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CHRIS SHERMANOn Thanksgiving, either reds or whites will complement the menu. Drink what you like, or better yet, have both.
Far too much is made about matching food and wine. The confusions starts with the first question: Which is more important, the food or the wine?
Thanksgiving solves that question and quickly ought to get rid of anxieties, too.
At this meal, we know the food comes first and the menu has already been decided. Oh, this might be the year we try stuffing with oysters and chestnuts or rubbing the bird with peanut oil and chili pepper, but the main event in nonvegetarian households is clear. It's turkey.
And even that hardly limits you. There's pure white breast meat and rich, gamey dark meat and drumsticks, so even by the most simplistic "rules," red or white will do. Have both.
Holiday dinners gather all manner of wine tastes. And on this very American holiday, doesn't democracy dictate that every wine has a chance? Let's celebrate pluralism and declare independence.
Which is not to count me as undecided. I have my ticket: a crisp, spicy gewurztraminer for the first nibbles and the dressing and a juicy, jammy pinot noir for the rest. I endorse them for broad appeal, a good fit with the meal and popular pricing. One bottle of each will add up to $25.
I'll give more justification for my vote later, but first let me urge you to drink the wines you like, especially on Thanksgiving, when the food is friendly with so many.
If you're entertaining white wine people, a full-bodied, even oaky, chardonnay goes creamily with turkey and gravy, as will a crisper sauvignon blanc.
For families with a thirst for reds, lighter styles of American zinfandels and red Rhone grapes such as grenache and syrah have a nice spice.
If you look abroad, try lighter Spanish reds and Italian barberas and barbarescos. For a harvest dinner of dindon, Beaujolais is perfectly timely and affordable. Pour Beaujolais nouveau first and then a more mature bottle from Morgon or Chiroubles.
A dry rose is remarkably good, and a perfect compromise.
About all I'd rule out is Champagne and the heaviest cabernets and syrahs, even though there are wine fans Down Under who swear by turkey and sparkling shiraz!
To those seeking inspiration, I suggest gewurz and pinot, two immigrant grapes that have settled in our vineyards; the first we've almost abandoned and the other we've just now figured out how to grow and vinify.
The truly picky food-wine connoisseur will consider the side dishes the tiebreakers - but which sides, the creamed onions or that new artichoke and goat cheese dish?
Even if you decided on horseradish in the cranberry sauce and corn bread sausage, the bulk of the trimmings around the turkey have that holiday smell. There are the sweet spices of the Indies and farmhouse cookie jars, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg that fill pumpkin pies, mulled cider, mincemeat, sweet potatoes and big bowls of eggnog. And, somehow, sage and bay leaf from the American back yard fill the turkey. Then the sharp tang of cranberries sets off the poultry.
It's tough for a wine to match, complement or counterpunch all those flavors, so I want wines that have a distinct character of their own but are not heavy.
For a white, I can't resist a chance to drink gewurztraminer, a bouquet of roses, a basket of peaches and a baker's spice rack. There's a touch of sweetness on the end, yet enough acidity and crispness to set off a heavy meal. Still a noble grape in Germany and Alsace, it's generally $10 or less in the United States.
There's far more American riesling to choose from, but there are a handful of loyalist labels for gewurztraminer. Look for Jekel, Fetzer, Hogue, Ch. Ste Michelle, Covey Run or DeLoach. Spend a bit more for the finest American gewurz or New York wines if you can find them.
In reds, pinot noir matches a great variety of fishes, especially grilled salmon, along with duck and ham. But it's right for turkey, too. The cherry-berry flavors and peppery spice match white and dark meat, as well as cranberries and spices of everything else. And yet it won't overcome it all.
Give thanks that U.S. winemakers are mastering pinot. You can find a few, like Rex Goliath, Camelot and Cricklewood, surprisingly well-done for $10 or less. Better hunting lies between $10 and $15, where you'll find Anapamu, Meridian, Erath, Chehalem, Pedroncelli and Gallo of Sonoma.
There are plenty more at higher prices, but the key is always geography, and it's not the Napa-centric map you know. Pinot noir likes cooler climates, which start with Oregon and then move south to the Russian River, the Sonoma coast, Carneros and Monterey. Farther south look for the Santa Rita hills, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
If you haven't tried either gewurztraminer or pinot noir, you may land happily in a new world.
Chris Sherman, who writes about food and wine for the St. Petersburg Times, is the author of "The Buzz on Wine" Lebhar-Friedman Books, $16.95. He can be reached at (727) 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com