Thanksgiving, American Vintner-Style
American winemakers share their traditions, memories and great wine recommendations
Posted: November 21, 2006
Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday, and there are more and better wines being produced in this country than at any other time in our history. In the spirit of celebrating our homegrown bounty, Wine Spectator Online asked a handful of American winemakers to share a favorite Thanksgiving memory or tradition, as well as their personal recommendations for what to drink with the big meal.
Traditions and Memories:
"My mother, Karen Bergström, was raised in a large Irish-American family, [and] she learned early how careful preparation of fresh and local ingredients could create happiness and gather the family around the kitchen, the most important room in our house. If my mom was to meet Betty Crocker in a caged wrestling death-match—well, you get the point.
Thanksgiving in our household always means the entire family—12 adults and 10 children—gathered around the table. My mom blends the best aspects of our Swedish heritage and the American Thanksgiving tradition in a feast that would make any king or head of a Viking legion happy and full for days.
The turkey is paired with lingonberries, which suit our history and culture, and are actually tastier than cranberries. The mashed potatoes are paired with yams, since it's the time of the year when root vegetables are at their best. Often times the chanterelles native to our Oregon coast-range will be served, if the early winter frosts haven't prematurely ended the season. These delicious fungi pair with wine like twins separated at birth.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, all Oregon wineries open their doors for two or three days. For some, this is the only time they will open their doors all year, to thousands of Pinot Noir fanatics from across the country and beyond. Every year, we celebrate our accomplishments as a family over a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, and then we spend the next several days sharing our precious product with our clients. What a great feeling!"
Wine Recommendations:
1. Gewürtztraminer! What a great, spicy and festive wine to pair with turkey and lingonberries! Some of my favorite examples hail from Alsace, but I also like Francis Tannahill's version from Oregon, and Navarro's Gewürz from California, as well as some tasty examples from New Zealand.
2. Oregon Pinot Gris. This wine was meant for Thanksgiving celebrations—when you simply can't eat Oregon salmon!
3. Beaujolais Crus. Wines from Morgon, Brouilly and Moulin-à-Vent are classics when it comes to Thanksgiving. The fruity nature of the carbonic maceration in these areas goes so well with lingonberries or cranberries and stuffing.
4. Aged Barolo and Burgundy—but only for those of you who use mushrooms or truffles and have serious family gravy recipes. These wines can be less than stellar if matched with a simple Thanksgiving meal, but for aficionados of the pilgrim feast, these wines can be the perfect match and epitome of harvest-time November wines.
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Molly and Donn Chappellet and their family |
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Molly Chappellet, Chappellet Vineyard
California, Napa Valley
Traditions and Memories:
"Because it's often the most beautiful time of the year in California, we take advantage of that and go for a hike. This year it's particularly beautiful. The valley just has a golden glow with all the grape leaves turning. So we go for a walk up in the high terraces of the vineyard, and we usually supply little baskets or sacks, so that people can gather something along the way, because often there's some treasure that has fallen nearby, some strange pod or seed or whatever. If they're really interesting, we put them on the dining room table as part of our decoration. And often somebody will go through the orchard on the way back to the house and pick persimmons or citrus or pomegranates, and we'll add that to the table. So that's the visual.
We've had a couple of winds and one or two rains already, and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees. We leave certain areas all crunchy with leaves—in fact, there's a pit that used to be [my husband] Donn's wine cellar, and so we just pile up all the leaves in there until they're about four feet tall, and we let the kids go in and just jump in the leaves. That's a fun thing that they look forward to."
Wine Recommendations:
"I had an A.R. Lenoble Champagne the other night that I liked very much, so I think we'll try to find a bottle of that for Thanksgiving. Donn likes Sauvignon Blanc with the turkey. We don't make a Sauvignon Blanc, so we'll go with Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley. A lovely wine with turkey. We might also serve the Araujo Eisele Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah."
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The men of Sebastiani |
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Don Sebastiani, Jr., Don Sebastiani & Sons
California, Sonoma Valley
Traditions and Memories:
"The best part about Thanksgiving is that it's focused on food and wine. It's like a celebration of celebrating. When we were kids, our grandmother Sylvia used to host at her house. Now my family has gotten so big that getting everyone together can mean 50 or 60 people, so it's almost like a wedding party. This year, we'll have people coming from Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, and Southern California. The last few years, my mother and aunt have rented a banquet room at a local hotel or restaurant and thrown a big party—live band, full bar, passed appetizers and drunken toasts. A couple of times we had a polka band, and a couple of times we've had a rock and roll band, and one year my brother August and my cousin Angelo were the band for evening, and that was a ton of fun. The playlist included 'Sweet Home Sonoma,' a riff on Lynrd Skynrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama,' and 'No Turkey No Cry,' like Bob Marley's 'No Woman No Cry.'"
Wine Recommendations:
"There is a small faction of our family—in which I am included—that prefers earthier Old World wines to jammy New World offerings, especially with food. In that light, I recommend a Viña Tondonia Rioja. But, since the Thanksgiving meal is typically so hearty and includes sweet dishes, it does pair well with riper New World wines as well. Dry Creek Zinfandels are among my go-to wines right now. Ridge Lytton Springs is a classic and you can't go wrong with some of Gallo's higher-end wines like Rancho Zabaco Chiotti or Stefani Vineyard. A great Thanksgiving white would be the Gundlach Bundschu Gewürztraminer. It's an excellent example of the Gewürz varietal—very spicy and floral, but also ripe and fruit-driven with mineral notes that pair well with Thanksgiving's many and varied flavors."
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Mo Ayoub |
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Traditions and Memories:
"Thanksgiving is always a sure sign that harvest has come to an end, and the new vintage is resting in barrel. It's a time to gather around the table with good friends and family and share stories about what we are thankful for in life. I look forward to cooking throughout the day. Everyone brings their favorite wine, and we share them throughout a multi-course feast."
Wine Recommendations:
"The most versatile wine for Thanksgiving is Pinot Noir. Oregon Pinot Noir is rich with bright red and black fruit, balanced by nice acidity, complex earthy undertones and subtle hints of exotic spices, all of which complement Thanksgiving dishes ... and its silky texture doesn't overpower them.
I would start with a rosé sparkling—vintage Argyle or Soter Beacon Hill 2001. For a Pinot Noir to enjoy with Thanksgiving dinner, I'd go with a 2005 Bergstrom "Cumberland" Pinot Noir, a 2004 EIO "Wind Hill," 2002 Hamacher Pinot Noir, 2005 Brooks "Janus" Pinot Noir, 2004 Cristom "Eileen", 2004 Dusky Goose, 2004 JK Carriere Willamette Valley, 2004 Brick House "Les Dijonnais", or a 2004 Witness Tree Estate."
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The Betz family |
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Traditions and Memories:
"It's not so much a tradition, but it's a memory imprinted before I learned the word 'Thanksgiving': the way the house smells. It's the best mix of sweet and savory aromas in the whole year, and it goes on all day long. The primal scent of roasted turkey drippings is a warm-up for the caramelized baking spices [and] warm dough smells that go on and on ... sweet potatoes, baked fruit and pumpkin pies with their earthy spices, cornbread and sausage dressing, sweet vegetables ... they mingle to provide a tangle of aromas that make the day a unique memory."
Wine Recommendations:
"I go for both white and red for the calorie overload of Thanksgiving. The wines must be memorable, to match the special day. I'm a sucker for Alsatian Gewürztraminer—Domaine Weinbach Cuvée Théo Clos des Capucins is a frequent guest at our table. For a little less oiliness, we use Riesling from Trimbach or Deiss. The newcomer at our feast is Austrian Grüner Veltliner from any of the top producers—Nigl, Pichler, Brundlmayer and Hiedler. In every case, the perfume matches the heady cooking aromas in the house, [and] the wine' structure cuts through or stands up to the range of sweet, savory and fatty foods.
But red wine is essential here. It has to be full yet fruity, fun yet substantial. Syrah, Zinfandel and Grenache are our grapes of choice for this meal, specifically Cayuse Coccinelle Vineyard Syrah, Rosenblum Rockpile or Ravenswood Dickerson Zinfandel, or any of the Clarendon Hills Grenache from Australia."
