Thanksgiving Wine.

“Is this a good wine for Thanksgiving?”  There is A LOT to think about before you answer that question!  What if that was your friend asking you!?  How would you begin to formulate your answer?  Pairing wine to food is a Profession.  The Thanksgiving meal is a big occasion for a lot of people.  It is not just a nice dinner during an evening about town.  It usually involves a larger amount of people than your usual meal.  Some of those people may have traveled.  There are expectations!Even if your Thanksgiving is a quiet affair, reflective and solemn, a well paired wine can really enhance the experience.  So how would you go about answering that question?  Like most things in life a question usually leads to more questions.  Which would you ask first:  what food will they be having, or what wine do they typically like to drink?  How you think about wine will determine how you approach your recommendation.  When I go out to a nice restaurant with a nice wine list I always ask for wine recommendations when the drinks are ordered, before looking at the dinner menu.  Whether or not that person has been trained in wine matters some, yet what matters more is their approach to wine, which will directly affect my wine experience.The easy question is to ask about food first.  Food to wine pairings are easier to grasp and remember, and there is very little opinion involved.  Asking what type of wine I enjoy first is a much more advanced technique.  What if I enjoy a wine not on the wine list, or a wine that typically does not pair with a certain dish.  Only a true oenophile could navigate that course, balancing what type of wine I like first with potential food pairing second.  So when I ask for a wine recommendation the questions I am then asked tell me everything I need to know about what my experience is going to be.A lot to think about indeed!  There are several “recommended” wines for Thanksgiving.  The Crowd Favorite this week from V Paul’s Vino Magnifico was a very dry Prosecco.  Not a bad wine to have as a starter.  The Crowd Favorite at Aragon’s monthly Cru tasting was a split between a Merlot heavy right bank Bordeaux and a Merlot from Washington State.  Both could accompany a Thanksgiving feast.  Several of our local restaurants were touting a Beaujolais Nouveau on Instagram as THE wine to have at Thanksgiving.  Because Beaujolais Nouveau has a tartness it “pairs” well with several things on a typical thanksgiving table.  If you followed the Instagram fad you will have wine that tastes like tart cranberry, in a good way.  If you wanted that, then perfect!  If not, then you have ended up with a bad wine!  Did those restaurants on instagram ask you if you wanted your wine to taste like a semi-tart cranberry, or did they just tell you what you should have?A good wine to have at Thanksgiving is one, or two, that you have enjoyed.  If you are brave enough to experiment during a big meal then try something nouveau!  If not, grab something that you have liked in the past and you might just find it will probably pair just fine with everything else on the table.  If it doesn’t, then you will know that you can just drink it, and enjoy.  Happy Thanksgiving!