Wisconsin Wine Pairings for Thanksgiving: Your Guide

WAUKESHA, WI — Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when wine is most likely to appear on American dinner tables.

However, the vast array of flavors in a traditional Thanksgiving meal can make the food and wine pairing process more complicated. If you’re looking to feature Wisconsin wines this Thanksgiving we have you covered.

Wisconsin Patch.com reached out to the experts at Meijer — which sells more than 2 million bottles during Thanksgiving alone — to come up with the perfect pairings for any Wisconsin wine and your Thanksgiving meal.

The wine stewards at Meijer - who will be able to help you even on Thanksgiving - helped us compile this list of Wisconsin wine pairings.

Here's what they recommend:

Appetizers
For an apéritif wine, choose Prairie Fumé from Wollersheim Winery located in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. This semi-dry white wine has citrus and tropical highlights and a hint of sweetness. This award-winning wine pairs particularly well with appetizers like cheese and crackers and pita bread.
Visit Wollersheim Winery’s site here: http://www.wollersheim.com/

Turkey
You don't want an overly sweet wine with turkey, so choose a wine on the dry side
that will complement traditional turkey seasonings. We recommend pairing turkey with a bottle of LaCrescent wine from River Bend Vineyard & Winery. LaCrescent is a semi- sweet white wine with tropical and citrus notes and a lingering finish.
Visit River Bend’s website here: https://www.riverbendvineyard.com/.

Ham
Ham is a light red meat that pairs best with a rosé or light red wine. For ham, we
recommend trying Cranberry Blush from Cedar Creek Winery located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Cranberry Blush is a semi-sweet grape wine with bright, juicy cranberry flavors and a gentle, lingering finish. Cedar Creek makes this wine from Seyval Blanc grapes and fresh Wisconsin cranberry juice. The sweetness and acidity in this wine will balance the brown sugar and pineapple flavors often found in ham.
Visit Cedar Creek’s site here: https://cedarcreekwinery.com/

Cranberries and Cranberry Sauce
Love it or hate it, cranberry sauce is a staple of most Thanksgiving feasts. This dish can be difficult to find the right wine pairing. Blackberry Merlot from Door Peninsula Winery features full, dark fruit with jammy aromas that pair well with homemade traditional cranberry sauce. The heavy predominate undertones of the blackberry found in this wine will stand up nicely to the sweetness of the cranberries.

Visit Door Peninsula Winery’s site here: https://store.dcwine.com/winer...

Pumpkin Pie
Of course, no Thanksgiving feast is complete without pumpkin pie! To end your meal on a high note, be sure to pair this classic dessert with a bottle of Fall Folly red wine from Autumn Harvest Winery. This wine’s complexity comes from strong berry undertones balanced nicely with grape. This semi-sweet red wine pairs well with pumpkin pie because it has a nice fruit flavor with a light nature that complements the pumpkin without overpowering the pie. This wine should be served chilled.
Visit Autumn Harvest Winery’s website here: http://autumnharvestwinery.com/.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to be with friends and family and to celebrate our many blessings. All of the wines mentioned above can be found at Meijer, which is open 24-hours on Thanksgiving Day. Many local Meijer stores have an in-store wine steward available to recommend wine pairings for your Thanksgiving feast. Visit your local wine steward in-store to get advice on pairing wine not just for Thanksgiving, but all of your festivities this holiday season!

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