Thanksgiving

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Martha Stewart Living: "Lambrusco is like the love child of wine and Champagne, an intoxicating union of tannin and fizz. Still under the radar, this Italian bubbly deserves just as much attention as other sparkling wines." - February 2011

The Wine Critics Agree: "The Perfect Match: Roast Turkey & Real (labeled 'secco', red, frizzante, min. 11% alcohol) Lambrusco."

"Best of all, [Lambrusco secco] goes with everything on the
Thanksgiving table, from pie to green-bean casserole."
- Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl

Dining with Dara:
What to drink with your Thanksgiving dinner

"...Lambrusco: "This wine is weird: It's bubbly, un-sweet, pretty, delicate, and so red it's nearly black. But it's also great. It's got a very delicate, appealing unsweet blackberry character, and a lilting bit of dark chocolate to it. It makes wine novices happy simply because it's delicious, yummy, craveable. It makes wine snobs happy because it defies all the conventional wisdom about Lambrusco: It's not sweet, it's not strawberry soda, it's a total head scratcher, and proves to anyone looking over your shoulder that you know the difference between conventional wisdom and wisdom. Best of all, it goes with everything on the Thanksgiving table, from pie to green-bean casserole..."

-- Dining with Dara

Short Holiday 'Real Lambrusco' Shopping List:
("The fresher, the better!" Current vintage: 2011)
- Ca' Montanari 'Opera02 Secco' (11%)
- Chiarli 'Premium" (aka Vecchia Modena) (11%)
- Donati 'Il Lambrusco' (12%)
- Lini 910 'Labrusca' (11%)
- Medici Ermete 'Concerto' (11.5%)
- Pederzana 'Il Grasparossa' (11.5%)
- Rinaldini 'Pronto' (11%)
- Saetti 'Vigneto Saetti' (12%)

Three Thanksgiving Wines

Four unique wines that will keep the Thanksgiving love alive

"...If you normally pour sparkling shiraz: Okay, we'll admit this last one's a bit of a ringer, because hardly anyone -- including us -- serves sparkling shiraz (although it actually IS a stellar wine to drink with Thanksgiving dinner. But we digress.) But let's pretend for a second that you are on a mission to bring that singular bottle of wine that would get everyone to stop yammering on about the election results, climate change or whatever other set of gripe-oriented baggage they brought to the party. This would be that wine. Our fixation with Lambrusco wines is serious -- and we're fairly certain yours will be, too, once you've torn into a glass or three of the Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco di Sorbrara "Vecchio Modena" 2009 ($14), which will never, ever be confused with your parents' dusty bottle of Riunite. First of all, this wine is bone-dry; there's nary a trace of residual sugar to be found here. Second, it's incredibly refreshing, which means you'll never have to fight off the urge to wipe your tongue with your napkin to remove cloying traces of alcohol and oak left behind by the near-omnipresent bottles of California zinfandel and merlot that usually get all the love on Turkey Day. Even better? All the love you'll be showered with for bringing such killer wine to share."

-- Cafe Society

See also: The Secco & Red Dozza Award

Holiday Wine & Recipe Series - Thanksgiving

"...The biggest challenge we have to overcome is the sheer number of dishes on the table. If you were to choose a wine to pair with each flavor you would need the keys to a well-stocked cellar. Instead, find one white and one red to complement the meal in its entirety. Your selections should be medium bodied wines with a bright acidity and reasonably priced as you will most likely be purchasing multiple bottles. For red wine, I suggest the Chapoutier Cote du Rhone. This blended wine from France has beautiful red fruit characteristics and a layered rustic component that will complement the earthier flavors of your turkey and vegetables. For your white wine selection, try the D’Arenberg Hermit Crab. This Marsanne and Viognier blend from Australia displays tropical fruit, minerality and acid that will bring out the more subtle flavors in each dish. For those wanting to be a bit more adventurous, I will be serving the Cleto Chiarli Vecchia Modena Lambrusco. I know this bubbly red is sure to please everyone’s palate..."

- SteakBytes

7 Rules To Follow When Thinking About Wine And Thanksgiving

"3. Pop a cork. People usually associate bubbly with New Year’s Eve, but isn’t the fall harvest reason enough to celebrate? It doesn’t have to be Dom Perignon. In fact, per Tip No. 1, it’s probably better if it isn’t. “I would lean toward a wine with beautiful fruit to drink on its own or alongside the feast,” Rzeszewski recommends. “Like a sparkling Chenin Blanc from the Loire valley or a Lambrusco made in the Champagne method.” Wine picks: Go for Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut 2007 ($25), Lini 910 “Labrusca” Rosso NV ($15)."

- Food Republic

Turkey Day Wines.
How To Select Thanksgiving Dinner Wines.

"...And, what could be more appropriate for the iconic American feast than an all- American wine: Zinfandel. I do like Zinfandel at Thanksgiving, although its tendency toward high alcohol can become problematic—it can be overpowering. But hey, Thanksgiving is rarely about subtlety; it’s about going big. So, uncork something like Ravenswood Old Vine Vintners Blend Zinfandel, on sale this month in Utah for $9.99. Or, for something fun and distinctly un-American, how about a fizzy bottle of Tenuta Pederzana Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC ($18.99). It’s light in alcohol at 11.5 percent, but dry and tannic enough to serve as a bridge from pumpkin soup to roast turkey with gravy.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!"

- Salt Lake City Weekly

Thanksgiving Wine: Top Picks from Sommeliers

"At a restaurant, you can ask a sommelier to recommend a glass or bottle to go with whatever food you've ordered. At home, you might not have a wine expert on call. But this Thanksgiving, we've got your back. We asked a few top sommeliers for their wine advice, asking what we should be pouring alongside the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Here are their recommendations.

Joe Campanale of Anfora and L'Apicio in NYC

What will you be serving with the Thanksgiving meal?
My girlfriend and her folks love the wines of Alicia Lini in Lambrusco so we'll definitely have some of those..."

- Serious Eats

Home for the Holidays

"Philadelphia-based Marc Vetri celebrates his Italian-style holidays with hearty winter foods that are so simple to prepare, you’ll spend time with your guests, not in your kitchen.

Wine Pairing: Vetri is a Lambrusco fan, and Steve Wildy, beverage director of Vetri’s restaurants, recommends Medici Ermete’s Lambrusco Salamino Concerto. Hailing from the Emilia-Romagna region where this gently sparkling red is often served alongside wonderfully fatty starters, this is a perfect wine to ring in the evening. According to Wildy, it is “frothy, cold, inky-purple in color and loaded with tart berry fruit,” providing a mouth-tingling complement to the deep-fried fritters."

-- Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Thanksgiving & Holiday Wine Picks

"You know you’ve stepped into the wine ethos when images of overflowing wine bottles and carafes share the mind’s visual stage with the turkey, ham and surrounding temptations. The weight of the on-going discussion is that wine is a food is served best at this family feast. Yeah—bring on the wine and food and the family: It’s the enduring ensemble for the ages...

And, always the effervescent romantic, bringing color to the table is the “real” Italian Lambrusco such as the dry (non-sweet) 2010 Vignetto Saetti. Good Lambruscos are versatile, delicious, and energetic enough to break the fatigue of a long meal. Some like the powerful carbonation, others look for “frizzante” on the label for a softer fizz..."

--- Desert Star Weekly

Wines for Thanksgiving

"THE Thanksgiving wine panel, in which the home team gathers for a preliminary holiday feast, is one of our traditions here at the Dining section. We test specific bottles with representative dishes, and, even more important, we reassess the coherence of our assumptions about which wines to serve with the bird....Pete, sticking with his effervescent theme, picked a dry 2010 Lambrusco from Vigneto Saetti, a brilliant choice, in my opinion, as good Lambruscos are versatile, delicious and energetic. Our only reservation was the powerful carbonation, which might be off-putting over time. I would look for a Lambrusco labeled frizzante, or softly sparkling."

--- Eric Asimov, New York Times

Italian Wines, American Tradition:
What to Pour at Thanksgiving

"Anthony Giglio recalls his first Thanksgiving in Rome and tries to remember what was poured that day. Then he suggests what we should be pouring at the Thanksgiving table this year. We give thanks for his help....

LAMBRUSCO

This is not the Riunite red of your disco past, if you had one. A relative newcomer to American tables, a bevy of these mouthwatering, slightly fruity (think sour cherry), bubbly reds from Emilia-Romagna have become increasingly popular. They can carry you straight through an entire meal, standing up to bold, rich flavors with their well-balanced acidity and bracing flavor.

Look for: Medici Ermete Quercioli, Lambrusco Secco, Emilia-Romagna, 2010. This sparkling, dry red wine is fruit-forward and simply delicious. Made from the Lambrusco Salamino and Lambrusco Marani grapes, you’ll notice pleasing aromas of blackberry, cassis and violet. ($11)..."

--- Anthony Giglio, La Cucina Italiana

The Best Way To Drink This Thanksgiving

"Lambrusco: Forget the sickly-sweet sparkling red you have long associated with Lambrusco. The category has grown up since the fizzy grape juice you swilled back in the day. Dry and off-dry bottlings manage to be fruit-forward without overwhelming the more delicate cuts of meat. Try: Lambrusco dell'Emilia Camillo Donati 2010, a traditional dry sparkling wine made much like Champagne, albeit deep red. ($20)."

--- Chantal Martineau

Five wines that are guaranteed to make Thanksgiving feel like a party

Cleto Chiarli Vecchia Modena Lambrusco NV ($15): Hard to find more fun in a glass than this one -- just the sight of this bright-red bubbly will be enough to make even your crankiest cousin smile. Contrary to your suspicions, this fantastically fizzy offering is not the unctuously sweet lambrusco you might have sampled in the past. Nope, this one's refreshingly dry, with delightful bursts of sour cherry, raspberry and, we could swear, a hint of tangerine. And it most definitely would have been a qualifier to show up on last week's ode to bacon-loving wines if we weren't selfishly hoarding bottles of it to kick off our T-Day festivities with a bang."

--- Kendra Anderson, Denver Westword

The BA Turkey Day Wine Guide:
All Killer, All $15 or Less

"Cleto Chiarli 2010 Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Emilia-Romagna, Italy ($11)
* Why it's delicious: This bubbly, low-alcohol red is very different from most Lambruscos in that it doesn't have the classic strawberry-soda quality. But it is delicate, with a haunting unsweet-blackberry, dark-chocolate, violet nose and an inherent deliciousness that isn't sweet but ethereal and sensual.

* Why it's cool: Said to be a different variety of Lambrusco, this stuff is like an albino tiger--totally like a tiger, and yet totally different. That's cool.

* Snob appeal, to wine snobs: Off the freaking charts. Drinking Lambrusco in wine circles is like having one of those steampunk mustaches in coffee shop circles: It shows you do not care what regular people think, with a vengeance. And now you're drinking what the Italians claim is an unsweet, ancient clonal variation of Lambrusco? That's like taking your steampunk mustache and paddling up Ethiopia's Baro River in a canoe to find wild coffee varieties. You've now gone from a guy who knows too much to a guy who is seriously intimidating.

* Snob appeal, to the clueless: High. It's a great turkey pairing. It's bubbly, it's red, it's weird, it's good--what will they think of next? It's like those smartphones. Who saw that coming?

--- Bon Appetit

Mister Meatball: What to drink with the bird?

7 Great Thanksgiving Wines:

"Lini 910 Lambrusco Rosé In Correggio 2010, Emilia-Romagna ($18) I know what you're thinking: Riunite on ice — niiiiiiiice. But one taste of this high-quality dry Lambrusco happily obliterates any memories of the cloyingly sweet, soda pop-like fizzy wine your auntie enjoyed sipping during the holidays. This wine is lush and creamy with rich red fruit flavors, a mineral tang and razor-sharp acidity. Best of all, it's blessedly bone dry. I wouldn't hesitate to drink the Rosé In Correggio throughout the entire Thanksgiving dinner."

--- Scott Tyree

Wines to drink with turkey + fixing

"There are so many helpful posts about what to cook for Thanksgiving. So instead, I thought I’d address the other side of the equation: what to drink with Thanksgiving (and with other holiday festivities). I’ll start with wine...Bubbles help, too. If you really want the conversation at the table to turn nostalgic, bring Lambrusco, the favorite wine of Italy’s rich Emilia sub-region. This is not yesteryear’s Lambrusco, though. Artisan Lambrusco producers like Lini 910 make sprightly frizzante wines whose bubbles act as pleasant palate scrubbers. They also tend to be low in alcohol, which can help to keep conversations under control."

--- A Modern Meal Maker

Wine & The Single Girl, Giving Thanks for Champagne

"The Italian version of sparkling red wine is called Lambrusco. Often as little as $10 to $15 dollars a bottle, Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna is made of a blend of sub-varieties (Grasparossa, Marani, Montericco, Mestri, Salamino). The nose is floral with a hint of raspberry and plenty of earthy notes, and the tea tannins give these wines enough structure to pair well with bolder meats. I recommend the non-vintage Venturini Baldini Lambrusco for about $13.99 Whether hosting your own Thanksgiving dinner or bringing a gift of wine as a guest, the single girl can never go wrong with an offer of Champagne."

--- Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider