Best wines for Thanksgiving

17 MINUTE READ • Thu, Oct 02, 25

Thanksgiving – hearty seasonal food, and a whole lot of pressure: especially when you factor in the question of wine matching. But with a few simple tips and tricks, a daunting task can turn into a pleasurable one. Below, we share our words of advice on how to choose the best wines for a Thanksgiving feast. 

When it comes to Thanksgiving, abundance and generosity are the order of the day. You’ll want delicious, versatile wines that will delight guests right across the spectrum of relatives – from the self-proclaimed connoisseurs to the unrepentant plonk-lovers. 

Importantly, you’ll also want wines that taste delicious alongside the classic Thanksgiving flavors. From stuffing and sweet potatoes to pumpkin pie, we share a few tips on how to choose the best wines for each course. (Winner winner, turkey dinner.)

Turkey

The star of any Thanksgiving feast is, of course, the turkey. With its mild flavor and low fat content, you’ll want a wine to match its weight – nothing too bold or tannic. A full-bodied white wine – perhaps an oaked Chardonnay or a ripe Pinot Gris – would work very well. Equally you could go for a medium-bodied red wine, such as a fruity Californian Zinfandel, a New Zealand Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais Cru.

A centerpiece dish calls for a centerpiece wine. It’s worth thinking about magnums and large-format bottles here. Guests love a bit of drama. What’s more, if you opt for a more mature expression, it will have been ageing more slowly than its regular-sized counterparts, resulting in a more layered and complex wine. 

Stuffing

Thanksgiving dressing is a combination of many things: cubed bread – either toasted, or a little stale – sliced vegetables like onion and celery, butter, dried herbs, and broth, all baked together until crisp. Variations might have dried cranberries, apples or sausage meat.

With so many flavours going on, you’ll want a wine that can complement as many of them as possible. A Pinot Noir would be a great option – ideally one from Oregon or New Zealand , where the fruit is bolder than its Burgundian counterparts. This vibrancy will match any fruit in the dish, while keeping enough acidity to cut through the stodgier bread and broth elements. If you’re opting for a white wine, a Côtes du Rhône Blanc would do the trick – the earthier, sage and thyme flavours will strike a pleasant chord with the herbal elements of the dressing.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a stalwart of the Thanksgiving table. Perhaps one of the best-known (and more controversial) versions of it is the sweet potato casserole, a baked mash, mixed with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and often topped with marshmallows or pecans.

The key flavor here is sweetness – and lots of it. So, any wine that stands a chance of holding its own needs to have a fair whack of fruitiness, body and complexity to it. An off-dry Riesling would work, as would a Gewürztraminer – the spicy, warming flavours of ginger, clove and nutmeg in the latter combine beautifully with earthy sweet potato.

Green bean casserole

The original recipe was devised by an employee of Campbell’s soup, and was a combination of the company’s cream of mushroom soup, green beans, milk and soy sauce, topped with fried onions and baked.

It’s savory, rich and high in umami flavours – so it needs a high-acid yet weighty wine to balance it out well. This is where Riesling can really shine. Opt for a full-bodied bottle where citrus flavours dominate – you’re going to want a wine that feels like it cuts through the creamy sauce, refreshing your palate and keeping you invigorated.

Pumpkin and pecan pies

Nothing says Thanksgiving more than a pie. Pumpkin is by the far the best-known iteration – but for those not a fan of its earthier flavours, pecan pies offer an alternative.

There are a few different ways you can approach dessert. Most people like a sweet wine with puddings: the nutty, complex flavours of a Tawny Port would combine wonderfully with pecans or anything featuring butterscotch.