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11/18/2004 Archived Entry: "Thanksgiving Wines"

Just a reminder: Tomorrow night, Friday, November 19, I will be signing books at the Huntington Barnes & Noble. Somehow this was omitted from my appearance schedule (you know, stuff happens), but I definitely will be there. At 7 p.m. until … no one else wants a book signed, or the store closes, which comes first.

Saturday, November 20, at 2 p.m., I will be at Book Mark in Bay Ridge, bringing along mini-sandwiches from Royal Crown Bakery and Paneantico. (A picture of Joe Generosa holding a Royal Crown loaf is in the new book.) On Sunday, at 1 p.m., I’ll be at the Bayside, Queens, Barnes & Noble.

And now ...
Carol Berman, Wine Chick, recommends American Rieslings for a white wine and Pinot Noirs as a red for your Thanksgiving feast.

Riesling is the grape that the wine geeks keep telling us is “food friendly.” Actually, I am so stupid as to think that all table wine should be food friendly. I mean its main purpose is as a beverage with meals. If anything, Riesling wines, with their often intense fruitiness, even flowery-ness, are great wines to sip away from a meal, away from food. Riesling can, in fact, be bone dry, and even the ones with traces of sugar (there are boldly sweet ones, too), when balanced with crisp acidity, have a dry aftertaste, or “finish,” as the geeks say.

In general, Rieslings have a lower alcohol content than other white wines, too, which is a good thing on Thanksgiving, when you may have more glasses than usual. Most important of all, both Riesling whites and red wines made from Pinot Noir go with Thanksgiving fare – a difficult mish mash of flavors. Pinot Noir has fruit flavors on its side, too, and with enough character to stand up to the barrage of food.

These are Carol Berman’s Thanksgiving picks. Note: Her favorite American Rieslings come from New York State. Both of us are in awe of what New York winemakers are doing, and think we now produce the best Rieslings in the country.

Rieslings
Look for the 2002 and 2003 vintages of Paumanok Vineyards, on the North Fork of Long Island, and Hermann J. Wiemer and Dr. Konstantin Frank, both from the Finger Lakes. They all retail for under $20.

Pinot Noir
Ramsay Pinot Noir, 2002, Napa, California
The wine is light to medium bodied, with the cherry and peppery notes you get from this subtle grape. It has a silky character that will pair perfectly with your bird. The grapes are grown in the North Coast Appellation of California. It is well priced at $15.99, average retail.