Wine-Girl.net’s Virtual Thanksgiving Dinner: Host and Hostess Edition

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Snoopy_thanksgiving

This week, Kevin and I are having a virtual (er, imaginary) Thanksgiving dinner
with some of our wine friends. Monday,
our retailer buddies arrived, with some amazing wine favorites in
tow. Tuesday, the local wine bloggers dropped by. Today you get our own choices – just a couple of wines that we think might complement a Thanksgiving meal. We’ll be bringing these along with us tomorrow as we head over the river and through the woods to my grandmother’s house. (No kidding actually.)

As you may have noticed this week, there is
no right or wrong for a Thanksgiving wine. Drink what you like, just like your local wine bloggers and retailers.

After the jump, find our own Thanksgiving pairings.

White:

Leitz Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Spätlese, Rheigau, Germany: Leitz is located in the Rheigau region of Germany. This Riesling is a Spätlese, which refers to grapes that are
selectively picked at least 7 days after the main harvest. Because such
fruit is riper than the grapes from the main harvest, it contains more
sugar and produces wines that are rich and sweet. The natural sugar
must attain around 19-23% sugar by weight. We tried the 2005, but I have high hopes for subsequent vintages. This wine has a lot of minerality and
balanced acidity, thoroughly refreshing. We originally had the Magdelenenkreuz
with some good ol’ American fried chicken, and it complemented the meal
wonderfully, so I suspect it will work with the gamey turkey as well. ~$20

Red:

Château Beauregard Moulin-à-Vent 2005,
Beaujolais, France: This was my most surprising wine of the night. I instantly
judged the wine because it was a beaujolais. This wasn’t like drinking
fruit punch though. This was a nice wine with some complexity and no
wimpiness. It’s what I always wanted a beaujolais to be and it may even
improve with another 3-5 years in the bottle. We had this at the Krystal Pepper Memorial Scholarship Wine Tasting event in September and it stuck with me. Remember, this isn’t Beaujolais Nouveau, it’s Cru Beaujolais. ~$21

Monte Oton 2007, Garnacha, Bodegas Borsao, Spain: This is our Christmas wine. We’re buying a case of it and giving it to all our friends. I’m not going to share how outrageously affordable this little wine is, after all, we’re giving them away, but it tastes like a lot more than its price tag. It’s an old vine grenache thats just chock full of berries. Kevin would call it a fruit explosion in his mouth. It’s not all fruit though, as it has some tannins to follow it up. I brought this to a professional function in San Jose and my colleagues were all blown away by it. I never did share the price – just reveled in their admiration at my "mad wine skillz." Icon_wink

Dessert:

And don’t forget dessert! Whether alone or with some chocolate, you can break out a port or an icewine.

2004 Eugen Müller Forst Weissburgunder Eiswein, Pfalz, Germany: A completely unexpected icewine. This was acidic and cleansing. It reminded me of a crisp sorbet you might eat between
courses. There was a lot of citrus, especially lemon and apricot. The
Weissburgunder was lighter than we expected, not heavy and mead-like,
as in some icewines. It also wasn’t overly sweet, but pleasant. The wine needs to be slightly chilled first, which makes a
difference in the blending of the flavors. Overall, we enjoyed this dessert wine and will definitely buy it again. (not sure what we paid for this one)

Trevor Jones "Jonesy" Tawny Port, NV, Australia: Espresso and raisins. Exactly what a tawny port should be. Nutty, vanilla, and strawberry jam with tobacco. Not dark and heavy, but a nice finale to your meal. It’s a sippable port and the best part? It’s only ~$10!