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Riesling for Thanksgiving

By Great Northwest Wine on November 9, 2014

Riesling is a favorite in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

Riesling is perfect for any occasion, particularly Thanksgiving, so wear it proudly. (Photo by Andy Perdue/Great Northwest Wine)

Riesling. It might just be the perfect white wine for your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Sure, we talk a lot about Gewürztraminer for Thanksgiving because the wine works so well with dark turkey meat, but frankly that’s because Gewürz just doesn’t have much versatility as a food wine because of its soft acidity, so we need to give it some love on the rare occasions it works well.

Riesling, meanwhile, is a star when it comes to food. Thanks to its bright acids, Riesling works well whether it’s bone dry or ultra-sweet. And because of this, Riesling also can appeal to a broad range of palates – a situation we’re often in at Thanksgiving and its large crowds of family members.

In fact, there aren’t a lot of foods we can think of that will be on the traditional Thanksgiving table and won’t pair with Riesling. And best of all, many Northwest Rieslings fall into the $15-and-under price range.

Here are a dozen Rieslings we’ve tasted recently from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. They fit the full range of dry to sweet. You’ll find one or two to put on your holiday table this fall.

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About Great Northwest Wine

Articles authored by Great Northwest Wine are co-authored by Eric Degerman and Andy Perdue. In most cases, these are wine reviews that are judged blind by the Great Northwest Wine tasting panel.