What We Had For Thanksgiving

As you may have guessed we had a lot of wine on Thanksgiving. We usually like to drink something we know will be good but that we hadn't tried yet. Three wines in particular fit that bill this year.

In the afternoon Kyle shucked some oysters which we ate both raw and roasted. We paired them with a wine many say is the best with oysters, a Vin Jaune. Vin Jaune, or "yellow wine", is somewhat similar to sherry but much harder to come by. We drank the Rolet 1998 Vin Jaune shown in the picture. Click here for a fuller description of this unusual but delicious wine.

For our first course Rebecca made an oyster stew (we had a lot of oysters) which we paired with the Gatinois Champagne, a fantastic wine made by one of Champagne's small growers. In fact, Gatinois sells their grapes to Bollinger who use it to make their high end cuvee. What they don't sell they make into this wine which is a fraction of the price of the Bollinger. I love pairing Champagne with food on special occasions. Champagne is great for toasts and parties and such but pairing it with oyster stew will change your view of this wine.

Finally with Turkey we had a new wine from one of our favorite producers, Thierry Puzelat, known for his natural winemaking meaning he uses wild yeast and doesn't put additives in his wines, sometimes not even sulfites. This year we had the Le Rouge Est Mis, a Pinot Meunier. Pinot Meunier is related to Pinot Noir and is most often used in Champagne. In fact if you've had a rose Champagne (from Champagne, not just any sparkling wine) then it was probably Pinot Meunier. It was even better than we anticipated, with bright fruit flavors that didn't overwhelm the food and the earthy and tea-like flavors that seem to be a signature of Puzelat's wines. It is worth every penny of its $33.99 price tag - I've had Burgundies that cost twice as much that weren't as good. Plus the label has a gangster on it which is cool.

The Rolet is only at Plank road now but will be available at William Street starting next week. The other two wines are available at both stores but in very limited quantities in case you want any of these for Christmas or New Years.