Wines: Wines to go with turkey

LEOMINSTER, England, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Wine is often reserved for special occasions. A good wine can make any occasion special, so Thanksgiving and Christmas are times when many people think about having something really nice. This article will suggest wines to go with turkey.

Thanksgiving is when most Americans think seriously about the bird, while Christmas is when most Britons, Australians and New Zealanders tuck in. If you are part of the turkey-for-Christmas brigade, then keep this on file for next month.

Turkey is, fortunately, a forgiving bird, and wines both red and white will go very nicely. If you have a particular favorite, and it is not mentioned here, please forgive me. These are only suggestions. The job of the wine merchant is to find a wine that the customer will like, not to sell the wine the merchant needs to shift. The wine that is stacked the highest is not necessarily the best for you.

In our house, we like red wine when the turkey is hot and white when it is cold, but there is no hard and fast rule about that. Reds need either to have the weight to cut through the fat just under the skin of the hot meat or have the intensity of flavor to match anything. For a weighty red it is hard to beat Shiraz, or Syrah, as it is known in France.

Australian Shiraz tends to have blackberry fruit flavor with a hint of something peppery or sometimes a hint of chocolate. There is a lot of Shiraz about. I tend to prefer those from the slightly cooler areas, such as Western Australia or South-east Victoria. The relative coolness develops the peppery, chocolatey tastes. The big players, Penfolds, Rosemount, Jacob's Creek make reliable wines with Shiraz or with Shiraz in the blend. Ask for help in making your choice. On the whole, you are more likely to get a good, interesting wine from a small-scale vineyard. The larger ones tend to operate to a formula, which will produce consistently drinkable wines.

French wines are more likely to be named by the region where they are produced than by their grape variety. For Syrah, look out for St Joseph, or Crozes-Hermitage in the northern part of the Rhone Valley. The fruit and pepper are joined by more complex tastes like cedar and leather. St. Joseph had quite an important role at Christmas, so why not at the table as well. Crozes-Hermitage is about the same price, but I generally find St. Joseph a better wine. If you really want to push the boat out, Hermitage from the steeper, sunnier side of the hill, where Crozes-Hermitage is grown, has more weight and more complexity, at about $35-$45 a bottle.

Californian Cabernet Sauvignon usually has more weight than in France and I think it goes better with turkey. There are many good producers, too many to list them all. I enthused about R.H. Phillips last time, and I have not changed my mind. Merlot is a little lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon and I don't think it has the necessary weight, even if grown in California, to take on a turkey. However, if Merlot is what you like, that is fine by me.

Zinfandel, is California's specialty, and nowhere else in the world is the Zin so good. There are many excellent producers. The smaller ones will, almost certainly, give you more interesting wines, but at a higher price than the big name producers. I think the heaviest Zinfandels lack the acidity to be good wines and the middleweights still have enough body to take on the bird. Ask your dealer for help in making your choice.

Lighter in weight, but often with a very special intensity of flavor come wines made from the variety, Pinot Noir. In the best of them, there is often a deliciously intense raspberry taste allied to something a bit gamey. The nose of a Pinot Noir often has a touch of the compost heap. Red Burgundy is the archetypal Pinot Noir, and you can pay the earth for a good one. Outside Burgundy, you need a climate a little cooler than most New World wine areas. Go for Oregon rather than California, New Zealand rather than Australia.

My own choice, and what will be on our table, and breaking my own rule, is Treehouse Pinot Noir, from Western Australia. (Rules are made to be broken.) The maker sold his share in a tiny plot in Burgundy to make wine in more commercial quantities in one of Australia's cooler areas. This is wine made from grapes bought in from neighboring vineyards where there is not so much expertise at getting the best from Pinot Noir. It is an excellent wine and Burgundy of the same quality is not usually found at double or even three times the price. At 14.5 percent alcohol, it is one of the strongest red wines I have ever seen -- though a customer pointed this out to me. I had not noticed the strength myself, although alcoholic strength itself is not necessarily an indication of quality.

My own choice of white wine is the unfashionable Riesling, Dr. Dahlem Oppenheimer Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 1999. The wine is much easier to swallow than the name; it is wonderfully fragrant, has enough acidity and weight to cut through the fat of the turkey, and just a touch of sweetness to balance the acidity. The price in Britain is low which is a reflection of how unfashionable German wine is. Wine of this quality is usually a lot more expensive.

The name is fairly easy to explain. Dr. Dahlem is the maker. Oppenheim is the area. Herrenberg is the vineyard. Riesling is the variety. Kabinett is the quality. Kabinett wines have enough sugar not to need sugar added to the juice before fermentation or after. If you are looking for a good quality German wine, look out for these words: Riesling (probably the best grape variety) and Kabinett (the lowest level of ripeness to make a decent wine). Other words you might see on German labels include Spätlese, Auslese and Beerenauslese, which are used to describe riper grapes mainly for sweet wines. If you are looking for a dry wine, look out for the word trocken. Halbtrocken is medium dry.

Chardonnay is still most people's favorite variety for white wine. The heavily oaked style of Chardonnay where you could count the tree rings but not taste the fruit, is now, fortunately, hard to find. I still usually prefer unoaked Chardonnay and the Salitage Chardonnay, from Western Australia is a stunner. It has a wonderful array of tropical fruit flavors.

A subtly oaked Californian Chardonnay from R. H. Phillips, is an equally fine expression of the grape. Wine-merchants at tastings get very bored with Chardonnay -- there are just so many, mostly tasting the same, but these two had me reaching for the superlatives. There are many other Chardonnays -- both oaked and unoaked at a wide range of prices. If in doubt, ask for help. Chile often gives good value Chardonnay, especially from the Casablanca Valley.

Another good choice in white wines would be Gewurztraminer from Alsace. It is a dry wine with a hint of elderflower and a touch of cinnamon. If you are using a spicy stuffing for the turkey, it is probably the best choice, red or white. The Cave de Turkheim makes a very nice one at a reasonable price. This is one of the best co-operatives in France, and all their wines are good. If you choose from a single producer, expect to pay a bit more. Among the best are Dopff et Irion, Hugel and Schlumberger. As you might guess from these names, Alsace has changed hands several times between being German and being French. It is now French. Think of Alsace as producing French wine with German grapes.

If you are still not sure of what wine or wines you want with your turkey, go along to your specialist, and ask for help. Most will try to be friendly. There is little point in making the customer feel small, as he or she will not come back. Although supermarkets are improving all the time, they still cannot compete with the level of knowledge specialists can provide.

Next month, I will be looking at Champagne and other sparkling wines, in readiness for the New Year. I also hope to do something about cocktails for New Year, so if any of you wish to share recipes, please contact me.

(Geoff Morris can be contacted at Orchard, Hive & Vine, 6 The Buttercross, Leominster, Herefordshire UK HR6 8BN [email protected])