On Wine: A no-stress guide to picking wine for T-day

You have to love Thanksgiving. It's nondenominational and you don't have to buy gifts. The object is to hang out with people you like, eat lots of great food and count your blessings. What's not to like?

Of course, if you are the one hosting and cooking for the event there is a certain amount of stress involved, but don't add to it by fussing too much about which wine to serve. Yes, of course you want the wine to pair well with all of your hard work but that's a lot easier than you might guess.

Keep in mind that there is no perfect wine for this meal. While turkey is an amiable bird that pairs well with pretty much any wine, some of those side dishes are impossible to match (e.g. cranberries -- with their abundance of acid, tannins and sugar -- go with no wine). So it's best to keep to the cardinal rule of the art of matching wines and food: drink only what you like. It gets a lot easier after that.

The hardest part of choosing the wine will be driving to the store, if you keep these tips in mind:

Choose lower-alcohol wines. These days that means anything under 14 percent. This is not a food and wine smackdown. They should work together and high-alcohol wines can overpower most food.

Not too much oak. Often those big lumber-yard wines that can be so pleasing on their own can wreck havoc on food.

Watch the amount of sugar in the food. Sugar will ruin most dry wines. Consider this when preparing those side dishes. Try recipes that are more savory than sweet. (Do yams really need more sweetening?)

Red or white? Why not both? Set the table with two glasses for each guest and have two, three or more wines open. Choice is good.

SOME GENERAL TIPS:

If you'd like more information on selecting a Thanksgiving wine, here is how I approach it.

When pairing a wine with food, I prefer either whites or reds with good acidity and elegance rather than size and power. I've found that certain grapes tend to offer these characteristics so they are the ones I reach for first.

Among my favorite red grapes are: tempranillo, sangiovese, pinot noir, gamay, cabernet franc and lemberger. Tempranillo can be found in wines from the Rioja region of Spain. Sangiovese is the grape used to make Chianti and is found in Washington and California vineyards as well. Besides being Oregon's uber grape, pinot noir is the red grape of the France's Burgundy region, and gamay is grown in the Beaujolais area of that country. Cabernet franc is doing well in Washington as is lemberger.

For white wines I find pinot gris from Oregon, Washington or Alsace, France, are the best. Chardonnay can be good but make sure it is one of those rare versions that has little or no oak. Dry (or off dry) Riesling from Alsace, Germany, or Washington state can be fabulous. A lower-alcohol viognier with its typical pear and peach aromas can be a real treat.

THANKSGIVING WINE LIST

Here are a few good choices for Thanksgiving, but if you can't find them ask your wine merchant for other options.

RED WINES

2001 Conde de Valdemar Rioja Crianza, $9 (Spain)

2004 Cloudline Pinot Noir, $16 (Oregon)

2003 Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir, $12 (France)

2002 Kiona Lemberger, $10 (Washington)

2004 Nugues Beaujolais Villages, $13 (France)

2003 Badia a Coltibuono Roberto Stucchi Chianti Classico, $15 (Italy)

WHITE WINES

2003 Adelsheim Chardonnay 'CH' stainless-steel fermented, $18 (Oregon)

2004 Cooper Mountain Reserve Pinot Gris, $12 (Oregon)

2004 Barnard Griffin Riesling, $8 (Washington)

2004 Yalumba 'Y' Series Viognier, $10 (Australia)

Richard Kinssies is a freelance wine writer, director of the Seattle Wine School and owner of the Wine Outlet downtown. He can be contacted at 206-652-1311 or richardkinssies@msn.com.

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