Ina Garten Swears By These Types Of Wines For A Perfect Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner is a marathon of prepping, chopping, cooking, and hosting, and according to Anthony Bourdain, you should start days in advance if you want to survive it. With so much to juggle, wine can easily become an afterthought. But not for the queen of hosting, Ina Garten. She swears by a few go-to varietals that pair with Thanksgiving favorites, so you can walk into the wine aisle with confidence and enjoy a stress-free Thanksgiving.

In a Substack article, Garten shared that for her holiday meal, she typically reaches for a red wine, but one that isn't too heavy, such as a Morgon — a robust French wine with notes of stone fruit that pairs well with rich meats — or a light pinot noir from Sonoma Valley (Garten points out that there's little more fitting than an American wine for an American holiday). For white-wine lovers, the Barefoot Contessa suggests a white Burgundy from east-central France, such as Meursault or Montrachet, which she says goes great with a slice of turkey. Meursault is fruity and slightly sweet, with a balanced acidity and enough oakiness to stand up to meat while Montrachet is bright, bold, and perfect to stand up to robust foods.

Dessert deserves a wine pairing, too (it is a special occasion, after all), and nothing says celebration like Champagne (Garten recommends Perrier-Jouët) or wallet-friendly Italian Prosecco. As Garten herself wrote, "Clinking of glasses is encouraged!"

While Ina Garten's Thanksgiving wine picks are a good place to start, you can also take the reins and create your own lineup of wines to match your holiday menu. The key to pairing wine with each course of your Thanksgiving feast is balance — making sure neither one overpowers the other. This means rich foods (think juicy meat, creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, etc.) pair best with full-bodied reds like cabernet sauvignon or syrah, which can stand up to all that flavor. If you'd rather complement the brightness of cranberry sauce or the sweetness of glazed carrots, however, opt for a lighter, acidic red like pinot noir (just as Garten recommends). For those who celebrate the holiday with seafood, citrusy vegetables, or light pastas instead, crisp and delicate white wines such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, or even a pinot grigio work well. 

Of course, Thanksgiving is known to be a smorgasbord of a dozen different foods, so no single wine will match every bite perfectly. The best approach could be keeping a few different bottles on the table and experimenting as you let guests choose their own adventure — there's really no right or wrong. As the Contessa herself would say, "How easy is that?"