Since Thanksgiving is truly an American holiday, I tend to go with all-American wines. These tend to be cooler climate pinots like those from Oregon. American rieslings can work – I plan on opening a Red Newt from New York’s Finger Lakes (anyone in New York City should go to Vintage New York and pick up a handful of New York rieslings), or maybe a Chateau Montelena. California cabs are generally too big, but if one has a good bit of age on it, it can work. Also, for a wild card, I like to open a bottle of sparkling wine from Gruet, let everyone say how much they like it, then blow them away when I tell them it’s from New Mexico. Sadly, that most American grape, zinfandel, doesn’t work too well. But, since I’m not a huge zin fan, it doesn’t make me all that sad.

Now to just get offline and to a store (I’m too cheap for FedEx).