Thanksgiving wines

Thanksgiving can be a trying time. The relations hogging your couch, a humongous bird burning in the oven, football bellowing on TV and Aunt Flo’s cranberry whip weeping on the counter. All you can hope for is that someone, anyone, brings something truly wonderful to drink to help you through the day.

Certainly, there are a lot of bottles being uncorked out there. Industry stats show this is the time of year when wine sales hit a peak across the country: Some $85 million in wine sales at supermarkets nationwide alone.

“Wine is always a part of most people’s Thanksgiving feast, even if they don’t drink wine any other time,” said Joseph Spellman, master sommelier for Paterno Wines International, the wine import and marketing company in Lake Bluff, Ill. “It has always been a time for feasting and celebration.”

Yet, Thanksgiving for wine lovers can lead to white-knuckle deliberations. For some diners, T-day may be the only time they drink wine in the entire year. What can a thoughtful guest (and host) do to please the neophytes without making the more experienced guzzlers gag and reach for a fifth of Wild Turkey? And what will satisfy the wine lovers at the table without leaving the newbies high and dry?

Complicating matters further is the traditional Thanksgiving menu, a daunting clash of the sweet, the sour, the rich, the bland and, yes, the overcooked.

“The hardest thing to do is not overpower the bird,” said Larry Kaplan, owner of The Wine Cellar in Palatine. “People love merlot, people love cabernet. There’s a time and place for that; turkey is not one of them.”

Too-oaked chardonnay will likewise blanket the turkey’s flavor, he said, adding, “Look for grape varietals that play a supporting role.”

Certainly, hosts aren’t precluded from opening more than one bottle of wine. Johnson C. Ho, owner of Knightsbridge Wine Shoppe & Epicurian Center in Northbrook, serves three types of wine: a German scheurebe, a cross between riesling and sylvaner grapes; an off-dry riesling; and a red Burgundy. That way, people can choose what they like, and what goes best with the food.

“People who love the dark meat of the turkey are better off with red wine, people who eat the white meat can go the other way,” he said.

Ho said the style of wine is important whatever the color.

“Turkey is a dry, lean meat. You don’t want to serve a wine that brings out more dryness,” he said. “A crisp chardonnay would make the turkey taste like cotton; you’d get that double-dry sensation.”

While a host should consider the taste of his or her guests in choosing wines, a guest, too, has to consider what the host needs before bringing wine, said Barbara Glunz, owner of The House of Glunz. You want to create as little fuss as possible, she said. That means bringing white wines already chilled and avoiding old red wines that will require decanting.

White wine picks

Among the whites, rieslings and gewurztraminers were the top choices of Chicago-area wine merchants. They liked the small amount of sweetness in these always food-friendly wines.

“There’s no better match than a good, dry riesling,” said Sterling Pratt, wine director of Schaefer’s in Skokie, Ill. He particularly likes the rieslings of Willi Schaefer, saying these German wines have a green apple quality that have “a lock on matching turkey.” The younger the riesling the better, for the acidity, he said.

Kaplan heads to the gewurztraminer section.

“Gewurz and turkey are made for each other,” he said, adding that the wine’s “spiciness, fruitiness and sweetness” perfectly matches butter-basted turkey.

Shebnem Ince, general manager of Que Syrah Fine Wines, would go with an off-dry riesling or a pinot blanc, like a Welty, because it has a fair amount of fruit and a “happy” acidity.

Fruity reds

“Fruit is your friend,” Ince added. “To counter the dryness problem, she said to choose a lighter style fruity red, of which pinot noir is the “obvious choice.”

Where to pick your pinot is important. Mike Maracich, co-owner of The Twisted Vine in Orland Park, Ill., goes with wine from California’s Edna Valley. He thinks they are “very soft and easy to drink” with any poultry dish.

Champagne and other choices

Other wine options include sparkling wine and rose.

Sean Chaundry of Hinsdale Wine Shop in Hinsdale, Ill., likes the light, fresh bubbly from Italy known as prosecco. It can be served throughout the meal.

Jason Given, general manager of Randolph Wine Cellars, chooses a Spanish cava, the 2000 Gramona La Suite.

“The flavor is not as full-bodied as Champagne,” he said. “It is bright and fresh with a little bit of yeast. … There’s lots of fruit and it’s not overly high in acid.”

And Mike Baker of the Wine Discount Center in Chicago points to a 1996 Pol Roger Brut Rose, praising this French Champagne house for coming up with a “super-friendly” wine that can pull through the dinner.

Roses – the best of them, anyway – combine an appealing softness with a bright fruitiness that never sinks into sweet. A rose can handle turkey and stand up to such sweet side dishes as cranberry and sweet potatoes.

Joseph Spellman also serves rose, but that’s because it’s a family tradition on Thanksgiving.

“I like the idea of rose,” he said. “It tends to appeal to the range of foods, it tends to appeal to people who may not usually drink wine.”

Thangsgivings pours

Here are more recommendations from Chicago area wine pros:

Rodney Alex, owner, Taste: NV Bel Lago Leelanau Primavera (white, $10); 2001 The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir (red, $26); 2002 Tobin James Chateau Le Cacheflo (red, $13).

Mike Baker, manager of the Wine Discount Center, Chicago: 1996 Pol Roger Champagne Brut Rose (sparkling, $55); NV Camille Saves Champagne Brut (sparkling, $47).

Liesel Bennett, owner, Bennett & Bennett Special Wines: 2003 Torii Mor Pinot Gris (white, $16); 2004 Turkey Flat Vineyards Rose (rose, $19); 2001 Chateau de Respide Graves (red, $16).

Sean Chaudhry, owner, Hinsdale Wine Shop, Hinsdale: NV Le Colture Prosecco Cruner (sparkling, $16); 2003 Chateau Vitallis Pouilly Fuisse (white, $17).

Barbara Glunz, owner, The House of Glunz: 2001 Josmeyer Riesling Le Dragon (white, $34); NV Sokol Blosser Winery Evolution (white, $16); 2001 Penner-Ash Rubeo (red, $22).

Johnson C. Ho, owner, Knightsbridge Wine Shoppe & Epicurian Center in Northbrook: 2001 Trefethen Dry Riesling (white, $16); 2000 Prince Florence de Merode Le Corton (red, $65).

Shebnem Ince, general manager, Que Syrah Fine Wines: 2002 Morgan Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands (red, $20); 2001 Welty Pinot Blanc (white, $12).

Larry Kaplan, owner, The Wine Cellar in Palatine: 2002 Fitz-Ritter Gewurztraminer Spatlese (white, $13); NV Paul Avril et Fils Le Petit Vin d’Avril (red, $10).

Emmett P. Malloy Jr., president of SavWay Fine Wines & Spirits, a chain in the Chicago area: 2002 Benziger Chardonnay (white, $10).

Mike Maracich, co-owner of The Twisted Vine, Orland Park: 2003 G&M Machmer Gewurztraminer Spatlese (white $13); 2002 Mark West Pinot Noir Edna Valley (red, $11).

Sterling Pratt, wine director at Schaefer’s in Skokie: 2002 Willi Schaefer Riesling Graacher Himmelreich (white, $20); 2000 Tin House Pinot Noir (red, $23).

Gregg Wilson, wine buyer, The Artisan Cellar: 2003 Terra Blanca Gewurztraminer Late Harvest (white, $15).