Wine Wednesday – Thanksgiving wine recommendations

Hello, hello!

Happy Wine Wednesday before Thanksgiving Thursday!

The weather outside is most definitely frightful and, if you’re traveling today, please be careful. I’m sure your family/friends would enjoy giving thanks for your safe arrival. If you’re traveling tomorrow, the same story holds. 🙂

So, let’s talk wine.

I mean, it IS Wine Wednesday, after all!

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Do you have a plan for what wine you’re pouring with tomorrow’s meal?

If you do – Excellent! What are you pouring?

If you don’t, and you’re in charge of the wine, you’re in luck. I’m here to help!

Oh, and if you’re not in charge of wine this time around but are for Christmas, these tips will work for that meal, as well. 🙂

The first thing you need to figure out is how much wine to have on hand.

Generally, a standard bottle will yield about 4-6 glasses of wine, depending on who does the pouring. If it’s my dad, we’re looking at 4 glasses. 🙂

So, for math purposes, we’ll go with 5.

Plan for about 2 glasses per person (some will drink none and some will most definitely drink more) but 2 is a good average.

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Then, you have to figure out how many people will be there.

Adults, not children. Please don’t give the children any wine.

We’re going to have 15 at my folks’ house but out of those 15, 6 are below the age of 21. So, we’ll have 9 wine drinkers.

So, 9 wine drinkers plus 2 glasses each equals 18 glasses of wine. Divide that by how many glasses you can get out of a bottle – (remember from up there?) – 5 and we’re looking at about 4 bottles of wine for the meal.

Now, you can mix it up and offer both white and red, if you want. You’ll still want to stick to those estimated calculations. If you know that people will drink more because they aren’t driving, then you can plan for that.

Whatever you plan for pre-dinner drinks is completely up to you and if it’s more wine, you’ll have to account for that in your wine bottle total.

Ooohh, you know what’s handy?

Wine charms! If you have quite a few people drinking wine, it’s very common for someone to put down their glass and walk away for a minute only to come back and discover that it’s gone. With wine charms, everyone basically calls dibs on their own glass with a little charm! They wrap around the glass stem, aren’t very expensive, and can be found in most wine markets and places like World Market, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and, who knows, probably even Target! (*note – if the store sells wine glasses, it probably sells wine charms)

And now it’s time for the good stuff!

What to drink!!

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If you’re doing the traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey or ham, there are a variety of wines that pair with both (and all the side dishes) quite nicely.

Let’s start with white wines, shall we?

Rieslings, Gewurztraminers, and Chardonnays are all excellent choices.

They’re all light and fruity without being overly sweet. Gewürztraminers bring a little bit of spiciness to the table and pair excellently with both pecan and pumpkin pie. When looking for a Chardonnay, you want to look for something “unoaked” or stainless barreled. Some oaky Chardonnays can be intensely buttery and might overwhelm your meal. The lighter, unoaked are both crisp and full-bodied and delicious.

Some of my favorite Rieslings include Fetzer, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and J. Lohr.

Favorite Gewürztraminers include Fetzer (again). I haven’t tried too many others so that’s all I got.

And Chardonnays include Kunde, Mer Soleil ($$), Fess Parker, and Josh Cellars.

For red wines, traditional choices are Beaujolais and Pinot Noir. You could also go with a Malbec or a Zinfandel. If you decide to buy a couple bottles of different kinds, serve the Beaujolais and Pinot Noirs BEFORE the Malbecs and Zinfandels.

Beaujolais and Pinot Noir are both light and fruity with a little bit of earthiness. Malbecs are a more lush, medium-bodied wine and Zinfandels are powerful and fruity and full of depth.

If your Thanksgiving crowd are wine lovers, you could definitely throw the Malbecs and the Zinfandels into the mix without worry but if you have wine novices or people who prefer a “lighter” wine, then you should definitely stick with the Beaujolais or Pinot Noir.

I don’t have a favorite Beaujolais as I normally grab a Pinot Noir. Some favorite Pinot Noirs include Rubeus of Lore, Edna Valley, and Decoy.

Favorite Malbecs include Middle Sister (SO GOOD!!), Acacia, or most Meritages (includes the Malbec grape).

Favorite Zinfandels include Four Vines, Seghisio ($$), and Rancho Zabaco.

So there you have it! You’re all set. Well, as far as the wine goes. I can’t help you with the cooking part. 🙂

Talk to me: Pumpkin or Pecan pie?

– jennifer

Wine Wednesday – 2011 Bridlewood Blend 175

Hello, hello!

Sorry I wasn’t around for Tasty Tuesday yesterday.

Thing 2 had a major party in her mouth at the oral surgeon’s office and I played “mommy” to my baby who isn’t so little any more.

If only she were old enough to drink, she could totally take part in Wine Wednesday!

Alas, she isn’t and, if she were, she shouldn’t be drinking wine anyway while she’s on her pain meds. So, I’ll drink some in her honor. 🙂

Anyhoo, we went to a party this past Saturday and swung by the grocery store to grab a bottle to take.

I found this super interesting sounding blend from Bridlewood Estate Winery and you KNOW how I feel about blends! ❤

It’s a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel and rings in surprisingly low on the alcohol scale at 12.5%.

The home of the party hostess is old (like super early 1900s), absolutely beautiful – probably should have taken some pictures, huh? – and superbly decorated.

The cabinet and those glasses made me feel like I should have been drinking a super expensive French wine. But, unfortunately, she didn’t have any. 😉

This wine was beautiful and definitely an excellent choice for this party.

It was potluck (I brought my triple chocolate avocado brownies – YUM!) so there were quite a variety of dishes.

I should add that this party was with all my CrossFit peeps so … there was lots of meat and bacon, etc. #winning

The wine paired fabulously with everything!

It was jammy but soft, oaky with some toasty spice, and smooth. Bridlewood uses the word “graceful” in its description and I would have to agree.

Some wines like to pack a punch or be super jammy and chewy or be extra “hot” (high alcohol content) – this one is like going to a club/bar/wedding/party/etc and the older married couple takes the dance floor and waltzes every wannabe dancer into submission. 🙂

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The low alcohol content (which means less residual sugar from the skins) kept the wine from being too big and tannic and made it quite lovely to enjoy.

Actually, if you’ve never tried a blend, this would be an excellent first choice because it is so soft and muted and flavorful.

Cheers!

Talk to me: What do you  normally bring to potlucks? Do you have a “signature dish” that you rely on?

– jennifer

Wine Wednesday – Rare Red (or as I liked to call it – “Guess the grapes”)

Hello, hello!

Guess what day it is?!?!

I ❤ Wine Wednesdays!

And, you’re in luck! I remembered to get the pictures off my camera!

Usually I take them with my phone but for some reason, I decided to be all fancy and use my regular camera.

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Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.

Anyway, this is another wine I found at my local wine market.

The Rare Red 4 Grape Blend.

Mike knows I like blends so he wanted me to give it a try.

I can’t remember exactly how much the bottle cost and I’ve since thrown my receipt away but I’m pretty positive this was one of my less than $10 bottles.

I bought 6 bottles that day (1/2 case discount, thankyouverymuch) and only spent around $60 total. After tax. #winning

As with all blends, I flipped the bottle around to read the breakdown of the grapes.

And discovered that they didn’t say ANYWHERE on the label what ANY of the 4 grapes are!

Oh, ho, ho, it’s a guessing game now, is it?

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The first thing I noticed when I poured the wine was the dark ruby color.

When I swirled and took the first sniff, I was treated to lovely earthy aromas, some black pepper, and dark fruit. I also thought I smelled a little chocolate which, honestly, I’ve only smelled in a Port so I wasn’t really sure.

I was pretty positive I knew one of the grapes just from the color and the aromas, maybe two, but you know I had to taste it. I mean, c’mon, it was practically inviting me in!

My first sip was luscious and smooth, all fruit and earth and yumminess. There was a bit of spice/pepper on the back of my throat but not too much. The tannins, for a wine that’s 13.5% alcohol, were really mild which surprised me. Especially since I knew at that point that I definitely knew what 2 of the 4 grapes were.

I said with certainty that the wine was a blend of Syrah (hello fruit!) and Zinfandel (hello earth & pepper/spice).

And those wines can be quite tannic and big. Like maybe 14% alchohol or more!

(If you don’t know, tannins come the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes. Red wines are more tannic than white because the skins are left in the juice longer. That also helps to add color and depth to the wine. Tannins are what makes a wine taste “dry” – like you want to pucker a little and not because it’s sour like a green apple. High tannins are also known to cause massive headaches in people that drink too of the much wine. Wine hangovers can really suck. #justsayin)

Anyway, I swished and swirled and sniffed and tasted my way through that glass in the hopes that I would come up with the other 2 grapes used in the blend.

I never did figure it out but I can say with definite certainty that the Rare Red 4 Grape Blend is a very delicious wine!

And, because it’s so smooth, you can pair it with a variety of foods. Pasta, burgers, pizza, grilled chicken, grilled salmon or tuna (I think a white/lighter fish might not be a good choice), chili, stews, hot dogs, sausages (that’s what we had!), etc, etc, etc.

The other two grapes? I had to look them up. Barbera and Sangiovese.

I never would have gotten that.

I can’t remember the last time I drank a Sangiovese and it’s been a few years since I had a Barbera.

Guess it’s time for me to grab some of those and refresh my taste buds’ memories! 🙂

Talk to me: Do you like challenges? Can you pick out different aromas and tastes in a glass of wine/beer/whiskey/bourbon/etc?