Planning ahead: Wine for Thanksgiving Dinner

[Innkeeper]

Well this is the subject that got moi to the Wine Board last Novemeber. The late Jerry Mead knew of my view from previous correspondence, and e-mailed me that someone called Scoop was out on a limb by himself on someplace called the Wine Board. So I logged on and found that Scoop was the only one pulling for Zinfandel, Red Zinfandel. Couldn't agree more.

The reasoning behind Zinfandel is twofold and at least twenty years old. First, traditional Thanksgiving dinner has a whole host of divergent and strong flavors. Therefore, you need a wine with enough acid and other pizazz to cut through all that. A big Zin can do that. The second reason is that Thanksgiving is an All American holiday. Albeit that Canada celebrates a Thanksgiving on Columbus Day. Anywho, Zinfandel, the wine that definitely came from somewhere in Europe, most probably from one side or other of the Adriatic Sea, is only produced in America. So, that kind of makes it an All American wine.

We signed on to this logic the aformentioned twenty years ago, and haven't budged since. This year we are popping 1997 Steele, Mendocino, DuPratt Vineyard, Zinfandel. Amazingly we got it locally. After a wine tasting last summer, chatting with the guy in charge revealed that this baby was available in state. So we special ordered it. When we went to pick it up, it hadn't arrived yet. The wine shop owner assured us it was on the way so we waited. Soon the Budweiser beer truck pulled up, and your typical Maine beer truck driver jumped out with our Steele Zin. Oh yes, did I mention that in Maine the beer distributors distribute the wine?

For others in your party, who might want to keep the outer layer of enamel on their teeth, you might want to get one of the better white zinfandels. Buehler is one that has been consistently good over the years.

[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 10-10-2000).]