Category: Food

Experts recommend Thanksgiving wine pairings

By Renee Merchant

Looking for wines for your Thanksgiving meal? Three local wine experts have pairing recommendations.

Hors d’oeuvres

Beth Waite is the co-owner and general manager of Averill House Vineyard, a family-owned winery in Brookline. She advised serving a mulled wine with your Thanksgiving hors d’oeuvres.

“Mulled wine is one of our favorite things to introduce during these cooler months and into the winter season,” she said. “It’s pretty much like a snuggle in a glass.”

You can easily make mulled wine in a slow cooker, she said, by adding red wine, particularly a cabernet or a fruity wine, with apple cider, cranberry juice and a mulling mix that has cinnamon and nutmeg in it.

“I personally enjoy a pinot noir that has some blackberry to it,” she said. “That fruit note really adds to the body of the mulling mix.”

Mike Appolo is the owner and winegrower at Appolo Vineyards, a boutique winery in Derry. He said his pick for a pairing with Thanksgiving hors d’oeuvres is a sparkling white wine.

“You want something that would cleanse your palate,” he said.

He mentioned Appolo Vineyards’ sparkling wine called Bee Wild as a good option.

“It’s a brut,” he said, “which means it’s a little bit sweet.”

Al Fulchino is the owner and winegrower at Fulchino Vineyard in Hollis. He said he likes to “start off real simple” in a pairing with a rosé or a blush.

“We have a pinot noir rosé, called Amoré, wonderful for the first light appetizers like, let’s say, shrimp or scallops,” he said.

Then, for the heavier appetizers, you could serve “something a bit more serious,” he said, like a pinot grigio or a sauvignon blanc. A red wine would work too, he said.

“[Try] a sangria wine or a montepulciano, a nice red with not a lot of tannins, but [that] has some body to it,” he said.

A tip for serving red wine, Waite said, is to open it 30 minutes before serving to give it time to breathe.

“That will open up a lot more of the body of the wine,” she said.

Main course

Fulchino said a chardonnay or a pinot grigio will go well with a variety of Thanksgiving meals. If you prefer a red wine, he said, try a cabernet, sangiovese or pinot noir. He suggested Fulchino Vineyard’s pinot noir called 603.

If you’re having turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy for the main course, Waite recommended a pinot noir.

“It’s a classic wine to go with the Thanksgiving dinner,” she said.

She said Averill House Vineyard’s blackberry pinot noir, called Truly Cinematic, is a must-try.

“It has a lighter body and kind of like a fruit-forward profile, and it’s very versatile,” she said.

According to Appolo, a white wine pairs best with a turkey dinner. He said that if you prefer a wine that is less dry, you might want to try Appolo Vineyards’ wine, Sonrisa.

“[It] has a little bit of an orange muscat and seyval blend, so that one’s a little bit sweet, and it tends to go with a great variety of foods,” he said.

To finish the feast

For dessert, Appolo suggested a mulled wine, like a glühwein.

“It’s a German word that means smoldering wine. It’s made to be served warm … with [a] mulling syrup,” he said, “That would go great with dessert because it’s got spices, orange zest and cinnamon.”

If you are serving pumpkin pie, Waite said she has two recommendations: an earthy red wine, like a nebbiolo, or a sweeter wine, like a port.

With an apple pie, she said, she enjoys a dry or semi-dry white wine, like a riesling or a sauvignon blanc.

“It just has a really nice acidity that complements the apple in that dessert,” she said.

Fulchino recommends a small glass of dry wine to balance the sweetness of your dessert.

“It doesn’t have to be over-the-top sweet for a dessert wine,” he said, “[it] could be lightly sweet, and that’s just enough, and sometimes that’s the dessert by itself.”

Appolo said not to be afraid to explore new types of wine.

“Don’t treat wine like it’s a big mystery thing that you have to be an expert in to enjoy,” he said. “Just be adventurous.”

Featured photo: Averill House Vineyard Truly Cinematic. Courtesy photo

Tour of New Hampshire’s wineries

Tour wineries throughout New Hampshire this holiday season during the New Hampshire Jingle Bells Winery Tour running on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. through Sunday, Dec. 17.

“It’s a self-guided tour through … 12 different wineries in the state of New Hampshire … [ranging] all the way from the Seacoast area up to the North Country, all the way out to the western country in Westmoreland, so it basically encompasses the whole state,” said Lewis Eaton, former president of the New Hampshire Winery Association and owner of Sweet Baby Vineyard in Hampstead, one of the participating wineries. “You get a whole month to do it and each winery provides wine samples. You also get a food component to go with it and you get an individual ornament from each one of the wineries.”

Sweet Baby Vineyard will offer four one-ounce pours of any of the 20 wines on their tasting board with lots of fruity options such as blueberry, peach, apple, raspberry and strawberry, and freshly baked cookies and brownies made by a local baker. You will be able to pick from two ornaments, a logoed glass ball or a compostable seed packet shaped like a snowflake that you can toss in your garden in the spring to plant wildflowers.

Other participating wineries are Appolo Vineyard, Averill House Vineyard, Black Bear Vineyard, Cabana Falls Winery, Crazy Cat Winery, Flag Hill Distillery & Winery, Hermit Woods Winery, both LaBelle Winery locations in Amherst and Derry, Seven Birches Winery, Squamscott Vineyard & Winery and The Summit Winery.

“We encourage you to do it as your Christmas shopping, so if you’re going up to the North Country … to shop at the outlets or anything like that you can hit a couple of wineries up there, [or] when you’re on the Seacoast shopping,” Eaton said. “The weekend after Thanksgiving is generally the most busy time for the Jingle Bell Tour because people are out Christmas shopping and just burning time.”

At LaBelle Winery participants will be able to sample whatever wine they choose and enjoy a citrus, ginger and thyme crisp or a double chocolate crunch shortbread to have with their samples or take home. For those with food allergies or sensitivities, dark chocolate-covered cranberries will also be offered.

Each winery will be competing in the Holiday Spirit contest, so after you’ve gone to each one, make sure to go to the New Hampshire Jingle Bells Winery Tour and follow the guidelines to vote for which winery was best decked for the holidays for the chance to win a gift basket filled by the wineries.

“It’s such a nice program because it introduces the public and wine lovers to a good number of New Hampshire wineries,” said Michelle Thornton, the marketing and business development director at LaBelle Winery. “A lot of people may have not ever been to all of them and this gives them the opportunity to go.”

2023 Jingle Bells Winery Tour
Where: at participating wineries
When: Saturday and Sunday through Sunday, Dec. 17, from noon to 4 p.m.
Cost: Tickets are $55 for single admission and $100 for couple admission. Purchase via eventbrite.
More info: Visit their Facebook page @NHJingleBellsWineryTour

Appolo Vineyards
49 Lawrence Road, Derry
Averill House Vineyard
21 Averill Road, Brookline
Black Bear Vineyard
289 New Road, Salisbury
Cabana Falls Winery
80 Peterborough St., Jaffrey
Crazy Cat Winery
365 Lake St., Bristol
Flag Hill Distillery & Winery
297 N. River Road, Lee
Hermit Woods Winery
72 Main St., Meredith
LaBelle Winery
345 Route 101, Amherst
14 Route 111, Derry
Seven Birches Winery
22 South Mountain Road, Lincoln
Squamscott Vineyard & Winery
70 Route 108, Newfields
Sweet Baby Vineyard
260 Stage Road, Hampstead
The Summit Winery
719 Highway 12, Westmoreland

Featured photo: LaBelle Winery. Courtesy photo.