Managing
Food, Wine and Family on Turkey Day
Cooking.
Wine. Brothers-in-Law. The three words that
spark the most fear in the hearts of dinner
hosts on the fourth Thursday in November.
I come to you today to solve two of your
three problems. (You’re on your own
with that cantankerous brother-in-law.)
As
with any stressful situation, the best advice
is: Don’t Panic. I’m not saying
you have to be the Chesley “Sully”
Sullenberger of Thanksgiving Day gatherings,
but the enemy…I mean your guests can
sense your fear. And if you are a stress
ball, the next thing you know, your brother-in-law
is rummaging through your drawers for a
carving knife and a cork screw…always
a dangerous combination.
Actually,
wine is your friend on those occasions when
the extended family has your address as
their MapQuest destination, says Giovannella
Stianti Mascheroni, proprietor of Castello
di Volpaia winery in Tuscany. “Give
everyone a glass of wine when they come
in the door. The atmosphere will start loosening
up. I usually serve Champagne.”
Mascheroni,
who runs the winery with her husband, Carlo,
also operates a cooking school in the 11th
century building that houses their operation.
She was in Atlanta recently to give a class
on Italian cooking and wine at the Salud
Cooking School in the John’s Creek
Whole Foods Market. While Thanksgiving is
not a stressful holiday in Italy (mostly
because they don’t celebrate it),
Mascheroni is no stranger to holiday meals
for dozens of relations.
As
for the wine selections for such meals,
philosophers and hosts have long pondered
just what is the perfect wine for Thanksgiving—a
dinner typically featuring turkey, sausage
and cornbread stuffing, cranberry something
or another, sweet potatoes and creamed spinach.
This question is now moot because wine selection
regulators have loosened rules on Thanksgiving
wines. You are now free serve more than
one wine at this meal.
Progressive
Italian wine authorities are way ahead of
us. “I would never have one single
wine for such a meal,” Mascheroni
said. She usually picks a wine that is as
robust as the most intense part of the meal,
such as her Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva,
and another wine that is light as the most
delicate dish, such as her winery’s
newest white wine, a 2008 vermentino. This
typically covers enough bases.
Not
to be outdone, Carolyn Wente, president
of Wente Vineyards in Livermore, Calif.,
sees no reason why hosts should not put
three wines on the Thanksgiving table. “I
suggest a dry, medium-bodied white wine
(chardonnay or sauvignon blanc); a dry,
red wine of medium body also (merlot or
pinot noir) and always a slightly fruity,
white wine in the 1.5 to 2 percent residual
sugar range, such as a riesling or gewürztraminer.
Serve these three different wines and they
will work for everyone’s palate.”
Both
women are the hinge that holds large family
dinners together (Wente usually has 30 friends
and family for Thanksgiving, Mascheroni
has as many for Christmas dinners) and they
agree that failure looms for those who do
not prepare in advance.
“My
advice for the angst that surrounds this
holiday is to be a good planner,”
said Wente, who has published several cookbooks.
“I am by nature a list-maker and need
to be in order to accomplish my day job
along with entertaining family or business
clients when not at work. So, I think through
the week prior to Thanksgiving and all of
the things that need to get done from shopping,
to table setting, to making sure all the
glassware is spotless, to getting out the
plates, serving dishes and utensils that
will be needed to serve dinner.” The
Wentes usually serves a relaxed, buffet-style
meal to keep things friendly and lower stress
levels.
It’s
unlikely the Wentes or the Mascheronis would
ever run out of wine for big family events,
so unless you own a winery, get to your
wine store NOW! In the two or three days
leading up to Thanksgiving, pandemonium
is the rule for most wine shops. Tortured
and tired retail associates will also have
little time to ferret out wines to fit your
culinary and budgetary needs.
Wente
thinks in terms of weeks, but Mascheroni
believes preparation may need to start a
bit earlier for rookie Thanksgiving hosts.
“If you go to prepare such a meal
at the last moment and you have no experience,
it will be a disaster,” said Mascheroni.
“You have to try to cook something
simple every day before you try to cook
everything in one day.”
And
in case you think that cooking and wine
pairing was part of her upbringing, she
will tell you that her mother was “not
much of a cook.” She took her own
advice and prepared simple dishes every
day for years. She looked at similar recipes;
kept what worked for her and tossed out
what didn’t. She did the same with
wine. She tried a lot of wines—not
just Italian wines—to figure out what
goes with what.
“I’m
not one of those who say Italian [wines]
are the best,” said Mascheroni, who
is partial to Burgundian wines, especially
the reds from the Côte de Nuit. “Everywhere
in the world you can find great wines.”
She warns that expensive wines are not guaranteed
to be good just because they cost a lot.
Mascheroni admitted that Italians may drink
a lot of wine, but most of her countrymen
do not know too much about it.
“People
who never had wines growing up, they are
more knowledgeable about wines,” she
said referring to most American households.
“[Americans] become interested in
wine and ask questions and are curious about
a lot of different wines. They try a lot
of different wines. This makes picking wines
a lot easier”
I
explained to Mascheroini that readers will
likely be seeing these words in the dwindling
days before Thanksgiving and might not have
the time to cram years of food and wine
experiences into a week. “Don’t
panic,” she laughed. “Cook simple
things, things you know. Avoid recipes that
have lots of ingredients or many steps.”
She also suggested not serving too many
dishes.
And
for the wines? Naturally, she recommends
Volpaia wines, but more generally, like
Wente, she says don’t wait for the
last minute to make your purchases. Pointing
to the vast selection of wines available
at Whole Foods, she doesn’t feel that
anyone in American, even a picky brother-in-law,
can say there is a shortage of selections
for Thanksgiving.
As
a full-fledged brother-in-law, let me just
ask a quick question about difficult (and
perhaps misunderstood) brothers-in-law during
this time of family, friends and fraternity:
are we not all our brother-in-law’s
keeper?
The Family Wente raises a toast and not
fists during holiday get togethers in no
small part because of Carolyn’s super
heroic planning skills. That’s her
on the far right.
2006
Wente Vineyards, Reliz Creek, Pinot Noir,
Arroyo Seco, Calif.
• $22
•
Two Thumbs Way Up
• Bright aromas of red cherries, cranberries
and violets. Tart but not acidic, it has
flavors of raspberry, cola, a touch of anise
and lingering notes of nutmeg and cinnamon.
It practically begs for a roasted turkey
leg.
2006
Volpaia Chianti Classico, Italy
•
$24
• Two Thumbs Way Up
• Smoldering aromas of dry cherry
with notes of leather and dry earth. Easy-going
flavors of black cherry, raspberry, dry
herbs with hints of black pepper, it is
quite gulpable and food friendly, especially
with mushroom and/or risotto dishes.
2008
Wente Vineyards, Riverbank, Riesling, Arroyo
Seco, Calif.
• $13
• Two Thumbs Way Up
• Aromas of fresh peach, apricot,
flowers and lemon zest. It has zippy acidity
with flavors of mango, preserved lemon,
bosc pear and pineapple. It finishes with
a spiced pecan quality and should pair well
with light fish dishes or cream-style veggies.
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