Let's assume that the food on your table constitutes a family tradition. Traditions are sacred. There's no way you can replace Aunt Carmel's horseradish cranberry sauce or ditch the garlic, bacon and green pea mashed potatoes.
There are two tactics that make any sense when all the food is shouting at you. One is to choose wines that have a pretty loud voice of their own. The other is to forget about wine and serve some delicious ales whose inherent hoppy bitterness establishes a whole different line of taste in the meal.
Here's a shopping list to take with you. Be extravagant. You know how everyone enjoys leftovers.
Evolution #9 ($12). This strange, nonvintage white should fit right in at an American Thanksgiving. It's a blend of white grapes, low in alcohol at 11 percent and loaded with tropical fruit flavors. It has a little sweetness of its own (in winebabble, we call lightly sweet wines "off dry"). If your dinner has more than one course that's sweetened, this should be a good choice.
Torbreck Woodcutters Reserve '99 ($16). This red Australian wine is a blend of Mourvedre and Grenache grapes. In spite of this lusty background, the wine is light and seductive. The dominant flavor is cherry-like fruit and there's just enough tannic snap. Best of all is the long, marvelous lightly spicy finish. If your dinner is lightly seasoned, this is perfection.
M. Chapoutier's Croze-Hermitage '97 ($12). This is in the same spirit as the Torbreck and more widely available. A lightly floral and fruit bouquet gives way to a curious fruit flavor that begs you to come back and decode it. It's the right red for turkey.
Trimbach Gewurztraminer '98 ($15). this could be the perfect Thanksgiving wine. "Gewurz" means "spicy" in German and this beautiful little white from the Alsace in France has just enough smoky, clove-like spice to earn the name. The fruit tastes are lush, make-you-think-of-summer types: peaches and apricots. But it's not overdone, just emphatic. Some folks like this wine with the spicings of Thai food, and if your dinner is highly seasoned, try this Gewurztraminer (ghe-vurz-TRA-mehnur).
And if the patriotic nature of the holiday overwhelms you, you'll have to have some Zinfandel, the big, eccentric, only-in America wine. Unfortunately, the '98s aren't so great and I haven't found a bargain yet. But if your store still has the '97s, there are some great ones under $20: St. Francis, Franus, Fife, Ravenswood Amador County, Lolonis, Cline Ancient Vines and Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvee. There's also the yummy Old Vines Red from Marietta.
