There are no shortage of wine recommendations out there for what to serve with your Thanksgiving feast. Rather than sharing a lengthy list (I stick by my list from last year), I thought I’d share what I’m serving (or bringing to friends, as is our tradition) this year.

Sparkling & Rosé

This is a great way to start the Thanksgiving festivities. My choice in both categories is my favorite Sonoma winery discovered last December, VJB Vineyards & Cellars. Both wines just arrived in their new tasting room when I visited again last month.

  • Sparkling: The new VJB Prosecco is produced in the Valdobbiadene district near Veneto, Italy and is imported directly. It’s a dry, light-bodied, sparkling wine with a refreshing aroma of apples, citrus and flowers and well-balanced acidity ($28).
  • Rosé: VJB Le Due Rosé, 2011 Tempranillo Rosé is full of strawberry and watermelon with nice spice and tannin. Not your typical Rosé, it’s perfect with Thanksgiving ($24).

White

Depending on your mood and preference, you can go with white wines…

Red

Depending on your mood and preference, you can go with red wines…

  • Beaujolais Village: Unlike Beaujolais Nouveau, this Louis Jadot 2011 has been aged. While still 100% Gamay grape variety, it has more structure with notes of dark red fruit and spice. And it’s a great value ($10).
  • Pinot Noir: This is my special wine for Thanksgiving this year, picked up in Oregon this summer, Pfeiffer Winery 2007 Pinot Noir Blue Dot Reserve. Pinot Noir is a perfect red for Thanksgiving, especially one that has aged perfectly. Pfeiffer’s 2007 is also called the Presidential Pinot as it was chosen to be served at Blair House as part of Obama’s 2009 pre-Inauguration festivities.

For more recommendations, here are resources I use…

Happy Thanksgiving!