Can you serve moscato with Thanksgiving dinner?

Moscato is everyone's favorite light and bubbly wine, but is it a good choice for Thanksgiving dinner?

The trick with Thanksgiving dinner is that wide range of flavors and tastes. You'll have turkey or ham, savory side dishes, lots of cooking spices and tons of flavor. That's too much for a moscato to stand up to. It just can't compete.

When the wine has too little flavor compared to the food, you'll only taste the alcohol, without getting any flavor with it. Suddenly your favorite light and tasty moscato will taste blah, barely there.

Good news: there is a simple solution. Serve your favorite moscato before dinner while everyone is gathering. 

For dinner, bring out a lighter red, like a pinot noir, that nearly everyone can enjoy and that can also stand up next to the flavor onslaught of Thanksgiving dinner.

Get our 2015 Thanksgiving wine recommendations here.

Wines for Thanksgiving Dinner 2015

What's a good wine for Thanksgiving turkey? Our advice is to keep it simple!

Our top choice for Thanksgiving 2015 is St. Michelle Gewurztraminer. It goes with all kinds of food and is easy for all the adults to enjoy. It has a nice spice flavor to it that works well with the spices at Thanksgiving. We've long been Gewurztraminer fans, and St. Michelle does this one very well.

If you want a different white, choose a Sauvignon Blanc or one of the newer white blends, like Cupcake Angel Food. Avoid most chardonnays as they are usually too bold, oak-y or tannic.

Our top reds for Thanksgiving 2015 are Bogle Petite Sirah and The Pinot Project Pinot Noir. The Bogle Petite Sirah is astoundingly dark red in the glass and has a concentrated flavor. But it's not overwhelming. It has some baking spice flavor that pairs very well with the spices in your Thanksgiving dinner. The Pinot Project Pinot Noir is a lighter red that's easy for even the non-wine fans to enjoy. It has enough flavor to stand up to the turkey or ham and all the trimmings.

Other good red wines include any of the pinot noirs or merlots.

Want to have fun picking your own wine? Here are three simple guidelines:

1. Serve just one white wine, or one red and one white wine. Keep it simple. This makes it easier for you and keeps guests from accidentally mixing two different wines.

 2. Serve wines that go with almost any food. Your dinner will have a huge range of flavors, from spicy, to rich, to everything in between. So you want medium-bodied wines with some fruit.

3. Serve your lighter favorites before dinner. Everyone loves a glass of bubbly Asti or moscato, but it won't taste very good with Thanksgiving dinner. It just can't compete. When the wine has too little flavor compared to the food, you'll only taste the alcohol, without getting any flavor with it. So serve your favorite moscato before dinner, then bring out a red like the Pinot Project for dinner.

Easy Thanksgiving wine choices

"What's a good wine for Thanksgiving?" Our advice is to keep it simple! 

Pick just one white wine. The range of tastes at Thanksgiving covers spicy, rich and everything else we can pile on, so a medium-bodied white wine is a good choice. Medium bodied means it is not too strong in flavor, and not too light. Just right to work with lots of different foods.

Rosemount Traminer Riesling has long been our favorite recommendation. It goes with all kinds of food and is easy for all the adults to enjoy. It has a nice spice to it that works well with the spices at Thanksgiving.

Other good Thanksgiving wines include Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios and Gewurtztraminers.

If you would really prefer a red wine, try a Pinot Noir or Malbec. Both are medium reds that have enough fruit to also get along with many different foods.

A Wine for Spring

Perhaps more than any other wine, Sauvignon Blanc says "Spring."

Its characteristic bright citrus, tropical fruit and mineral flavors, make it the perfect match for lighter, seasonal fare—think grilled pork chops or chicken breasts, crab cakes, green salads and light pastas.

Sauvignon Blanc is also wonderful enjoyed on its own, before a meal.

Apricot-Orange Glaze

½ cup apricot preserves
¼ cup orange juice
1½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan; simmer until slightly thickened and fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Adequate for about 24 ounces of pork (or chicken).

Brush glaze over meat; grill to desired doneness. Reapply glaze every time the meat is turned.

Let rest 5-10 minutes after removing from heat.

It's time for Thanksgiving wines

"What's a good wine for Thanksgiving?" It's that time of year, and we have some good answers.

Pick just one white wine. The range of tastes at Thanksgiving covers spicy, rich and everything else we can pile on, so a medium-bodied white wine is a good choice. And just pick one to keep it simple. You really don't need another complication.

Rosemount Traminer Riesling has long been our favorite recommendation. It goes with all kinds of food and is easy for everyone to enjoy. Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios and Gewurtztraminers are also good Thanksgiving choices.

If you would really prefer a red wine, try a Pinot Noir or Malbec. Both are medium reds that also get along with many different foods.

Affordable wines for Thanksgiving Dinner

"What wine do I serve with turkey?"

Here are two simple guidelines:
1. Serve just one white wine, or one red and one white wine.
Keep it simple. This helps guests not accidentally mix two different wines.

2. Serve wines that go with almost any food.
Your dinner will have a huge range of flavors, from spicy, to rich, to everything in between. So you want flexible wines with some fruit.

Recommendations:

From our stock, we have several choices, all under $15.

White wines:

• Rosemount Traminer Riesling - long our favorite recommendation
• Columbia Crest Sauvignon Blanc
• Columbia Crest Gewurztraminer
• Bolla Pinot Grigio

Red wines:

• George DeBouf Beaujolais Villages
• Camelot Pinot Noir
• Xplorador Malbec

Enjoy!

So, you want a wine for Easter?

Try a nice rosé.

In the past rosé wines have gotten a bad rap as most people have only been exposed to inferior or sickly sweet rosé. But, a well-crafted, dry rosé can be a wine of beauty: crisp, complex, refreshing, with sprightly fruit, and often with charming spicy notes and good acid that is admirable. They pair well with poultry, fish, pork or ham, spicy Latin or Asian dishes, even lamb or venison.

Any of these would make an excellent choice:

• Luna di Luna Pink Merlot
• MARQUÉS DE CÁCERES Rioja Rosado
• Little Penguin White Shiraz
• Stone Hill Blush
• Toad Hollow Eye of Toad (one of my personal favorites!)
• Beringer White Merlot
• Beringer White Zinfandel
• Livingston Cellars Red Rosé
• Livingston Cellars White Zinfandel

Smoking Loon 2005 California Merlot

Rusty ruby color with slightly orange edges. Slightly herbal on the nose, but what is there is nicely fruited. Soft and smooth in the mouth, very true to type, with an interesting medium-length finish. Easy to drink. And it has a fun "whoop, whoop" stamped, synthetic cork. (Get it? "loon"? "whoop"?)

from the Don Sebastiani & Sons winery:

This Merlot is dark garnet in color and has aromas of fresh basil, blueberries, and Bing cherries. With good richness without being too heavy on the palate, the flavors of fresh cherry pie, sweet plum, and soft cinnamon spiked cranberry dressing finishing with notes of rich, vanilla French oak and delicate cherry and strawberry flavors.

This wine is packed with flavor yet still has a delicate body. This is a versatile wine that can be served with bruschetta over toasted French bread or cherry preserves over Brie served with water crackers as an appetizer. You could serve this wine with salmon over wild rice with toasted almonds, grilled chicken on top of a spinach salad with walnuts and dried cranberries, or thyme roasted pork chops over mashers.

Well, I can't say I would argue with the serving suggestions. It all sounds like it would mate really well.

Now, if someone will only show up and make me some bruschetta and French bread!

What wine do I serve with Thanksgiving dinner?

"What wine do I serve with turkey?"

Here are some simple guidelines:
1. Serve just one white wine, or one red and one white wine.
Keep it simple. This helps guests not accidentally mix two different wines.

2. Serve wines that go with almost any food.
Your dinner will have a huge range of flavors, from spicy, to rich, to everything in between. So you want flexible wines with some fruit.

3. Serve great, affordable wines.
Most of your family are not wine experts. Help them enjoy the wine by picking simple, easy to drink wines. If you are a big wine fan, save your $50 a bottle favorite to relax after the holidays.

Recommendations:

From our stock, we have several choices, all under $15.

White wines:

• Rosemount Traminer Riesling - long our favorite recommendation
• Columbia Crest Sauvignon Blanc
• Columbia Crest Gewurztraminer
• Bolla Pinot Grigio

Red wines:

• George DeBouf Beaujolais Villages
• Camelot Pinot Noir
• Xplorador Malbec

Enjoy!

MARQUÉS DE CÁCERES Rioja Rosado 2006

MARQUÉS DE CÁCERES Rioja Rosado 2006 ( 87 points )

A bold rosé, delivering cherry, rose, menthol and herb flavors in a firm, full-bodied style. A bit rich on its own, but a good match for food. Drink now through 2008. 18,000 cases imported. From Spain. Wine Spectator

(Personal Notes)
I and my family enjoyed this Spanish rosé at an evening cook-out. It was a hit! A rosé that is big enough to stand up to a grilled steak and buttered corn on the cob. A great nose and nice nibble of a bite toward the end. A swell wine for a summer evening.

RAZOR'S EDGE Shiraz McLaren Vale 2005 --90 points

RAZOR'S EDGE
Shiraz McLaren Vale 2005

Smooth and round, with ripe plum, blackberry and dusky spice flavors that just don't quit, lingering on the open-textured finish. Not a big wine, but flavorful and graceful. Drink now through 2012. 20,000 cases made. From Australia. Wine Spectator

(Personal notes)
This wine is very much as presented. I felt some resting time (30 minutes) was needed to quiet it. Then, it had really nice early fruit, a long finish and a fairly soft & gentle middle. Truly nice to drink. Enjoyed it with spaghetti & a richly flavored, highly spiced tomato sauce. Great!

I love my job, I really do!