread will play off of texture, and the acidity will get your guest's mouths watering.

Another popular choice during appetizers is a dry rosé wine, especially the delicate flavors and bright acidity of the ever-popular Provençal rosé. 

Salads are a little more complicated and dependent on your dressing choice. Something creamy (like Caesar, ranch, or blue cheese) will be able to stand up to a full-bodied white wine, whereas a dark, fruity balsamic (especially something like a raspberry vinaigrette) can work well with a light red wine, served chilled. The fruit flavor and crisp acidity of these reds will work well with the dark notes from the dressing.

Mains: The Best Wine with Turkey & Best Wine with Ham

Figuring out what wine pairs the best with roasted turkey meat and what wine pairs with ham causes many hosts excessive trouble. However, most guests' plates will end up with a little bit of both, so here are a few general classic pairings for Thanksgiving mains. 

Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau are some of the best Thanksgiving wines you can find. The fresh red berry flavors and subtle earthiness of the Gamay grape will showcase the terroir of the region and accent the rich flavors of the baking spices in your sweet potatoes, the herbal flavors, and spice on a turkey, or the richness of a holiday ham. 

Chardonnay, and especially a buttery Chardonnay, is a delightful choice for turkey meat and buttery mashed potatoes. We think going with a great wine from Oregon, Sonoma, or Napa Valley will be the best bet for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Pinot Noir is another classic option that can work with white meat or dark meat on the dinner table. In addition, the fruity flavors of new world Pinot Noirs make it an excellent choice for pairing with the variety of foods at the celebration.

Thanksgiving Desserts and Wine Pairings

Whether your family goes in for apple pie or something even sweeter such as pumpkin pie or pecan pie, pairing the right glass of wine with dessert is crucial. While certain dry white wines (think Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Moscato) and sparkling wines will work with a wide variety of fresh fruit, citrus flavors, and cheeses, sweeter desserts need a closer look. 

The classic rule for pairing desserts with wines is to choose a bottle of wine that is sweeter than the dessert. This means that you are searching for a sweet wine, not a wine that happens to be a little sweet. The best are Sauternes from Bordeaux and late harvest Riesling from Germany. These wines can develop for decades if not longer and are full of complex flavors and high acidity. Dessert wines are a delicious and fun way to end a long Thanksgiving meal.

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