Cheers, y’all! We are almost to the big day. As your food is chilling or cooking, or maybe being delivered to your house, there’s one thing that will always be there for you. The wine. Now I’m not great at pairing wines with food, how this note compliments your food, or even having the best glasses to drink them out of so I recruited a friend to help me.
Grant Richardson and I have been friends for several years now and recently he decided to branch out and become a wine importer and bringing unusual and natural wine to Austin. A few years ago at his house, he threw out the idea of becoming a wine importer for natural wines for unrepresented areas and it’s been so inspiring to see it go from a privately shared idea to a full-fledged operation. Some of his wines are available to purchase at Central Market (where you can also get his husband’s CrispFarms Microgreens!) and Sunshine Mini Mart, as well as some of Austin’s top restaurants. You can follow him on Instagram at PangeaSelections! He is my go-to wine resource and since I’ve got access to one of the best wine minds in Austin, I wanted to bring him in to help us all get through Thanksgiving. TLDR; Wine is meant to be fun!
If you care to read it, our interview is below and you can watch the video I made (first one ever!!) on my YouTube channel.
How are you celebrating Thanksgiving this year?
Celebrating with my husband and his family at their ranch outside of Austin!
Are there any wine trends that you’re excited about this holiday season?
I have been excited to see more light-bodied reds come into style. I think they make a whole lot of sense with our climate here in Texas especially when served with a slight chill. They often times are a bit higher in acid too which I think really complements food well. Beaujolais, Valpolicella, and Cinsault are wines to keep your eyes out for in this category.
What tips do you have for people when they are looking for a wine to pair with Thanksgiving or any dinner? For people (like me) who don’t really know what they’re doing in the wine aisle, do you have any quick picks for pairings? (ie Poultry and Pinot Noir, Pecan Pie and Cab, Appetizers and a dry sparkling)
Pinot Noir is a classic, and bubbles are always good for holidays. If its something you enjoy, then I think it’s a great pairing don’t get hung up on too many rules. Wine should be fun.
Is there a wrong choice for wine pairing?
No! Live your best wine life. Technically there are two schools of pairing: complementary and contrasting. Complimentary pairings bring out the best qualities of each other: like a peppery and gamey Syrah with a ribeye. Contrasting pairings balance each other out like how the high acid content of Champagne cuts straight through something fatty like foie gras.
How important is it to have proper wine glasses for each wine? You know I love my wine straw but how much does glass shape matter?
The shape of a wine glass does help the aroma of the wine present itself in the best way possible. However, we are talking about nuances here. Use what you have at home and don’t stress out about it. No need to go buy new glasses. Also please get rid of your wine straw.
How important are wine accessories like wine pearls, decanters, or an aerator?
They’re a fun gift and a nice decanter makes for a beautiful addition to your table, but unless you’ve got a really really nice bottle of wine, the tools are unnecessary in my opinion. If you want the wine to open up, just cork it 20 or so minutes before serving.
Ice in wine, yes or no?
It has a time and a place! On a hot summer day with $15 rosé by the pool, sure go for it! At a dinner party with Grand Cru Burgundy, I would advise you to reconsider!
What are your top three wine picks right now?
Pet-nats (petillant-natural the OG way to make sparkling wine), those fun little sparkling when under the crown caps! They bottle the wine before it finishes fermenting so that yeast continues to eat the sugar in the bottle and burp out alcohol and CO2, but that CO2 is now trapped in the wine causing it to carbonate. This is a cheaper way to make sparkling wine so you can get a really great bottle for $25 and a lot of producers make really creative and exciting pet-nats.
Orange wine: When you make a white wine like red wine! Take white grapes, crush ’em, let the juice hang out with the skins for a while and it turns all beautiful shades of orange while picking up some tannin in the process. You may also see them called skin-contact whites or amber wines. Whatever you call them, they are delicious and you will be seeing more in years to come!
Anything I don’t know much about: I enjoy furthering my education by picking up a bottle/style/region/producer that’s new to me. Get a trusted wine retailer to help you out here. Or when you drink a bottle you love, turn it around and see who the importer is and look for more of their wine. Importers tend to have a bit of a style, so if you find one you like it’s great to explore their portfolio.
What do you think would make a good host gift?
Always bubbles. I like Crémants and Cavas because of their great value. Basically, wines that are made outside of the Champagne region but in the Champagne style (Crémants throughout France and Cava in Cataluyna Spain).
For cooking with wine, if I’m cooking with white wine, should I pair the dish with white wine (or red wine/red wine)?
Again, I say no rules here! I would imagine if you’re cooking with white wine you’re going to have some leftover and you should definitely not let that go to waste. Like Julia Childs said “I love cooking with wine! Sometimes I even put it in the food!” But in all seriousness, the quality of the wine you cook with will come through in the quality of your dish. So unless you want a Sutter Home quality cream sauce, I wouldn’t use it to cook with. I’m not saying you need $20 cooking wine, just find a value wine you enjoy and think tastes good and work with that!
I don’t have a ton of money to spend but want to bring a bottle of quality wine to Thanksgiving. Any suggestions on what to look for?
Sure, Beaujolais is a classic Thanksgiving wine and not too pricey. A fun alternative that is in season right now is Beaujolais Nouveau. This is the first wine released of the 2020 vintage and is a celebration of the harvest. It is always released in the US on the 3rd Thursday of November and you can get a great bottle for $20-25 dollars. It’s super light and fruity so it can bring to life some of the Thanksgiving dishes that can get a bit heavy.
Happy Thanksgiving Drinking!
Kelly & Grant
