All day cooking, nieces, nephews, grandkids, football blaring from the TV and a small kitchen that will inevitably reach temperatures in the triple digits.

These are the conditions under which decisions are made for most party givers. You are forced to deal with all this when someone asks “What do you have for wine?”.

Most of us just direct the offending family member to a sideboard stocked with Harvey’s Bristol Cream and some cheap flashy Australian wine with an obscure marsupial on the label that was purchased long ago for an unusually low price……and it tastes like it. Well, fear not, we can help.

Now, there are a fair number of people out there who want to advice you to buy specific “turkey” wines, that’s all well and good, unless, like most people, there are roughly 862 different items on the table for this meal. Stuffing’s, Chutneys, Jams, 11 different kinds of bread and biscuits, mac’n’cheese, green salad, ham, turkey, a standing rib roast, and something unidentifiable but obviously overcooked are pretty standard fare. Not to mention the mandatory “cranberry sauce shaped like a can”.

While it’s true that Pinot Noir is very versatile and Gewürztraminer can match with many high salt and weird food items, they are not the end all/be all. It’s much more economical to stick with simple, bright, fresh, unoaked wines that are tasty and uncomplicated. This is a day that only becomes tolerable once everyone has sat down to enjoy massive amounts of food in quantities large enough to choke Chris Christie (sorry, I couldn’t help that one) then follow that up with “just a small sliver” of 41 different kinds of pie.

This is a holiday that NEEDS wine, for dietetic reasons as well as providing some semblance of emotional stability. It is also the kind of holiday that can wipe you out of booze, usually by some of the more peripheral members of your family who only make appearances when free food and wine are available. So, don’t go crazy with matching wine and food, it’s an exercise in futility. Here are some suggestions for Turkey Day:

White Knight Viognier  $13.99 – Juicy and fruit forward with nectarine, peach and melon notes and a nice honeyed richness that should stand up to some of the more aggressive flavors on the table.

Chateau Montaud Rose Cote de Provence $12.99 – Pretty orange and light strawberry characteristics with fresh herbs and racy acidity. Smokin good with Ham.

Sulin Barbera de Monferrato  $12.99 – A perfectly juicy amalgamation of crushed berries and fresh clean acidity. So versatile it could go with a significant portion of the 862 items on the table.

Bryan Smith

Wine Specialist

Le Tastevin Fine Wines

Alexandria, VA 22314

571-970-6903

bryan@letastevinva.com