Wine Review: Try these selections with Thanksgiving feast

I would surmise that preparations for the Thanksgiving feast are currently at top speed. As is usual with me, I am employing my lifelong philosophy of taking the obvious and reversing it.

With that in mind, I am going to suggest some wines to accompany the big bird. Since turkey is a full-flavored item, I am going to recommend a change of direction in the choice of a wine to serve at the celebration dinner: red wines. I know that white wines are the usual accompaniment for poultry, but I have found some red wines that, because of their calmer structure, will go well with the turkey as well as with all of the fixings.

Miguel Torres 2022 Cordillera Pinot Noir ($25)
In general, a pinot noir is a softer full-flavored wine and true to the variety's regal reputation. The color of this medium-bodied wine is a bright cherry red, and the aroma is heavy with the scents of cherries, blueberries, mushrooms, red currants, cocoa and the incense-like aroma that marks a great pinot noir derived by aging the wine in cedar barrels. These aromas carry over to the flavor, where they are melded with a layer of spice. There is also an almost perfect balance between the fruit and the acid. What is rare about this pinot noir is the soft and smooth tannins that are all too often missing in many examples of this variety. This is a very fine wine, and it should be experienced.

Peregrine 2019 Pinot Noir ($41)
This pinot noir comes from the other side of the world, New Zealand, and reflects the quality of wines coming from that region. Here, too, it is the flavor and aroma of dark cherries that stand out. In this wine, however, the cherry is joined in a flavor and aroma merry-go-round of raspberry, fresh ground spice and dark chocolate. This wine, too, offers a softness not often found in red wines and does credit to the variety and its birthplace.

Marques de Caceres 2021 Rioja Crianza ($20)
From wines from the bottom of the world, we go to the center of the planet, Spain. The wines from the Rioja district of Spain have been praised for their prominent flavor and aroma. Here is another red wine that has absolutely no rough edges and can grace a table with pride. This wine offers a journey of the summer dark red fruits that are bundled together with the suggestion of oak. I also found this wine to be a magnificent and enjoyable sipping wine.

Vecchi Vigne 2022 Verdicchio ($24)
If by chance a white wine is called for, a verdicchio from Italy has always been a good choice. The verdicchio grape is not one that is familiar in this country because the grape, when grown here, does not perform as well as it does if it comes from the mountains of Italy. This wine presents the aromas of citrus from tangerine to lime to mandarin orange. These aromas are also to be found in the flavor and very clearly in the fruit-ladened finish. While this wine may be unfamiliar, I believe it could easily become a popular white wine.

Warre’s Otima 10-year Tawny ($34)
There is no more elegant way to end a fine meal than serving a Port wine. The Warre’s Otima is a tawny port whose deep rose color will invite the first sip. The wine offers the flavor and aromas of dried fruits that are held in balance by a light amount of oak, all of which follow through to the finish and remain on the palate for a very long time. This is a wine that I believe should impress your guests.

Wine columnist and Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.