Pinot + Turkey
Wondering what to pair your good times with this holiday season? Add our Pinot Noir and put some smiles on the table this Thanksgiving.
Many tables feature a bottle of pinot on Thanksgiving Day; pinot noir is certainly our favorite compliment to a big roasted turkey. Here are our top four reasons for loving this popular holiday pairing.
Balanced Complexity & A Lighter Body
When compared to many other reds, pinots are lighter in intensity. This is a great quality when pairing wine with lighter meats like fish, foul, and lamb. You can get the same level of complexity, without the overpowering tannins of a full-bodied Cabernet.
Turkey, being a more delicate meat, requires a more delicate pairing– that’s where the more nuanced and lighter flavors of Pinot sing.
One reason for the lighter-bodied nature of pinots is their lower tannin content. Tannins can add complexity and intensity to a wine, and are helpful when pairing with equally intense entrees like steak but can drown out the flavor of the quintessential Thanksgiving dish.
Red Fruit Flavors
Why should red fruit flavors matter? Cranberry sauce ring any bells?
While we wouldn’t compare our wine to cranberry sauce (even if you do pick up a hint of cranberry), many pinots have similar, albeit far more subtle, red fruit flavors.
While we love all our pinots, our 2012 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir has notes of cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and pomegranate and our 2013 Carneros Pinot Noir, on the other hand, has hints of strawberry, cherry, and raspberry– a great pair for the holidays.
Acidity
A wine’s acidity adds tartness to a wine. Though the level of acidity is up to the individual winemaker, pinots typically have just enough acidity to bring out the turkey’s juices without upsetting the balance. The right amount of tartness is delicious with the subtle flavor of the meat.
Versatility
Partly because they have less tannins, pinots tend to be good pairings for many different types of food. The Senders pairs pinot with anything from pizza to salmon. As for sides, Karen Senders recommends pinot with any kind of creamed vegetables, like creamed corns or brussel sprouts. Since pinot is so versatile, it goes with many foods that appear on your Thanksgiving table.