Thanksgiving Wines Made Easy

It's not easy picking out wines for a Thanksgiving meal--even for us wine pros it can be a challenge! One wine may go well with the turkey, but does it mesh with the sweet potatoes and the brussels sprouts? Another may be great with the first course, but will you still want to be drinking it by the time the dishes have been cleared and dessert is on its way? There's a lot to consider when pairing wine with a complete Thanksgiving dinner. A good rule of thumb is to have lots of different wines around--that way there's something for everyone (and isn't variety more fun, anyway?) Here's what we're drinking for the holiday this year:

Hugel Gentil: A longtime Shubie's favorite, this soft, dry and delightfully aromatic Alsatian white has the flavor to stand up to all the fixings on your plate. We always recommend having at least one Alsatian/German wine on the Thanksgiving table--they have the flavors, aroma, and structure to stand up to almost any food. The only trouble with this one is that you may drink it all before dinner!

Raymond Chardonnay, R Series: If you're having a crowd over for dinner, it's almost inevitable that someone will want a Chardonnay. This is a great pick: smooth, dry California Chardonnay, with just the slightest hint of oak. It's got great balance, and has quickly become one of our most popular whites. 

Ranga Ranga Sauvignon Blanc: With all the full, rich flavors of a Thanksgiving meal, people usually need something a little refreshing by the end of it, and nothing says "refreshing" like a glass of cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Crisp and citrusy, don't be afraid to serve this wine at the end of the meal, when palates are getting a little exhausted. Another reason to like the wine: the winery is owned by Marblehead resident Ed Barker, and his winemaker brother Simon. Hooray for local business!

Shoo Fly Shiraz: the sweet potato solution

Ninety Plus Cellars French Fusion: Tons of flavor, not too heavy. Just what you need in a red for Thanksgiving. This one is a delicious blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre from the south of France. Its bright fruit makes it perfect both before and during the meal. 

Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir: No Thanksgiving meal is complete without a Pinot Noir. With its relatively high acidity and undertones of cinnamon and other fall spices, this grape is ideally suited for Turkey Day. This is one of our best selling California Pinots: medium bodied, with bright cherry flavors, it's a bargain for any Pinot lover. 

Shoo Fly Shiraz: Wines greatest nemesis on the Thanksgiving table: sweet potatoes. Their sweet flavor coats the palate, making almost anything you drink afterward taste just a little bit wrong. The solution: Shoo Fly Shiraz. A rich juicy Aussie red, it's always a crowd-pleaser, and can stand up to anything. Even sweet potatoes!

Plate It Up!

Putting together a cheese platter always seems to be the cause of some anxiety with our customers. But with Thanksgiving and the holiday season upon us, a lot of us will have to do it in the coming weeks. Here are a few pointers to help you arrange a cheese board that looks great and tastes delicious:

1. Know your audience. How many cheeses should you get? And how much will you need? That all depends on what the occasion is and who's coming. If the cheese is just an appetizer at a cocktail or dinner party, you should figure on about one ounce per person, and two to four cheeses will do the trick. If you're serving the cheese as a dinner course, two to three ounces, and three to five cheeses will work. If the cheese is the main event, four to six ounces per person is reasonable; in this case, you probably want to serve at least five different kinds of cheese, but don't let that limit you! A cheese dinner with up to 8-12 cheeses can be a memorable evening for a group of cheese lovers.

2. Mix it up. You want to have variety on a cheese platter. Start with something that you like, and go from there. If your first inclination is to pick up a cow's milk cheese, then complement it with a goat's or sheep's milk. Contrast something hard with something soft, something mild with something strong, and so on. Be sure to get cheeses you like, but be adventurous, too. Remember, you're feeding a crowd, and everyone has different tastes. A diverse group of cheeses can be a great conversation starter! Also, don't forget: you want your cheese platter to look good, too. Cheeses come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, textures and colors, and four similarly shaped wedges, no matter how delicious, look boring.

3. The great debate: Bread or crackers. Some people prefer crackers with their cheese. For others, only bread will do. (I'm in the bread camp, but the explanation will have to wait for another post.) There are two easy solutions: a) get whichever you prefer; b) do both! The main thing to remember here is that the cheese is the main attraction, so avoid anything with lots of extra flavors.

4. Fruit and other asides. I know it's cliche, but I love some red grapes on a cheese plate--they're sweet and a little tangy, making them a great foil for just about any cheese, and they add some color to the plate, too. But there's a whole treasure trove of other goodies to add into the mix: apples, pears, and berries; nuts; cured meats like prosciutto and salami; olives and pickled vegetables; or even jams, chutneys or mustard. Every cheese pairs well with some things and not so well with others--feel free to experiment, or ask your cheesemonger for some tips.

5. Looks matter! As I said before, you want the cheese plate to taste good, but you also want it to look good. Grab a nice platter, a wood cutting board, or a slab of marble or slate if you have one, and do it up! The only prerequisite is that there's enough room for all the cheeses to be cut. Chef Lynne is a master at making a plate look beautiful (one of her cheese plates is pictured here, using some fresh herbs as garnish). The rule here is just to be creative and have fun with it! There's no right or wrong--if it looks good to you, then you've probably done it right.

The People Have Spoken (and they like our wines)

Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks getting ready for our annual Fall Food and Wine Festival (so busy the blog had to take a back seat). We had a great time, as always, as did our many fans. And while we didn't hold any official vote that day, we figured that with the national election season coming to an end, we'd do our best to tally up "the will of the people." And what better way to gauge the people's will than by looking at what they actually bought? Here's a little bit about our top selling red and white from the tasting, unofficially voted number one at this year's tasting:

BZ working the crowd at the Fall Festival

Red: Nero Negroamaro, from Puglia Italy

If I had been asked to predict the top-selling red at the beginning of the day, I almost certainly would not have guessed this southern Italian gem. Something more recognizable, like a Malbec, maybe, or a Cabernet, but Negroamaro? I love the wine, but you probably could have counted on one hand the number of people who walked into the store that day and knew anything about the grape. And yet we sold several cases of it that day.

Why did this obscure red beat out some more obviously popular choices at the tasting? First and foremost, it's delicious: dark and fruity, with notes of roasted plums, prunes, and mocha, it is incredibly well-balanced--not too fruity, but not too dry. Easy to drink on its own, but an obvious match for cold-weather fare like roast meats, lasagna, and other pasta dishes. I think the price had something to do with it, too--at just $10 a bottle, it's an incredible value. Kudos to our savvy customers for picking this one out!

White: Frisk "Prickly" Riesling, from Victoria, Australia

If I was surprised by the people's choice of red, I was blown away by the choice of white. I love good Riesling. LOVE it. Sweet or dry, doesn't matter--if it's well made, I'll have some. But a lot of people shy away from this great white these days. I think the reason goes back to the 70s, when German wine makers would mass-produce low-quality sweet Riesling (stuff the Germans themselves would never drink) and sold it in the US market. Fast-forward to 2010 and a much more sophisticated American consumer, and the bad taste left in our mouths from a few years of bad wine in the 70s still affects our palates: Americans don't want sweet Riesling. (Historical note: hundreds of years ago, before the French were even growing grapes in Bordeaux, the world's most acclaimed and coveted wines were German Rieslings.)

Friends of Shubie's enjoying the tasting

Which is why I was so shocked to find that this was the top-selling white. It's a great wine, with lemon and white flower aromas, and an incredibly fresh, crisp, "prickly" feel on the tongue (there's just the slightest hint of fizz in there). But it's also a touch sweet, a deal-breaker for sure, I thought. Wrong again! While the wine is sweet, it's just barely sweet ("off-dry" is a better term), and the crisp acidity and "prickliness" balance the sweetness perfectly, keeping it feeling light and refreshing. People loved it, and I'm crossing my fingers that this indicates a more widespread trend that Riesling is in again!