What Is The Perfect Wine For Thanksgiving?

I was poking around Tommy:eats and found a comment — from Tommy, no less — that was absolutely spot-on. I tend to rant and rave about most things; I am opinionated in case you haven’t noticed by now.  So I had to respond to what Tommy said, but really, he nailed it.

“[P]our what you and your guests like.”

There is nothing so frustrating as listening to some wine snob pontificating about wine and food pairings. There are no correct pairings, and anyone who proclaims that “Sauternes is the only thing to drink with foie gras,” or “Chateau Le Smelly-Feet is best appreciated with liver dumplings,” is in dire need of a beating. At the very least, don’t listen.  Or, if you are up to it, point at him and laugh like a hyena! Just trust your own taste and drink what you feel like drinking. If that means that you are going to drink a hoppy beer with your turkey? Great! And if the only thing on the planet that will satisfy your taste buds is a sweet, spicy Gevurtztraminer with your lamb at Easter, who am I to criticize?

4 Replies to “What Is The Perfect Wine For Thanksgiving?”

  1. Agreed! We will be serving a motley collection of wines that somehow gathered in our cabinet: gifts from friends, cool deals we found, and a favorite or two. It’s always fun to explore the different styles and tastes with a large group of family. Besides, Thanksgiving is all about having *fun* with your food.

    Although that Chateau Le Smelly-Feet *is* da bomb with liver dumplings. 😉

  2. i’m not as hardcore as IANAC. i do think that some wines compliment some foods much better than others. i’m always interested in hearing about those pairings, even if it’s from a wine store clerk.

    ultimately i know my taste better than anyone else, but that’s certainly not to say that there are interesting combinations and wines that i have yet to try. and i’m all for growth and experience.

    today, thanksgiving, i will be drinking all sorts of wine and beer throughout the day. the only pairing i’m really going to be concerned with is my and and the pillow.

    happy thanksgiving to y’all.

  3. There he goes again, always trying to inject a note of rationality. Yeah, yeah, yeah…some food and wine pairings make sense. But if I admitted that I wouldn’t be able to rant and rave, and what’s the fun in that?

  4. you can acknowledge that and still rant. there’s plenty to rant about. of this you are assured.

    for example, i’m reading a grilling book this morning that i really really like. “Grill it!”. I like the authors and their approach. However, their recipe for a margarita calls for “a good quality tequila”. Why wouldn’t that take this opportunity to mention, even in passing, that they mean “a tequila from 100% blue agave”. It annoys the hell out of me, because people who don’t know that Jose Cuervo Gold insn’t good quality tequila still aren’t going to know that it’s not good quality tequila after reading this book, and as such there will be that many more poor quality margaritas on the planet. surely a more noble cause than eradicating poor quality margaritas from our planet you will not find.

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