What goes good with turkey

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

My Facebook buddy, Sonia Robinson, asked me what wine goes good with turkey, and frankly, I needed the motivation to write something.  As I am up here having some lovely Famiglia Pasqua Amarone (2007 and very affordable and approachable) along with some fried chicken, it was the perfect question.

With turkey, you can either go with white or red, but you can also go with rosé and bubbly/sparkling wines, so let me start off on this journey.

If we look at sparkling, you want something that isn’t going to overwhelm neither the bird’s own taste nor that of the gravy.  I am going to go in several directions with this.  The first would be Trento, a wine made in the Trentino region of Italy that only has Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as its components.  It usually has a little bite to it in regards to some type of spiciness and thus is perfect with turkey.  On another level, I would go with a great blanc de noirs which will have more of a darker taste than a blanc di noirs and complement the bird well.  You might also want to consider sparkling Shiraz, which is really a red wine, but would go great with cranberries.

Moving on to rosé, or blush wines, I would love to focus on something that most of you will never get, and that is Pinot Nero, which is the Italian name for Pinot Noir.  Some of the best ones come as sparkling wines and usually come from the Lombary/Lombardia region of Italy.  Of course, they make it in other parts of Italy, but I must say that it is great.  For those that can grab a bottle of Marsecco, which uses the Marzimano grape, that dark beauty, with its semi-sweetness also would be great. 

Now, I will jump into white, and with this, anything can happen.  Favorites of mine include: Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc; any vin bianco (white style) Pinot Noir from Italy; Karia Chardonnay from Stag’s Leap; and Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay (the Vintner’s reserve tastes worse than warm cat piss to me).  Another great mention is Bodega de Elena Chardonnay.  Oh, there is also The Naked Grape’s Chardonnay as well.  While the Karia is like thirty dollars a bottle, you can cut that in half with Sokol Blossor’s Evolution, which is a mixture of seven different varietals.  If you’d like to try something different in white, the go with either a Muller Thurgau or a Silvaner.  Oh, and if you can find a Concannon Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, then you are in luck.

Now, for the true taste, a red is going to be hard to beat.  Columbia Crest Grand Estate Merlot is a great beauty that can be had for under ten dollars a bottle.  For Zinfandel, try messing around with anything from Rosenblum Cellars.  Concannon Vineyards has a great Petit Sirah and Chateau Ste Michelle’s Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, at $25 a bottle is a beast.  Also, Root 1’s Carmenere is heaven; totally bliss.  If it’s just you and a lady or two, you might just wind up in bed sooner than expected, and happier.

Now, I must give my boy Mike Gonzalez at Vici Wine and Spirits a plug because his Rio Seco Reserva Pinot Noir is one of the inkiest, darkest and most decadent Pinot Noir that I have ever had, and it only costs around fourteen dollars a bottle.  In that note, the Bodega de Elena Red Blend also is a nice beast, and it’s priced less than ten dollars a bottle.

I would also say anything by Louis La’tour would be great, whether red or white.

For something different, meaning you guys that love sweet wines, try either Essencia or Elysium by Quady Winery.  One is an orange muscat and the other a black muscat.  They are truly powerful and also would go great with sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce.  Congrats to Andrew and Laurel for a consistently fine product.

Now lastly, I am going to throw something else out there, and that is what to have after dinner.  Last year had me and a person that shall remain nameless and be forever reviled gregariously partaking in a bottle of ten year old Graham’s Aged Tawny Port.  Actually, we liked it more than the twenty year old aged tawny.

This whole article was started by someone reading a post of mine on facebook.  For those of you that can ball a little, and really respect the people that are sharing the meal with you, and those people are worthy of a great wine, might I suggest an Amarone.  My first pick would be the Famiglia Pasqua 2007 Amarone, which I will be writing a review of today.  If you can get bottles of Opera No. 3, pick them up.  Lastly, Mara by Cesari, which is a Ripasso is also a great catch.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don’t be afraid to invite me out for a drink.