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11/14/2017 11:09 am  #1


Wines For Thanksgiving

Entertaining a crowd? What are the rules?
Ok, suggestions.

From the NYT, with some Goose additions.


Rule #1
If the food is good and the company convivial, you cannot go wrong with the wine. If the food is bad and the company annoying, wine can only help.

What’s the worst that can happen with wine? Only one potential disaster looms: running out.

The single most important guideline for selecting wine for Thanksgiving is simply to have enough on hand.

We generally recommend one bottle per wine-drinking adult. This may seem like a lot, but it is simply a hedge against an insufficient supply. You do not have to finish it all. If you like, you can even give away unopened bottles with the leftovers.


Rule #2
You need to provide both reds and whites.
You can add rosé or a sparkling wine, but both red and white are essential. You will have guests who contend that red wine gives them headaches or white wine gives them heartburn. This is not the time to debate these issues. Let guests drink what they want unfettered.

In our calculus, we imagine Thanksgiving as a large, freewheeling buffet meal, with lots of different dishes and a sprawling patchwork of flavors. It’s not the time to fret about pairing particular dishes with certain bottles. The trick is to provide versatile, nimble wines that pair well with many foods and will not be as fatiguing as everything else.

That generally means bottles not especially high in alcohol, generally below 14 percent. They should not be tannic or oaky, but they must be energetic with lively acidity, which helps to refresh and cleanse the palate.Over the course of many years we have identified wines that almost always work well: Merlot, Beaujolais and bone-dry sauvignon blancs are crowd-pleasers. Basic Italian reds made of barbera or sangiovese are fine, as are Italian whites made of Soave.  Loire reds, pinot noirs, chardonnays, chenin blancs, mencías from Spain, rieslings — all are fine choices.


Rule #3
Choose wines that you like; everybody else will like them, too.

I plan to offer a prosecco with appetizers.
Ruffino Chianti, and a California Merlot as my reds.
Soave and Chardonnay for my whites

 

Last edited by Goose (11/14/2017 11:18 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

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