Offer choice of white and red to accompany feast

Here is a list to help you shop for Thanksgiving wines.

This year I plan to offer a red and a white wine at my Thanksgiving family meals and the choices are clear.

I want a wine that will please the regular wine drinkers in my family but will also not be too much for my relatives who only taste wine a few times a year.

Mostly, I want a wine I can serve before the meal and then with the bountiful flavors of a traditional dinner.

Gewurztraminer has long been a favorite white wine with turkey, and Fetzer had won most of our tasting competitions in the past. We didn't include Fetzer this year so we could broaden our reach.

We served the wine-tasting group a meal of turkey, dressing, yams and cranberry sauce and asked the group to pick their favorite whites and reds, both as a before dinner drink and as a companion with the food.

First, our rankings of the whites:

- 2002 Alexander Valley Vineyards New Gewurz at $9.99. This was a light, simple, clean wine with an aroma of sweet apricots. Although it was a Gewurztraminer, it tasted like a Riesling in the mouth. The food, however, overwhelmed the taste of the wine.

- 2002 Montinore Estate Semi-Dry Riesling at $12.99. This Riesling was not as aromatic as the Alexander Valley, but it had pretty apple and melon smells. It was fruity in the mouth and slightly spicy. With the food, it was a good match, with the wine tasting dryer and better than by itself. Tasters preferred this white with the meal.

- 2002 Sutter Home Moscato at $5.99. This nose offered lavender and flowers. In the mouth, it was sweet with oranges -- too sweet for the food.

- 2001 Vinum Cellars CNW Cuvee at $11.99. This wine was our favorite white without the food. This wine, named "CNW," which apparently stands for "Chardonnay No Way," was composed instead of chenin blanc grapes. It was lean, with green apples and plenty of acids. It was very tart on the finish. It complemented the food in a mild standoff of flavors.

- 2001 Pietra Santa Pinot Grigio at $12.99. Pinot grigios are known for being delicate, but this wine was bolder than many. It had an Old World smell of minerals, and there were many layers of flavors in a surprising complexity for this price. The food, though, made it taste peppery.

Now for the red wines:

- 2001 Hop Kiln Marty Griffin's Big Red at $10.99. This wine, a blend mostly from zinfandel grapes, had a heavy, full, alcohol-filled nose, with aromas of charred wood and spice. The spice continued into the mouth. With the meal, neither the wine nor the food improved.

- 2002 Sebastiani Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir at $14.99. This wine had a cotton-candy aroma, with suggestions of candied fruit. A simply structured wine, it still had a lot going on with fresh fruit tastes of cherries and raspberries. With the food, the wine dominated.

- 2002 Milton Park Shiraz at $9.99. This wine offered black fruit and mint on the nose. The fruit seemed to taste more ripe and sweet in the mouth. It was tasty, but a little short on acids. It was a good match with the food, ranking second among the reds.

- 2001 Jewel Collection Pinot Noir at $9.99. This was our favorite red without the food, a nice value at this price. It had strawberries in the aroma with hints of apple cider and lemon rinds. It tasted warm from the alcohol, and in the mouth, one taster called the fruit "sexy," meaning soft and attractive. With the food, the wine dried out the mouth, making it easy to cleanse the palate for the next bite.

- NV Gundlach Bundschu Bearitage at $12.99. This was our favorite with the meal. It was a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel. The aroma was dusty, chalky, with suggestions of mint. In the mouth, the wine's impression was multilayered with good structure and balance. The food greatly improved the wine, bringing out the fruit.

Questions can be sent to Frank Sutherland, editor, The Tennessean, 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 or e-mailed to editor