The Perfect Turkey/Sushi/Chicken Wine
This week is all about turkey, love it or hate it.
And I absolutely LOVE hearing about people’s Thanksgiving preferences, wherever their family falls on the turkey spectrum.
We are a traditional Thanksgiving family. We roll out a big ass bird and all of the usual suspects: stuffing, potatoes, gravy…and turnips. Oh my goodness, the turnips. I wait all year for my mother’s mashed turnips, which she mixes with just a little bit of mashed potatoes to nail the perfect flavor. Turnips are so tough to cut that she only makes them once a year. (I’ve watched her with a meat cleaver, and her fingers and I are thrilled that this is a Thanksgiving-only dish.)
Close friends of ours in Montauk don’t really like turkey so they go with surf and turf instead.
Dear friends of mine in NYC are usually a small crowd of three so they prefer a rotisserie chicken.
And our beloved friend in Los Angeles thinks Thanksgiving food is gross and prefers sushi.
WHATEVER your preference this Thursday, The School Yard Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir is the perfect choice. From Great Day Napa Valley, the official wine club of the Pittsburgh Penguins, I’m enjoying the wine more than the hockey team right now. (Sorry guys, it’s been a rough start to the season!) It’s available online for $48.
We recently opened a bottle for takeout sushi with our friends from Montauk—and while some of them were skeptical at first— School Yard was awesome with tuna tartare and spicy shrimp tempura rolls. You don’t have to open this particular bottle of wine; Pinot Noir, in general, is delicious with heartier fishes because it’s a pretty low-tannin red wine. (The tannins in wine can make fish taste bitter or metallic.)
Another favorite (and cheaper) Santa Barbara Pinot Noir that I can’t get enough of: Au Bon Climat. It’s just $26.99 on wine.com.
Pinot Noir is also perfect with Thanksgiving turkey and all kinds of sides. My family prefers heavier reds, but I always encourage them to drink Pinot Noir on Thanksgiving. Cabernet Sauvignon can be too heavy and overpowering.
Rotisserie chicken is also right at home with Pinot Noir, especially if you’re serving it with mushrooms.
And Pinot is a perfect red to sip solo or with apps like charcuterie.
It’s so versatile and works with whatever you might be serving this Thanksgiving, as long as it’s served with love. 🤍
🍷Chin and Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
