wine for turducken

[Sweetea888]

Help! I'm having a special birthday dinner for my fiance. We're having turducken stuffed with seafood jambalaya. We prefer Shirazes and merlots but will drink other type wines. Please suggest something great under $15 if possible since it will be a larger gathering than just we two.
thanks...

[Innkeeper]

Hi Sweetea, and welcome to the Wine Board. The shiraz'/syrahs sound fine. Merlot, not. Zinfandel (red zin) would also work. Let us know the size of your crowd, and your budget, and we will provide specific recommendations.

[winoweenie]

Hi sweet888 and welcome. Posted on this very matchup as we had the turk-duk-chic for Xmas.I found the Zins to be the perfect foil for all the varied flavors in the dish. The Cline, and the Blackstone Zins, both under 10 , were great. Didn't find any of the Syrah based wines to have the core of fruit to overcome them there cajun spices. WW

[Sweetea888]

Thanks for the help. I'm hoping I can find decent wines. The town where my guy lives in Upstate New York has a very limited wine selection. I can take a bottle or two..but not enough for 6 or 8 people. The menu is cajun appetizers (vegetarian), salad, bread and birthday cake. Specific wines under $15 bucks would be a help; perhaps it's not too late to order. We can't do that in Tennessee, I'm sorry to say, but New York is more progressive. Thanks again.

[winoweenie]

Sweets bubba, read my post. The Cline Calif Zin and the Blackstone Calif Zin are in wide distribution and are under 10 smackers. WW

[Sweetea888]

Ummm. Down here we don't call women bubbas, but o.k. Glad to have the info and happy to think I can get something good without spending much. Thanks again.

[zenda2]

I'll second WW...if you have trouble finding Cline or Blackstone Zin, look for Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Zin ($10-12) and for a real crowd Woodbridge Zinfandel (1.5 liter $12)

[Botafogo]

A couple of years ago we did a Turducken Wine Showdown with a bunch of folks from the LA Times and, while all the Zins and Syrah bases wines were fine, the hands down favorite was Marwood Ruby from Academmia del Spumante in Trentino (a fruity but also smoky and tarry SPARKLING Teroldego that is almost black in the glass and $7.99 a bottle)!

Roberto