Thanksgiving with the girls: wines made by women

Thanksgiving, my favorite tradition

Before I get to the Thanksgiving wine pairing, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

I remember sitting around the kitchen table at home one day, I was probbaly around 14 years old, and my father came in the door, dropped a turkey on the table and said: “We’re going to have Thanksgiving.”

And years later, when I moved back home after living in the US, I decided that I would host my own Thanksgiving every year. I’m coming up on my 8th Thanksgiving, and every year it’s been a different collection of people. This year, it’s Thanksgiving with the girls.

So this year, every wine on my table is made by a woman. Barolo was a man’s world for a very long time, and these are some of the women who changed that.

Why Thanksgiving wine pairing is tricky

A Thanksgiving plate is a lot of flavors at once. Tart cranberry sauce. Sage and thyme in the stuffing. Rich gravy. Turkey that’s lean in the breast and juicy in the leg. One wine has to get along with all of it. That’s why a Thanksgiving wine pairing

So skip the heavyweights. Big tannins and high alcohol tend to fight the sweet and tart sides and make lean turkey taste dry. Look for three things instead:

• Acidity, to cut through gravy and butter and match the cranberries
• Bright fruit, to stand up to the sweet sides
• Soft to medium tannins, so the turkey stays juicy in the mouth

That’s a pretty good description of Piemonte’s everyday reds. Barbera, Dolcetto and Langhe Nebbiolo were made to drink with food, at a long table, with family. Chiara Boschis put it simply when we talked about her Barbera: “it’s really a perfect wine for food.”

Wines made by women for the Thanksgiving table

Every bottle below is made by a woman, and you can get all of them at Vinmonopolet.

Barbera: the one that goes with everything

In the late 80s, a group of young winemakers in Barolo started cutting yields, cleaning up their cellars and making single-vineyard wines. They became known as the “Barolo Boys”. Chiara Boschis was the only woman among them, the “Barolo girl”.

When Chiara talks about Barbera, she calls it a bridge between the fresh, fruity Dolcetto and the serious Nebbiolo. Barbera has very high acidity and not much tannin, and that acidity “degreases your mouth”. In Piemonte she pours it with fritto misto, salumi and bollito. Rich food, in other words. Sounds a lot like Thanksgiving to me.

Her Barbera Superiore spends a year in old barrels, never new oak, because she wants the fruit to lead. I tasted the 2024 with her on 19 October. It needs a little time in the glass, then out come spice notes and red fruit, with good acidity and great balance.

Pour it with: the whole plate, and especially the gravy.

Buy: E. Pira di Chiara Boschis Barbera d’Alba Superiore 2024, kr 445,00 → Add to cellar

Langhe Nebbiolo: for the stuffing

Nebbiolo is the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco. A Langhe Nebbiolo is its younger, more relaxed sibling, and its floral, herbal, earthy side is made for sage, thyme, mushrooms and chestnuts. In other words: the stuffing.

Nadia Curto is a force of nature, working the soil in La Morra. She learned the trade from her uncle, Elio Altare. I’ve been tasting with Nadia since 2016. Her Langhe Nebbiolo comes from old vines, and since 2021 she ages half of it in wood and half in steel, then blends the two before bottling, to keep it fresh and velvety. When I tasted the 2024 in her cellar in October, it was so fruity, balanced, with good body and smooth tannins. The 2023 at Vinmonopolet is made the same way.

Pour it with: the stuffing, mushroom sides and the dark meat.

Buy: Curto Langhe Nebbiolo 2023, kr 379,00 → Add to cellar

Champagne: for the toast

If there’s one bottle that belongs at Thanksgiving with the girls, it’s this one. Oudiette x Filles is three generations of women. Grandmother Arlette laid the foundations, mother Florence carried it on, and today sisters Margot and Charlotte Laurent run it with her. Margot took over the vineyards in 2015, and the sisters started making their own wines in 2017.

The estate is tiny: 2.5 hectares across nine plots in Beaunay, south of Épernay. The vines are tended by hand, without insecticides or herbicides. The wines ferment in old Burgundy barrels and are bottled without fining or filtration.

Les Sablonnières is a Blanc de Noirs, 100% Pinot Noir from 2019, and Extra Brut, so very dry. Pinot Noir gives it enough body to carry on from the toast to the dinner table.

Pour it with: the toast, and honestly the turkey too.

Buy: Oudiette x Filles Les Sablonnières Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut 2019, kr 663,20 → Add to cellar

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whatever you pour, the best bottle is the one you share with good people. Don’t forget to order your wines in time!

Hosting a big table? My wineglasswriters double as place cards, so everyone knows which glass is theirs.