10 Top Thanksgiving Bottles

By Ray Isle

The ideal Thanksgiving wine can pair comfortably with a wide range of flavors. Here are 10 terrific choices.

2008 Acrobat Pinot Gris ($12) and 2008 Château Guiot Rosé ($11). Photo © Terry Monk.

Acrobat Pinot Gris and Château Guiot Rosé. Photo © Terry Monk.

Holiday Wine Guide

Wines: Sparkling | Rosé | White | Red

Sparkling

NV Domaine Ste Michelle Blanc de Blancs ($12)

This pear-scented Washington state wine has a clean finish that makes it ideal with hors d’oeuvres and main courses.

NV Adami Garbèl Prosecco ($15)

Italian producer Adami’s appley bottling is drier than many other Proseccos, making it particularly refreshing.

Rosé

2010 Château Guiot ($11)

François and Sylvia Cornut grow cherries as well as grapes, and that ripe fruit seems to have lent its aroma to this lovely Southern French rosé.

2010 Domaine de la Mordorée ($15)

Mordorée is known for its expensive Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but the estate also produces terrific affordable wines. One is this wild-strawberry-flavored, lightly smoky dry rosé.

White

2010 Acrobat Pinot Gris ($17)

Well-known Oregon producer King Estate has taken advantage of the increasing interest in Pinot Gris (the same grape as Pinot Grigio) to release this value bottling. It’s peachy, zesty and lush.

2011 Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc ($16)

Less peppery and sharp than many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, this snappy white from the country’s Marlborough region has delicious pineapple and melon notes.

2009 Bodegas Montecillo Verdemar Albariño ($14)

This venerable Rioja producer has branched out into Spain’s far-northwest Rías Baixas region to create this bright Albariño. It’s chalky, citrusy and very easy to drink.

Red

2010 Heron Pinot Noir ($13)

Wine producer Laely Heron has made a specialty of finding good vineyards in unexpected locations around the world. The result is wines like this chocolate-cherry Pinot Noir, from the foothills of France’s Pyrenees.

2008 Ruffino Il Ducale ($18)

This Tuscan red has all the hallmarks of the region: black-cherry fruit, a firm structure and notes that recall fragrant dried herbs.

2008 Seven Terraces Pinot Noir ($20)

Acclaimed New Zealand winery Foxes Island Wines makes pricey bottlings as well as this impressive, affordable red. The wine’s svelte black-raspberry fruit gains complexity from spice and tobacco notes.

Article updated November 2011.