Thanksgiving is less than a week away and I know that there are a lot of you out there thinking to yourself, “HOLY CRAP! I’m not ready for Thursday!!!” At this point, you should be scared. The turkey has to be perfect. The sides have to be balanced. The wine…oh, the wine. There are hundreds of bottles to choose from and you need to find the one that will balance well with all the food and the palates of your guests. (Especially your aunt. You know, the picky one that makes those passive aggressive remarks about your stuffing because she thinks she could do it better. Let’s see how she likes it when I use our homemade chicken stock in it this year. Muwhahahahaha!)
Well, there are two varietals that I am confident in recommending for your Thanksgiving Day feast: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, I’m going to review Bogle Vineyard’s 2013 Pinot Noir. I’ll review a Chardonnay later this week.
Name: Bogle Vineyards Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2013
Producer: Bogle Vineyards
Region: California
Price: $8.98
ABV: 13.5%
(Price can vary on state, taxes, the store’s mark-up, and if your family enjoys the plump, savory, and juicy delicacy that is Tofurkey.)
“Cornucopia. Stuffing, potatoes, and wine. Don’t pardon that Turkey, his life was just fine.”
I took a deep sniff of the wine and was happy to find that it was full of cherry and red berry aromas. There was a hint of herbs, but I could tell what they were. (I bet that aunt of yours could tell you though. She’d also probably tell you that she knows the region they were harvested from too.)
I couldn’t wait any longer. Like a drunken patriarch who had forgotten to eat all day because he had fallen into an NFL coma, I dove into the wine. The wine had a medium body with stiff tannins. There was more oak than I expected, but the herbal accents were definitely there. After tasting it, I would lean towards sage or thyme for that flavor. I had a definite cherry taste upfront with a short, tart, and acidic cranberry finish.
Rating: Enjoy Again
I thought that this was a really good red wine that should go with most things that you pair with it at your dinner table. At a price of ~$9 per bottle, you really can’t go wrong serving this to your quests. Hell, you can serve enough of this to your aunt that she won’t realize that your turkey isn’t perfect, your table cloth still has stains from last year, and her husband hurt his arm when one of the nephews tackled him during the family football game.
