Top [IOWA] Wines for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is typically a time to get together with family and friends and gather for a meal and celebration of gratitude and love. Enter the year 2020, and all the traditional holiday plans POOF! disappear, thanks to COVID-19. That doesn’t meant that you can’t still celebrate gratitude and create a new tradition this year, whether it’s a party of 1 or up to 15 (here in Iowa, anyway!). To most Americans, Thanksgiving means turkey with a slew of various side dishes and salads to go along with it. This makes it tricky to pair just one wine with the entire meal. Lucky for you that means there are lots of great options for tasty and delicious pairings that will compliment the various flavors, textures and aromas going on at the dinner table.
Don’t worry - we have the perfect list of delicious local wines to choose from this year, so why not create new traditions, since 2020 has kicked most of them to the curb anyway?! Here we go ….
Cranberry Wines
Let’s just go ahead and discuss the elephant in the room when it comes to Thanksgiving….cranberries. Yep, cranberries, the tart little berry that has caused family feuds for generations (just kidding! Kind of…). In lieu of the canned stuff this year, why not bring it to the table in the form of WINE? We love cranberry wines SO much that we created a whole list of our favorites for you to choose from. Check it out in this post here.
Red Wines
Iowa’s red wine varietals growing here naturally tend to have lower tannins and slightly higher acid levels than most Vinifera wines, so pretty much any Petite Pearl, Marechal Foch, St. Croix or even Frontenac would pair well with the bold, savory flavors of holiday meals, but our favorite for the holiday season goes to the early released vintage each year, Nouveau. A handful of Iowa wineries are producing Nouveau wines, which are fermented and bottled within the same year as they’re harvested. These young wines tend to be very fruit forward, lighter bodied and versatile enough to pair well with just about any holiday meal you can imagine. Nouveau wines are also very easy drinking, and would delight both dry and sweet wine drinkers.
OUR TOP PICKS: Tassel Ridge Winery’s 2020 Nouveau, $15 online or at retail and Park Farm Winery’s 2020 Mouveau, $15 online or at retail (OMG and check out their hilarious video from last year’s release for a good belly laugh!).
Sparkling Wines
OK, so it’s no secret that this year is just…weird. So maybe your holiday plans are also a bit weird. No fear, sip on some bubbly while making awkward family memories, or maybe you’re Zooming with family this year, and there’s no need to do that sober! But all jokes aside, sparkling wine is great for the holiday season. Sparkling wines are festive and fun, perfect for the holiday season! The bubbles and acid content of sparkling wines help cut through the fatty, rich or butter-laced foods at the table. It even pairs beautifully with popcorn or soft cheeses, if you’re more of a snacker!
OUR TOP PICKS: Cedar Ridge Winery’s Blanc de Blanc, $24.99 online or at retail or Buchanan House Winery’s 2016 Sparkling Edelweiss, $24 online or at retail.
White Wines
You really can’t go wrong with any of the white wine varietals being produced here in Iowa, when it comes to sipping on their own or pairing with holiday meals. Naturally higher acid content in cold-climate grape varietals translates to balancing out the rich foods of the holiday season, so it’s like cleansing your palate each time you take a sip. Picking our favorite white varietal is similar to picking your favorite child, but if we were forced to, we’d choose La Crescent, Edelweiss or even Seyval Blanc.
OUR TOP PICKS: Tabor Home Winery’s Moonlight White (Seyval Blanc), $14.95 online or at retail, Annelise Winery’s 2019 La Crescent, $12, online or at retail, The Cellar Winery at White Oak’s BIN 100 | Edelweiss, $16.51 online or at retail or our total wildcard pick of Summerset Winery’s Harvest White, $13 online or at retail, which is actually made from Catawba grapes but pairs beautifully with turkey, hence the name Harvest White!
Rosé Wines
Rosé wines are sort of like that one “fun friend” who everyone seems to love, is the life of the party and can make even awkward situations pleasant. Yep, rosé wines are super versatile, which is good considering that holiday meals tend to be a mash up of various flavors, aromas and textures. Rosé wines range from dry to sweet, so take your pick on which you prefer, because again, they tend to work equally as well at the holiday table. Want to learn more about rosé wines? Check out our post on them here.
OUR TOP PICKS: Backcountry Winery’s Lover’s Loop, $14 online or at retail or Jasper Winery’s JW Rosé, $25 for 4 375ml cans, online or at retail (BONUS: They’re cans, how cool is that?!?)
So there you have it!
Remember, wine style selection is purely a matter of personal preference, and at the end of the day, err meal, choose the wine that you will savor and enjoy, not what anyone says you should enjoy.
Cheers to a wonderful Thanksgiving!
