Wining the Bird

Sometimes the traditional rules do not apply. The idea that white wine goes with chicken and red wine with beef may be helpful generally, for instance, but it tells us next to nothing when the meal is a complex mixture of dishes.

No meal perplexes wine lovers more than Thanksgiving. Chardonnay, for instance, may go perfectly well with the white meat but does not easily accommodate the richness of the stuffing and gets lost in the sweet potatoes. A sweeter white, say Riesling, may be a decent fit with the dark meat and the candied yams but not with the white meat.

A few years ago, California started offering very young red wines much like the French Beaujolais Nouveau, which go on the market on Nov. 15 of the same year that the grapes were harvested. Many jumped on the California nouveau wines as the Thanksgiving solution. But those wines have simple flavors, and Thanksgiving meals are anything but simple.

In all this, my mother-in-law makes things easy for herself. She just drinks White Zinfandel with anything.

But that solution, too, has its obvious limits, especially for those of us who like our wine to work in harmony with the meal instead of being just something to wash it down with.

We usually number 20 or more at Thanksgiving, and the sheer number allows me some diversity of choice. I bring out wines of various styles and let the assembled masses suit themselves. If the truth be known, I drink both white and red with the meal, and I shift from drier and lighter to richer and fuller-bodied as the meal goes on.

This year, my wines of choice will be Chardonnay and Viognier among the whites and Pinot Noir and Zinfandel for reds. We put out one glass at each place and have others in readiness for anyone who wants to have more than one wine to sample at a time. You will not be surprised to learn that the host is always the first to set another glass at his place.

VIOGNIER

I think Viognier could well become my white wine of choice for Thanksgiving. Most versions of the grape are dry, so the wines go perfectly well with the white meat of the turkey, but they have so much fruit and richness that they can stand up to the dark meat, gravy, stuffing and sweet potatoes. Couple that with the fact that I have been able to convince my White Zinfandel in-laws that Viognier is a pretty good substitute, and, voila, Viognier is my Thanksgiving hero.

* * 1998 Pride Mountain Vineyards, Sonoma County, $32. Yes, it is pricey, but its immense, rather tropical fruit and its deep flavors of toast and honey make it one of the tastiest wines on the market. It is a bit sweet, unlike most Viogniers, but it is also impeccably balanced. My mother-in-law is going to show up with her incredibly popular homemade sausage rolls, and I am going to sing out, “Margaret, have I got the wine for you.”

$ * * 1997 Benziger Winery, Imagery Series, River Ranch Vineyards, Alexander Valley, $18. This very fruity and generous Viognier is drier and a little lighter than the Pride Mountain, but that’s no problem for Thanksgiving because this wine is plenty rich on its own. It would be a wonderful first wine and a delight from first to last.

* 1997 Bonterra Vineyards, North Coast, $17. This Fetzer product is noteworthy for its vital, youthful fruit and, though it is not so rich or deep as many of the leading Viogniers, it is smooth and polished on the palate with plenty of length to its spry, slightly flowery flavors.

CHARDONNAY

Chardonnay is generally a sturdier wine than Viognier. I have always liked it with white meat, and I always taste it with the dark. I will follow the Viognier with a taste of Chardonnay, and I will recommend it to any at the table who like drier wines.

* * 1997 Morgan Winery, Reserve, Monterey, $26. Firm, full, oaky and seasoned with hints of roasted grains, this complex, balanced Chardonnay has all the stuffing to stand up to the flavors of Thanksgiving. It may be heresy to say it, but I would let this Chardonnay warm up a bit to allow its flavors to come out more completely. A colder wine retains its crispness more effectively, but the crisp, brisk side of Chardonnay is not really of much concern with the typical Thanksgiving menu.

* 1998 Edna Valley Vineyards, Paragon, Edna Valley, $18.50. This wine is slightly less intense than the Morgan, but it compensates in price and in availability. It has a certain oily, rich feel that makes it suitable for the meal yet, like the Morgan, it has the underlying balance to keep it bright and alive.

$ * 1998 Eberle Winery, Paso Robles, $15. Here is a ripe, mouth-filling effort whose convincing fruit and sweet oak notes are seasoned with just a hint of herbs. It needs rich foods to temper its youthful exuberance, so keep it in mind.

$ 1998 Meridian, Santa Barbara County, $11. You cannot go wrong with this eminently serviceable, broadly distributed Chardonnay. It is a little lighter than others here but delivers plenty to like for its moderate price. And in this era of price competition, the Meridian is often seen at bargain prices.

PINOT NOIR

Pinot Noir is my personal favorite for the middle of the meal. I like to start with the lighter flavors such as the white meat and the creamed onions and the white potatoes, and I drink the whites with those. By the middle of the meal, I have moved on from Viognier to Chardonnay in one glass and Pinot Noir in the other. I love how Pinot goes with the heavier flavors of the dark meat and the stuffing. I even drink a little of it with the sweet potatoes. If I could serve only one wine at Thanksgiving, it would be Pinot Noir.

* * 1997 Morgan Winery Reserve, Monterey, $33. Dan Lee’s Morgan Winery gets a second look at our Thanksgiving table with this wine. It’s sweet and outgoing with a full complement of ripe cherry fruitiness, and its oak adds suggestions of roasted cream and fresh-baked brioche. Medium-full in body and showing some of Pinot’s velvety side, this wine has the flesh and depth to satisfy my need for a tasty wine that can stand up to the dark meat and stuffing I save for the end of the meal.

* 1997 Artesa Winery, Santa Barbara County, $21. Here is a wine that shows the plush, open feel of Santa Barbara Pinots and has a ripe, concentrated bent to stand it in good stead with all manner of rich Thanksgiving flavors.

$ 1997 Gallo of Sonoma, Russian River Valley, $10. You will make plenty of friends with this open, relatively fruity, medium-full-bodied offering. Purists might argue that it needs a little more stuffing, but then purists rarely look at price tags, and this wine surely grows in appeal when value for money is considered.

ZINFANDEL

I have recently concluded that I like Zinfandel with Thanksgiving meals--but I save it for the end. By then, I am grazing on the tasty bits of dark meat that dot the platter and the drier, tastier parts of the stuffing, all covered with the last of the gravy. It is here that Zinfandel belongs for me. It’s stronger and riper than Pinot, and I think it would overwhelm most other parts of the meal.

On the other hand, if you also serve a ham or make a sausage stuffing, Zinfandel could easily be the wine of choice. Of course, it is the wine my brother Richard grabs first. None of that “sissy” white wine or Pinot Noir for him. But I could not get my mother-in-law to drink a ripe, bold Zin on a dare. As the French say, “Chacun a’ son gou^t,” which means something like “Who am I to tell my relatives what to drink on Thanksgiving?”

* * 1996 Marietta Cellars, Sonoma County, $15. It is ripe, rounded, sweet and juicy with lots of direct, berryish fruit. With its higher alcohol and tannins, it’s a bit rustic, but it’s Zinfandel after all, and it comes at the end of the meal, not at the beginning.

1996 Chateau Souverain, Dry Creek Valley, $11. Also a bit rustic but with enough center to hold its own with the richest parts of the meal, this wine should be kept in mind on value alone.

Definition of Symbols

* * * A world-class wine, superb by any measure, the top 1% to 2% of all wines tasted.

* * An exceptional wine, well worth the effort to find, 10% to 12% of wines tasted.

* An admirable wine, tasty, focused, attractive, about 25% of wines tasted.

No Rating: The best are quite pleasant and can be good buys when moderately priced.

$ Good value for the money.

x Below average quality, to be avoided.