Raising a glass to wild turkey and the turducken
William Hsieh, WG'08
Issue date: 11/20/06 Section: Insider
It is turkey time and you're going to need some wine - probably a lot of it if your Thanksgiving is anything like mine usually is. But choosing a wine to go with turkey, stuffing, the OPIM Ocean Spray Cranberry Case (first years, oh the fun you will have in OPIM during your second semester!) ain't easy. Thankfully for you, Wine Board Members Blair Schmicker, Michelle Shinn and I were available to pre-taste some wines, and we've got a few ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner table.
However, a quick note on the side, I wanted to apologize to everyone for the Halloween article ("Wine board drinks wine so scary, it's not even good enough for Dean Chen's date") coming out a few weeks later than it was supposed to.
Back to Thanksgiving. Actually, no, last week's Hungarian wine was so bad I can't let it go. Those brain cells died in vain. We can't drink something that crappy again. For this tasting we have to pick some winners - wine that will go great with your Thanksgiving dinner, not kill your friends and keep your breath from smelling like sulfur. To be safe, we went with varieties that many wine experts recommend for Thanksgiving. We've also picked wines from generally available producers, so even if you're away from the Pennsylvania State Liquor Store Monopoly, you can probably find these bottles.
So, do you want red or white with your turkey? Blair says both! A little variety is a good idea on a day when you might be eating and drinking for a long time. So, we'd recommend starting with a low oak Chardonnay, then switching to a flavorful Pinot Noir as the decadence progresses. Since Thanksgiving is an American fiesta we'll celebrate with American wines.
Many of our international readers may not be familiar with Thanksgiving, so I'll give you a brief history of this American tradition. A long time ago, when the pilgrims realized how damn good turkey was, they decided to make eating it a totally huge annual party. In fact, the turkey was so tasty that Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey the national bird of the US. Unfortunately for gourmands everywhere, the bald eagle won out and America ended up with a substantially less meaty mascot. (Don't worry, Franklin's preferred avian was eventually honored by a bourbon maker from Kentucky.)
Later, elementary school teachers would steal the holiday and use it as an excuse to force their students to create pilgrim and Indian costumes out of brown paper bags and turkeys out of handprints. Thankfully the National Football League eventually restored the day to its original purpose of fun, games and cheerleaders. Of course, John Madden's turducken has taken the entire event to a whole new level. In case you were wondering, a turducken is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed in a turkey and roasted. Why would someone create such a thing? One word: Ornithophobia (fear of birds.) Disaster nearly struck in 1989, when my mom's friend's dog Ace ran off with the pumpkin pie that was supposed to be Thanksgiving dessert. Without the backup apple pie, blueberry cobbler, chocolate brownies and cookies it could have been a tragic day indeed. Don't worry, we all survived, although the dog did have gas.
J.Lohr, Riverstone Estates Arroyo Seco Chardonnay, 2005 ($13.99). With its light color, this wine could be mistaken for a sauvignon blanc. We all enjoyed the nice floral nose. The wine was easy to drink, with good fruit on the middle palette. There was only a hint of oak, and not much butter. The finish was light and pleasant, but not overwhelming. This is definitely a decent wine you could drink all day, but it's not anything amazing. It's probably a decent value for your Thanksgiving, and would do fine accompanying turkey and all the other accoutrements you'd have with the dinner.
We didn't taste, but would also suggest these Chardonnay's for your Thanksgiving:
Chateau Ste Michelle, Columbia Valley, Chardonnay, 2004 (we tasted this one in our first wine article). Nice fruit with oak, a hint of butter. The wine store also has a large bottle of this wine that looks like a good deal if you are having a number of friends over for Thanksgiving. There is a large bottle of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay on sale for $17.99 - probably a perfectly decent wine for your turkey. Chateau St. Jean also makes a good Chardonnay you will probably enjoy.
We also tried two Pinot Noirs that you can get at the disappointingly small Pinot section at the Wine & Spirits Store on Chestnut. When the Pinot grape is treated well it can create an amazingly complex wine capable of complementing a large variety of foods, including many of the ones you'll probably be eating on Thanksgiving. These wines will probably show the best if you serve them slightly chilled, maybe by leaving them in your fridge for half an hour (at the most!) before serving.
Sterling Vintner's Collection, Central Coast, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($14.99). Sterling is a readily available producer that usually makes respectable, low to mid-priced wines - i.e. wines that won't get you fired. This is no exception; we all enjoyed it but it didn't knock our socks off. The wine had a lighter than expected purple color and a light, happy smell of vanilla and fruit. The body was fine, and the middle and finish were decent, with bits of light fruit and vanilla oak. Blair thought maybe the wine was put together by committee - "we need a little fruit, little oak, little finish… voila!" Every element was correct, but it just didn't come together in a unified way. So many good ideas: insensitive jokes about fat people, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, even Tony Robbins makes a cameo… but it just didn't come together. This wine was a little of the same.
This lead into a digression about dreams, such as how much having dreams in Microsoft Excel sucks and my recurring dream when I was little of being able to skip so well I could jump over buildings. Blair confessed he recently had a dream, post snooze-button-hit, that he had gotten up and prepared for his early morning bike ride. When he finally realized what time it was, not only wasn't he dressed to go riding, he was late. Consider this your official apology, Brent Hooper.
Then we returned to our wine glasses - and were pleasantly surprised to find that the wine had substantially improved! With exposure to air, the tannins lengthened and the wine integrated. I usually don't recommend decanting wine, but I'd have to suggest you decant this one before you drink it. It will show substantial improvement if you do. Finally, this will definitely go well with your Thanksgiving, but won't be anything too distracting from the food.
Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($19.99). Because we were way too engrossed in the dream conversation, the final bottle of Pinot spent too much time in the fridge, and we huddled around our glasses trying to warm it up. However, even after the first smell we could tell this was going to be a good bottle. There was the typical deep Pinot purple, and a vanilla nose. The body was thick, but not too thick, and the taste really rolled over the mouth. We all noticed a vanilla and cherry front end with a lingering strawberry finish. The tannins were well balanced, and the acidity was good. With nice flavors, good acidity and well developed finish this will go well with your turkey dinner. However, be prepared to pay a little attention to this wine if you buy it! We'd probably open this bottle last at our dinner, but make sure it was finished before dessert. While the Coppola clearly doesn't hit all the spots of a $50 Pinot, for a $20 wine in Pennsylvania it's a good purchase.
We hope your Thanksgiving is merry and tasty! Have safe travels, and don't forget to try a good wine with your dinner.
Recommended Thanksgiving Wines:
Chardonnay:
• J.Lohr, Riverstone Estates Arroyo Seco Chardonnay, 2005 ($13.99). Easy drinking, mildly fruity, low oak, low butter Chardonnay with light finish that will go well with turkey.
• Chateau Ste Michelle, Columbia Valley, Chardonnay, 2004. ($12.99) Nice fruit with light oak, a hint of butter. Also available in bigger bottle for those of you with lots of friends.
• Robert Mondavi Chardonnay (on sale for $17.99 - the big bottle!)
• Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay. Lower oak chardonnay sure to please.
Pinot Noir:
• Sterling Vintner's Collection, Central Coast, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($14.99). Totally decent Pinot; vanilla and fruit. Fine body. Integrates well and finish improves after sitting open; maybe decant it first. Serve just slightly chilled. Will definitely complement your Thanksgiving dinner.
• Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($19.99). Great strawberry and vanilla flavors, good acidity and well developed finish; good idea for Thanksgiving. Serve just slightly chilled.
However, a quick note on the side, I wanted to apologize to everyone for the Halloween article ("Wine board drinks wine so scary, it's not even good enough for Dean Chen's date") coming out a few weeks later than it was supposed to.
Back to Thanksgiving. Actually, no, last week's Hungarian wine was so bad I can't let it go. Those brain cells died in vain. We can't drink something that crappy again. For this tasting we have to pick some winners - wine that will go great with your Thanksgiving dinner, not kill your friends and keep your breath from smelling like sulfur. To be safe, we went with varieties that many wine experts recommend for Thanksgiving. We've also picked wines from generally available producers, so even if you're away from the Pennsylvania State Liquor Store Monopoly, you can probably find these bottles.
So, do you want red or white with your turkey? Blair says both! A little variety is a good idea on a day when you might be eating and drinking for a long time. So, we'd recommend starting with a low oak Chardonnay, then switching to a flavorful Pinot Noir as the decadence progresses. Since Thanksgiving is an American fiesta we'll celebrate with American wines.
Many of our international readers may not be familiar with Thanksgiving, so I'll give you a brief history of this American tradition. A long time ago, when the pilgrims realized how damn good turkey was, they decided to make eating it a totally huge annual party. In fact, the turkey was so tasty that Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey the national bird of the US. Unfortunately for gourmands everywhere, the bald eagle won out and America ended up with a substantially less meaty mascot. (Don't worry, Franklin's preferred avian was eventually honored by a bourbon maker from Kentucky.)
Later, elementary school teachers would steal the holiday and use it as an excuse to force their students to create pilgrim and Indian costumes out of brown paper bags and turkeys out of handprints. Thankfully the National Football League eventually restored the day to its original purpose of fun, games and cheerleaders. Of course, John Madden's turducken has taken the entire event to a whole new level. In case you were wondering, a turducken is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed in a turkey and roasted. Why would someone create such a thing? One word: Ornithophobia (fear of birds.) Disaster nearly struck in 1989, when my mom's friend's dog Ace ran off with the pumpkin pie that was supposed to be Thanksgiving dessert. Without the backup apple pie, blueberry cobbler, chocolate brownies and cookies it could have been a tragic day indeed. Don't worry, we all survived, although the dog did have gas.
J.Lohr, Riverstone Estates Arroyo Seco Chardonnay, 2005 ($13.99). With its light color, this wine could be mistaken for a sauvignon blanc. We all enjoyed the nice floral nose. The wine was easy to drink, with good fruit on the middle palette. There was only a hint of oak, and not much butter. The finish was light and pleasant, but not overwhelming. This is definitely a decent wine you could drink all day, but it's not anything amazing. It's probably a decent value for your Thanksgiving, and would do fine accompanying turkey and all the other accoutrements you'd have with the dinner.
We didn't taste, but would also suggest these Chardonnay's for your Thanksgiving:
Chateau Ste Michelle, Columbia Valley, Chardonnay, 2004 (we tasted this one in our first wine article). Nice fruit with oak, a hint of butter. The wine store also has a large bottle of this wine that looks like a good deal if you are having a number of friends over for Thanksgiving. There is a large bottle of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay on sale for $17.99 - probably a perfectly decent wine for your turkey. Chateau St. Jean also makes a good Chardonnay you will probably enjoy.
We also tried two Pinot Noirs that you can get at the disappointingly small Pinot section at the Wine & Spirits Store on Chestnut. When the Pinot grape is treated well it can create an amazingly complex wine capable of complementing a large variety of foods, including many of the ones you'll probably be eating on Thanksgiving. These wines will probably show the best if you serve them slightly chilled, maybe by leaving them in your fridge for half an hour (at the most!) before serving.
Sterling Vintner's Collection, Central Coast, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($14.99). Sterling is a readily available producer that usually makes respectable, low to mid-priced wines - i.e. wines that won't get you fired. This is no exception; we all enjoyed it but it didn't knock our socks off. The wine had a lighter than expected purple color and a light, happy smell of vanilla and fruit. The body was fine, and the middle and finish were decent, with bits of light fruit and vanilla oak. Blair thought maybe the wine was put together by committee - "we need a little fruit, little oak, little finish… voila!" Every element was correct, but it just didn't come together in a unified way. So many good ideas: insensitive jokes about fat people, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, even Tony Robbins makes a cameo… but it just didn't come together. This wine was a little of the same.
This lead into a digression about dreams, such as how much having dreams in Microsoft Excel sucks and my recurring dream when I was little of being able to skip so well I could jump over buildings. Blair confessed he recently had a dream, post snooze-button-hit, that he had gotten up and prepared for his early morning bike ride. When he finally realized what time it was, not only wasn't he dressed to go riding, he was late. Consider this your official apology, Brent Hooper.
Then we returned to our wine glasses - and were pleasantly surprised to find that the wine had substantially improved! With exposure to air, the tannins lengthened and the wine integrated. I usually don't recommend decanting wine, but I'd have to suggest you decant this one before you drink it. It will show substantial improvement if you do. Finally, this will definitely go well with your Thanksgiving, but won't be anything too distracting from the food.
Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($19.99). Because we were way too engrossed in the dream conversation, the final bottle of Pinot spent too much time in the fridge, and we huddled around our glasses trying to warm it up. However, even after the first smell we could tell this was going to be a good bottle. There was the typical deep Pinot purple, and a vanilla nose. The body was thick, but not too thick, and the taste really rolled over the mouth. We all noticed a vanilla and cherry front end with a lingering strawberry finish. The tannins were well balanced, and the acidity was good. With nice flavors, good acidity and well developed finish this will go well with your turkey dinner. However, be prepared to pay a little attention to this wine if you buy it! We'd probably open this bottle last at our dinner, but make sure it was finished before dessert. While the Coppola clearly doesn't hit all the spots of a $50 Pinot, for a $20 wine in Pennsylvania it's a good purchase.
We hope your Thanksgiving is merry and tasty! Have safe travels, and don't forget to try a good wine with your dinner.
Recommended Thanksgiving Wines:
Chardonnay:
• J.Lohr, Riverstone Estates Arroyo Seco Chardonnay, 2005 ($13.99). Easy drinking, mildly fruity, low oak, low butter Chardonnay with light finish that will go well with turkey.
• Chateau Ste Michelle, Columbia Valley, Chardonnay, 2004. ($12.99) Nice fruit with light oak, a hint of butter. Also available in bigger bottle for those of you with lots of friends.
• Robert Mondavi Chardonnay (on sale for $17.99 - the big bottle!)
• Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay. Lower oak chardonnay sure to please.
Pinot Noir:
• Sterling Vintner's Collection, Central Coast, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($14.99). Totally decent Pinot; vanilla and fruit. Fine body. Integrates well and finish improves after sitting open; maybe decant it first. Serve just slightly chilled. Will definitely complement your Thanksgiving dinner.
• Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label, Monterey County, Pinot Noir, 2005 ($19.99). Great strawberry and vanilla flavors, good acidity and well developed finish; good idea for Thanksgiving. Serve just slightly chilled.
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