Wine Matchup for Thanksgiving Feast: A Pack of Ten Picks to Enhance the Food, Reawaken the Appetite and Renew Weary Taste Buds ($279) + Recent Arrival Traversing Burgundy in Six Wines with Domaine Manuel Olivier (6-Bottle Pack $459)

A true masterpiece is composed of many elements, and all the details must be in precise balance: The forearm musculature on Michelangelo’s ‘David’ for example—the intake of breath in the nostril of Sanmartino’s ‘Veiled Christ.’ This is as true for a magnificent meal as it is for a sculpture, and any constituent of your Thanksgiving Day spread that’s treated as an afterthought may glare more than the successes.

Naturally, we consider wine to be an indispensable part of this annual meal, not only to reinforce the overall sensory enjoyment, but as a nod to a greater sense of appreciation for things that we, as human beings, get right.

It’s possible to overanalyze your wine choices, of course—many of the other elements of a Thanksgiving feast are as fixed as the solar system. Wine is one factor that is not only less preordained, but can (and should) change with vintages and tastes.

When dealing with alcohol-by-volume, any multi-course meal where wine is served as an accompaniment should follow a simple rule: When possible, go low so your guests don’t get too high. Whether you consider food/wine match-ups to be an art, a science, or simply a way to expand your horizons with a variety of different styles and appellations, there are some tricks to the trade we try to emphasize with our holiday picks: Contrast or complement but never overshadow and keep the octane at a lower level than you otherwise might in order to make sure that everyone returns home to tipple another day.

This Thanksgiving, Elie’s is offering an eclectic line-up (10 bottles for $279) that should delight and entice while keeping your guests on the safe side of celebration. Our suggestions are culled from new arrivals and old standbys, and are offered as interval highlights at various stages of the meal. They reflect the balance that all cooks, winemakers and artists strive for in rhythm, emphasis, unity and variety.

To Serve Before Dinner and with Appetizers

When your guests arrive, an icebreaker does not need to contain ice, but the appropriate chill is always appreciated. Red wines, in particular, tend to be served too warm. In this case, the light and perfumed carbonically-macerated Cabernet France from Sébastien David hits its refreshing high water mark and around 55°F, somewhat lower than the typical household room temperature. Likewise, the tendency is to transfer white wine directly from refrigerator to glass, which is too cold to appreciate the nuances of Blard & Fils Roussette de Savoie. Give it ten or fifteen minutes to pick up some ambient room warmth—it will show much better. Of course, these effervescent, quaffable and refreshing cidres will be fine with a brisk November chill.

 Hard Cider

 1  Maison Hérout ‘Micro – Cuvée No 1’, 2020 AOP Cidre Cotentin Tranquil ($24) 5.5% abv
A fizzy, bright gold organic cidre aged for three months in Calvados barrels (leading to the slightly higher alcohol content). It shows aromas of fallen lemon and earth with a lightly tannic, vibrant and compelling body that shows brisk dried peach, hay and parchment on the finish

 2  Maison Hérout ‘Cuvée Tradition’, 2020 AOP Cidre Cotentin – Brut ($19) 5% abv
Bright gold in the color with frothy bubbles and the heady aromas of picked apple. Slightly earthy with a tannic, vibrant, fruity light-to-medium body and compelling hints of minerality.

Maison Hérout
Normandy

The Hérout estate is located near the town of Auvers, where apples thrive in a lush oceanic climate. The Hérout family began producing cider in the 1940s; today, Marie-Agnès Hérout has taken over the farm and remains true to her heritage by producing some of the finest ciders available from this region. After picking, the apples are grated, macerated, and then pressed with the help of a rack press dating back to 1920, whereupon the juice is left to ferment for four to seven months, often in used Calvados barrels.

Marie-Agnès also continues the family tradition of planting apple trees for future generations and in 2000, began a campaign with the Syndicat de Promotion du Cidre du Cotentin to earn the region’s certification for Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée Cotentin status. In May of 2016, after 16 years of hard work and perseverance, the quest succeeded.

White Wine

 3  Blard & Fils, 2020 Roussette de Savoie ‘Altesse’ ($27) 12.5% abv
Nowhere in the world does Altesse reign as regally as in Roussette de Savoie, an AOP which has adopted the grape’s nickname ‘Roussette’ as its own. Late to ripen, and turning pink near harvest, the variety produces small grapes with a tight-bunch structure.

This wine is 100% Altesse from Abymes, from vines that are 35 years old. As always, Thomas Blard ferments naturally, with 20% of the juice seeing skin contact for 10 days. Aged on the lees for 10 months before bottling, the wine presents a terrific nose of green grass, salt, lemon and ripe apricot. The palate follows with green tea, lime zest, and herbs behind an exhilarating, Chablis-like texture.

Blard & Fils
Savoie

Jean-Noël and Thomas Blard are a father/son team who has taken their family domain to new quality heights while moving steadily toward fully organic and natural viticulture. In the 1990’s, Jean-Noël became one of the first vignerons in the appellation to diversify into Pinot Noir, and was also eager to raise the quality bar on Jacquère and Mondeuse—the latter by aging in neutral oak for a minimum of two years. With 25 acres under Blard control, grassed over and fertilized naturally, the Blards use a technique known as ‘intercep’ to remove unwanted greenery before finishing the job by hand.

Five generations of Blard have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat: In 1248, the side of Mont Granier (one of the major formations of the Savoie’s Chartreuse Massif) collapsed, and a wave of boulders and scree crushed the landscape below, forever changing the soil structure. Apremont means ‘bitter mountain’ and Abymes means ‘ruin’ and as a result of the natural upheaval, it is today it is considered to be the best place in the Savoie (and by extension, all of France) to grow Jacquère.

Red Wine 

 4  Sébastien David ‘Hurluberlu’, 2023 VdF Loire-Touraine ‘Cabernet Franc’ ($25) 13% abv
Working with whole clusters, David ferments ‘Hurluberlu’ on wild yeasts, employing carbonic maceration for 25 days followed by a light pressing to preserve the fruit’s freshness, and to create a wine that is as animated as its name, resplendent with sizzling cherry, bright raspberry and tart cranberry that deserves to be served slightly chilled.

Sébastien David
The Loire Valley

No comment on E.F. Hutton, but when Sébastien David speaks, you should probably listen. He is the fifteenth-generation to make wine in an estate that dates back to 1634. And when he speaks, he says, “I believe in the energy of the land.”

The family owns 37 acres of Cabernet Franc Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, with the vines aged 35-100 years old. Sébastien heed the call of the land’s energy after his grandfather died in the late 1990s—Sébastien’s first vintage was 1999, and has since focused on producing natural wines from fruit that is Ecocert certified.

“My insistence has been to listen to the soil,” he says. “We are organic, biodynamic and are currently exploring permaculture, where grass grows between rows. In the cellar I use concrete eggs as well as amphorae. The pH here in Saint-Nicolas is higher due to more sand in the soil and the concrete allows me to accentuate the more floral notes of Cabernet Franc rather than the green pepper notes you might get from a Chinon.”

To Toast With

A post-election country may have as much to mourn as to toast, so take a moment with your guests to acknowledge the passing of another interesting year and fondest hopes for the next four.

France’s ingenious méthode champenoise makes the quintessential toasting wine, but such singular improvements have been made throughout the world of bubbles that now is an ideal time to expand your horizons beyond the familiar world of Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blends. Even Cava, Spain’s answer to Champagne, relies primarily on Parellada, Macabeu and Xarel·lo grapes, but there’s another dimension to Spanish sparklers that takes a different, and exciting, route.

Sparkling White Wine

 5  Cellers Carol Vallès ‘Parellada i Faura’, 2021 Cava Reserva Brut-Nature D-08/2024 ($22) 11.5% abv
30% Parellada, 30% Xarel·lo and 40% Macabeu aged on lees for over two years. A fruity and lively cava reflecting prominent notes of peach and lemon peel with apple, butter and peach.

Cellers Carol Vallès
Catalunya

Nothing summarizes Thanksgiving better than the lure of family tradition, and this is the magnet that drew Joan Carol back to the farmhouse of Can Parellada that his grandparents acquired more than a century ago. There he founded Cellers Carol Vallès where, with Teresa Vallès, he began to craft cavas in the style he was most passionate about, using traditional methods, unique blends and the long aging times.

To Complement Dinner

When the curtain rises on the main event, cast and crew must be on cue; no more dress rehearsal holidays, this is opening night. And although we’d only recommend diva wines for this important matchup, the fact is that fancy-costume labels should not be a deciding factor when there are plenty of remarkable main-floor wines available for mezzanine prices. Alsace produces wine in a spectacular array of styles that with a little labor-of-love practice; Penedès offers fascinating new varietals while Beaujolais and Burgundy have long offered traditional, but perfect solutions to the myriad flavors of the holiday.

White Wine

 6  Domaine Dirler-Cadé, 2022 Alsace Riesling ($33) 12.5% abv
Built from declassified Grand Cru grapes, Dirler-Cadé’s basic Riesling retains many of the markers of their vineyards of origin, juicy, supple, and aromatic, with intricacies of lime, verbena, herbs, and spice.

Domaine Dirler-Cadé
Alsace

As the name suggests, Domaine Dirler-Cadé is the union of two historical Alsatian winegrowing families. Jean Dirler is a 5th generation winemaker whose family had been making wine in the tiny village of Bergholtz, tucked into the lower hills of the Vosge Mountains, since 1871. Ludvine Cadé’s family owned vineyards in nearby Guebwiller, known as Domaine Hell-Cade. The marriage of Ludvine and Jean in 2000 produced Domaine Dirler-Cadé, one of the finest domains in Alsace, with almost half of their 44 acres in Grand Cru vineyards, as well as plots in five lieux-dits.

Rosé Wine

 7  Can Sumoi ‘La Rosa’, 2023 Penedès ($24) 12% abv
60% Sumoll and 40% Xarel-lo; a shimmery, orange-pink wine offering vibrant ripe cherry flavors and spicy tangerine with a touch of anise in the mid-palate, finishing with a sharp, chalky minerality.

Can Sumoi
Catalunya

At two thousand feet above sea level (in the Serra de l’Home range) Can Sumoi is the highest estate in the Penedès; Mallorca and the Ebro Delta are visible from the rooftop of the winery’s 350-year-old farmhouse. Below, vineyards sprawl across limestone-rich soil between stands of oak and white pine, which to the ecology-driven Pepe Raventós, share equal importance with the vines. “Forests,” he says, “protect the biodiversity of the estate; they are the green lungs of the world.”

It is a spiritual quest, he admits; the smells and flavors of Catalunya are unique and exist in his soul as surely as in his wine. “To express origin, you really need to bring a lot of life into your farm. The principle is simple: the more diversity on your property, the more richness there is, the more resistant and strong your vines will be. The fewer treatments they need, the more authentic the wine will be. I left the idea of making perfect wine a long time ago. I think my duty is to make the most authentic wine possible.”

Red Wine

 8  Clos de Mez ‘Mademoiselle M’, 2022 Fleurie ($27) 13.5% abv
Semi-carbonic fermentation, then aged nine months in vats, Marie-Élodie Zighera’s signature Fleurie offers an attractive floral nose with notes of cherry and strawberry. The backbone is nicely spun through with acidity and the mineral-driven terroir shines through to the finish.

Clos de MEZ
Beaujolais

Marie-Élodie Zighera has roots in the past; a metaphor that is not really a metaphor since her oldest vines were planted so long ago that when France entered the First World War, they were already producing.  “Vines have been in my maternal family for four generations,” she says. “The grapes they grew were delivered to the cooperative cellar by my grandmother and mother up until I arrived at the domain as a winegrower. However, this did not deter my grandmother or mother from taking great care of our 17-hectare vineyard. At that time, I was living in Paris with my family and we would come to Fleurie for the holidays. I used to love this time so much, being in close contact with nature.”

Red Wine

 9  Domaine Manuel Olivier ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits ($49) 12.5% Abv
The Pinot Noir from this old-vine Burgundy originate on a gentle, east/southeast facing slope. 50% of the grapes are de-stemmed; cold maceration follows for a week, then natural fermentation on ambient yeasts.  The wine spends 15 months on fine lees in young oak barrels and delivers a rich, fleshy palate with cherry, raspberry and a touch of underbrush.

Domaine Manuel Olivier
Burgundy

Despite a childhood spent among the vines, Manuel Olivier did not follow in the family footsteps directly out of the gate. First, he traveled to Switzerland to pursue his passion for skiing, and along the way, decided that he was equally passionate about wine. He entered the field (literally) with a few acres of vines in 1990, which has grown to nearly 30 in Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. Using wild yeast, his goal is to produce approachable, subtle wines where the fruit expressed delicacy. He says, “This can only be obtained by an obsessive attention to detail; handpicking, low temperature maceration and use of natural yeast. I destem half of my harvest and take a minimum of seven days low-temperature maceration prior to fermentation.”

With Dessert

On Thanksgiving, there are those who consider dessert an entirely separate meal, generally offered after a breather and, in the case of football fans, a nail-biter game. Hedonism is a given, and a sugar blast from confections is as easy as pie or as complex and elaborate as your inner pastry chef can concoct. Whether it’s an introduction or renewed acquaintance with an old friend, Banyuls, the produce of sea, mountain, sun and wind, are wines created for pleasure.

Red Dessert Wine

 10  Coume del Mas ‘Galateo’, 2017 Banyuls ($30) 500 ml 16% abv
100% old vine Grenache Noir from a plot near the sea. The grapes fortified on their skins—a process that helps extract color, tannin and prevents oxidation, then aged in 225-liter oak casks for a minimum of six months before bottling. The wine is packed with smoky dark fruit and shows great acidity to balance 90 gram/liter residual sugar.

Coume del Mas
Roussillon

Created in 2001 by Roussillon pioneers Philippe and Nathalie Gard, Coume del Mas spreads across 40 acres of difficult terrain, principally on the steep schist slopes around Banyuls-sur-Mer; Andy Cook handles the winemaking. Viticulture in this extreme environment is almost entirely done by hand, and the wines reflect the through dry wines of elegant concentration while the dessert wines display both oxidative and modern ‘rimage’ style requiring an oxygen-free environment of stainless steel. Says Philippe: “Our Banyuls are produced from intense, extremely ripe Grenache Noir grapes that are fortified at around 8% with neutral grape spirit. Akin to Port in some respects, these wines are lower in alcohol and much ‘finer’, fresher and balanced—they are true Mediterranean treasures.”

RECENT ARRIVAL

Traversing Burgundy in Six Wines
with Manuel Olivier
($459)

Karen MacNeil, author of ‘The Wine Bible,’ states, “The pleasure of Pinot Noir is the surprising way the wine pulls you into it and reveals numerous facets of flavor. And precisely because a good Pinot is so complex, it also has an incredible range when it comes to pairing with food. That is why it’s perfect for Thanksgiving when everything from cranberries to squash to roast turkey are all on the same plate.”

Manuel Olivier

Manuel Olivier understands these principles intimately, and his range of red Burgundies navigates multiple appellations explores the nuanced terroirs of each.  He manages forty vineyard acres across the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune.

As a side note, since 2019 Olivier has been actively involved in the renaissance of the Dijon vineyards and the development of a new Bourgogne Dijon AOP.

Regional Burgundy

So specific are the cru vineyards of Burgundy that régionale vineyards may exist in the literal shadow of more renowned domains, occasionally separated by hundreds, or even as little as dozens of feet. Régionale wines tend to be culled from vineyards located along the foot of more prestigious wine-growing slopes on limestone soil mixed with some clays and marls, where the earth is stony and quick-draining.

Unlike Bordeaux, where classifications are based on individual châteaux (capable of buying other vineyards and expanding), Burgundian label classifications are more geographically focused. A single vineyard, therefore, may have multiple owners, each with a small piece of the action.

The ‘Bourgogne’ label first appeared in 1937, and in 2017, a further classification permitted wines from vineyards located within the Côte d’Or to be labeled as ‘Bourgogne Côte d’Or’; it’s a great tool for a consumer looking to explore the wide diversity of vineyard among the Hills of Gold while maintaining a terroir-focused, climat approach to Burgundy.

 1  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2020 Bourgogne ‘Pinot Noir’ ($27)
A lightly smoky and refreshingly bright wine; not overly ambitious, but developing nicely and probably ready to consume.

*click photo for more info
 

 2  Domaine Manuel Olivier ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits ($49)
Pinot Noir from 30-year-old vineyards, aged 18 months in oak barrels. It shows silken notes of ripe raspberry and spice with with earthy, black tea tannins.

*click photo for more info

Pommard (Côte-de-Beaune)

If Burgundy is a volume of poetry, Pommard might be thought of as its Alfred, Lord Tennyson, offering power and rich structure, a charge of the Light Brigade, only with a substantially safer outcome. Pommard is the beginning of serious Pinot Noir in Burgundy; nothing else is grown and nothing else allowed besides (perhaps inexplicably) a few vineyards of the Lemberger/ Sankt-Laurent cross ‘André.’ Aptly named for Pomona, the Roman god of fruit trees, Pommard’s most muscular wines hail from its mid-slope Premier Cru vineyards which run in a nearly uninterrupted from the commune boundaries of Beaune in the north to Volnay in the south. Even that may belie the quality of these wines; most experts believe that the Les Épenotes and Les Rugiens Premier Crus should be promoted to join Corton in its Grand Cru status. Once in line for this prestigious upgrade, the vignerons of the time were wary of the restrictive Grand Cru production laws and declined the offer.

 3  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Pommard ($76)
From 30-year-old vines grown in chalk/clay soil at the top of the hill; it spends 18 months in contact with fine lees in 30% new barrels, 30% 1-year-old and 30% over-3-year barrels to show macerated black cherry and earth notes with fine-grained tannins.

*click photo for more info

Nuits-Saint-Georges (Côte-de-Nuits)

With the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges itself as the fulcrum, the robust appellation extends to the north as far as the border of Vosne-Romanée, while the southern section lies partly in Nuits-Saint-Georges and partly in Prémeaux. The wines from each section are unique in style and according to experts, with differences defined (in the main) by the lay of the land. The soils in the northern sector are built around the pebbly alluvium that washes down from up-slope, and in the low-lying parts, around silty deposits from the river Meuzin. In the southern sector the alluvia at the base of the slopes originate in the combe of Vallerots where there are deep marly-limestone soils, while at the top of the slope, the soil has nearly all eroded away and the rock is near the surface. In both regions, favored exposures are mostly to the east or southeast.

Producing predominantly red wine, Nuits-Saint-Georges bottles display the muscularity and breeding most sought after in Burgundy—the ability to improve with bottle age. When young, the wine display aromas of cherry, strawberry and blackcurrant, and when matured, leather, truffle, fur and game.

 4  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Nuits-Saint-Georges ($81)
From an east-facing lieu-dit known as Aux Allots where the vines are 40 years old and grow in clay/limestone. The grapes are partially destemmed and fermented on ambient yeast, then aged 18 months on fine lees. The wine shows floral intensity and dense, yet delicate layers of blackberry, currant and dark cherry.

*click photo for more info

Gevrey-Chambertin (Côte-de-Nuits) 

“The Emperor would drink only Chambertin.” – Louis Constant Wairy, Napoleon’s valet.

As those schooled in Burgundian lore know, during the nineteenth century it became fashionable for villages in the Côte d’Or to adopt double-barreled names, adding a hyphen followed by the name of their most famous vineyard: Thus Chambolle added Musigny and Gevrey added Chambertin.

In minimalism, less may be more, and in wine—especially those with a hyphenated name—more may be less; a village-level Gevrey-Chambertin, for example, does not seek to compete with the quality of ‘Le Chambertin’ itself. But if nothing else, its name reminds you that it comes from a rarefied zip code. And to be sure, the region is hallowed grapeland, graced with the Holy Trinity of terroir—elevation, climate and soil structure. Contained within the appellation are nine Grand Crus and 26 Premier Crus (whose name on the label may be followed by the name of the climat of origin) as well as well as nearly a thousand acres of Villages wine.

Gevrey-Chambertin wines are full-bodied, rich, and meaty in their youth and mature to feature notes of leather, game and underbrush.

 5  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin ($87)
From the lieu-dit La Brunelle, located in the heart of the village, where 40-year-old vines thrive on deep, iron-rich soils. The wine is aged for 18 months on fine lees and shows cherries and cassis alongside Gevrey’s typical profile of smoked meats, sweet soil and orange rind.

*click photo for more info
 

Vosne-Romanée (Côte-de-Nuits)

Originally named just Vosne, the village took the suffix Romanée in 1866 in honor of its most prized vineyard, La Romanée—a habit of many Burgundy communes of the era. From the perspective of a wine lover, it may be grouped together with neighboring Flagey-Echézeaux; while the villages are entirely separate, their finest vineyards are clustered together immediately north of Vosne-Romanée and take that latter title.

The entire surface area of Vosne-Romanée Grand Crus vineyards (excluding Flagey-Echézeaux) is 67 acres, about half the size of the single Clos de Vougeot climat just across the commune boundary. Even so, the commune of Flagey-Echézeaux with the Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux sites included, has more Grand Cru surface area than the Premier Crus and Villages combined. Vosne-Romanée is divided between six individual climats—La Grande Rue, La Tâche, Richebourg, La Romanée, Romanée-Saint-Vivant and the most famous, Romanée-Conti. The best vineyards lie on the mid-slope of the Côte d’Or escarpment. Around these prestigious sites are dotted the Premier Cru vineyards and some entirely unclassified land—the difference between a Grand Cru vine and one deemed worthy only of the regional Bourgogne appellation is sometimes a matter of a few feet.

6  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Damaudes ($144)
Les Damaudes is a steep, landlocked Premier Cru found between La Grande Rue, La Tâche and La Romanée Conti where the airy clay-limestone soil contains 50% disintegrated lava. The wine boasts an elegant, refined nose of blackberry jelly, roasting coffee bean with a hint of chocolate and a long spicy finish with notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and wood smoke.

*click photo for more info

Notebook …

Solar Vintages Roll: 2018, 2019 And 2020

On average, Burgundy sees 1900 hours of sunshine per year; glance at a diagram and you’ll see a neat curve that peaks in July with around 258 sunlit hours and then drops off precipitously for the rest of the year. Vintages that bring considerably more sun hours are referred to as ‘solar’ vintages. 2018, 2019 and 2020 go down as a triumvirate of such vintages.

Even before en primeur orders were placed, 2018 was being hailed as a vintage that resembled the ideal conditions of 1947. Hopes ran high that the atypical ripeness and plushness of the wines might represent a ‘new normal’ in Burgundy. Part of the success of the vintage, in particular for the whites (which show gobs of energetic freshness and alluring fruit) was a particularly wet preceding winter that raised water tables high enough that the ensuing drought was handled easily, especially by more mature vines. The factor most crucial to success was determining harvest dates—pick too soon, and the fruit will not be phenologically ripe; too late, the grapes will flab out and lose acidity.

2019 followed with another bullseye. Dimitri Bazas, director of Maison Champy in Beaune, said, “If you offer me a contract for 30 years and it promises me that every year will be like 2019, then I would say, where do I sign?” The ideal ripeness and special personality of the vintage lies in a growing season that was the third-warmest year of the last century. Two short blasts of extreme heat at the end of June and the end of July were offset by enough rain to prevent serious drought stress to the vines.

2020 cranked up the above conditions another notch; it became a vintage in which one said ‘despite’ rather than ‘because of.’ Even the most experienced taster doubted that the heat and dryness, forcing harvest in August, could possibly produce such a fresh and joyous style. This was a vintage that tested Burgundian vignerons to the max; adaptability and careful attention to the vagaries of nature was key. In 2019, wine from high on the slopes of the Côte d’Or showed the highest levels of dry extract and salty minerality, providing balance for the ripe fruit, while in 2020, the extract combined with fresh acidity to make the wine truly electric.

- - -
Posted on 2024.11.21 in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Gevrey-Chambertin, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Cidre, Fleurie, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Cava