9 Versatile Wines for Thanksgiving
Picking the right wine for Thanksgiving can be stressful – should the wine pair with the turkey, the stuffing, or the mashed potatoes? And what about the green bean casserole or cranberry sauce? But have no fear: there ARE wines that can take you from appetizers, to meal, to dessert. Here are the 9 most versatile wines for Thanksgiving. These wines are able to handle the sweet to the savory and everything in between.
Bit of Knowledge
There are a lot of different flavors and textures on your Thanksgiving plate. These wines are great for a variety of different reasons, the most important being that they are super versatile and go with many different flavors and textures. Before picking one of these wines, think about the spices and flavors of your main dishes (everybody's ideal Thanksgiving dinner is a little different). These 9 versatile wines for Thanksgiving are perfect for everything on your plate. Select a wine that goes best with those flavors and the rest will fall into place!
Thanksgiving Reds
The best red wines for Thanksgiving dinner have moderate to low tannins. This ensures that the wine pairs with more on your plate and the tannins won’t overpower the flavors.
1. Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is a light-bodied red wine that has earthy flavor notes along with mushrooms, clove, and raspberry. This red wine is known for its ability to be incredibly versatile with pairings. This is due to its high acidity and low tannins that helps it pair with just about everything!
2. Zinfandel
This jammy red wine is the perfect addition to the mountain of food on your plate! This wine is fuller-bodied that goes with spicy, bitter, and sweet flavors. Making it the perfect Thanksgiving wine! Zinfandels have flavor notes of blackberry, strawberry, raspberry jam, and spicy black pepper. This wine can go with foods that are packed full with flavor and spices. So don’t get shy with the onions, garlic, and maybe even a little bit of spice. Zin loves being paired with strong vanilla flavors. Meaning that it’s the perfect pairing for the ice cream on top of your favorite Thanksgiving pie.
The Obscura Zinfandel is the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving dinner. This California Zinfandel has flavor notes of raspberry, strawberry, plum, and spicy black pepper.
3. Syrah
Syrah is known for its meaty flavors and bold red color. This full-bodied red has flavor notes of blueberry, black plum, milk chocolate, tobacco, and green peppercorn. Syrah is often paired with darker meats, but since it has medium tannins and acidity it will go well with your Thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving Whites
When it comes to white wines you’ll want to make sure the wine isn’t too sweet. We suggest going with something that has a hint of acidity that will complement the various flavors on your plate.
4. Sauvignon Blanc
This white wine is known for its herbal flavor and racy acidity. Sauv Blanc is grown all over the world and each appellation adds to this wine’s unique flavors. The flavor notes of honeydew, passion fruit, white peach, grapefruit, and gooseberries will go great with the variety of food on your plate. The herbal flavors from the wine will also balance any herb-driven foods such as stuffing.
5. Riesling
Riesling is a wine that comes in a variety of different styles – from sweet to dry – making it a perfect versatile pairing for your Thanksgiving dinner. This wine is known for its aromatic qualities along with its flavor notes of green apple, beeswax, jasmine, lime, and petroleum. It’s light in body and pairs great with spice-driven dishes (we're looking at you, apple pie).
6. Gewurztraminer
A white wine that is known for its floral notes, semi sweetness, and low acidity. This versatile wine for Thanksgiving has flavor notes of ginger, lychee, rose, grapefruit, and tangerine. The floral and fruit flavors in this vino are able to add to all the Thanksgiving flavors including the savory gravy flavors and sweet cranberry sauce.
7. Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio has a zippy acidity that goes great with a variety of different flavors. You’ll enjoy this wine’s flavor notes of lemon zest, cantaloupe, crushed gravel, and raw almond. These citrus and earthy flavor notes will go great with your turkey, stuffing, and everything else on your plate!
Wines Besides Red & Wine for Thanksgiving
8. Sparkling
Sparkling wine is very versatile when it comes to pairings. This is because the bubbles in the wine are great for cleansing the palate between bites. Plus sparkling comes in a variety of different varietals and can be dry to sweet. We suggest going with a bottle on the slightly drier side. This way there isn’t any sweetness that overpowers the flavor in your Thanksgiving meal.
9. Rosé
With rosé you get the best of both worlds. This pink wine is the perfect combination of red and white wine, which makes it great for a variety of different pairings. Rosé comes in still or sparkling. Both are great additions to your Thanksgiving dinner. It can also be dry or sweet. The flavor notes of honey, citrus zest, strawberry, and rhubarb all help boost the different flavors and textures on your plate.
In Vino Finito
What's your favorite versatile wines for Thanksgiving? We hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving! Let us know in the comments which wines you tried with your Thanksgiving meal. Want more daily wine wisdom?
