TCWE Thanksgiving 2024 Pack #2

Pricing available as supply lasts.

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Hi everyone –

Thanksgiving Pack #1 flew out the door, so as promised here is the TCWE Thanksgiving 2024 Pack #2!

Take note: we are popping all of these LIVE for our free webinar at The Wine Workshop! You can register here to see it live or catch the replay!

Four fantastic wines for Thanksgiving enjoyment. This collection is a bit more “classic” in the pairings, and each wine is dynamic and awesome. There is truly something here for everyone around the table, and I’d happily have a glass of each during the night!

Eugen Meuller Riesling + Gewürztraminer

It’s surprising to me that more “high aromatic” blends like this aren’t out there. What a magical combination.

The Gewürztraminer gives it body, orchard fruits, and lychee aromas. The Riesling zips through with the classic lime zest and mineral aspects.

What results is something magical: a dance between acid and orchard, lime and apple, stone and dust. This is so so so cool.

From the legendary importer and writer Terry Theise:

2021 Riesling & Gewürztraminer (glug-glug-glug)

I bet you don’t see too many blends of R-Gw these days. I’m ancient enough to remember when such things were common, Riesling with Silvaner most often of all.

Before I’m tasting, I note the 12% alc which suggests the wine will be on the dry side. Though Riesling’s the majority partner, Gewürz has assumed control of the fragrance. And now that I have taken a sip, I find the wine is witty and wicked.

I always liked Stephan’s Gewürz. It came from the (Ruppertsberg) Reiterpfad, which is a “GG” for other growers (and whose name is thus only permitted for Riesling), and it was rather delicate, more lychee than rose. This one’s along those lines, boosted upward by Riesling’s vim and acids. It is beautifully balanced and drinks like an uncommonly graceful (and moderate) Alsace wine – though where would you possibly find anything like it in Alsace?

It’s an entirely lovely and successful wine.

https://www.terrytheise.com/weingut-eugen-muller

St. Innocent Villages Cuvee Pinot Noir 2022, Willamette Valley

Any time you have an opportunity to enjoy one of Mark Vlossak’s wines, jump on it.

In my opinion, he’s in the top tier of winemakers in Willamette Valley (along with Jason Lett of Eyrie, Mimi Casteel of Hopewell, and a handful of others). He’s taught me more about the wines of Willamette, and winemaking in general, than almost anyone. His deft touch with Pinot Noir is legendar, and his Villages Cuvee is always a top wine.

Mark really specializes in single vineyard production. That’s what he’s known best for. As a result he’s fanatical when it comes to the farming, controlling his blocks with precision, and bringing 30 years of experience to handle whatever nature throws at him. He’s told me many times “The last thing I want is for every vintage to be the same. Where’s the fun in that? How do you learn anything? Move to Napa!”

As a result of his fantatical farming and deep relationships, his Villages Cuvee blend becomes extraordinary. These are not the ‘leftover’ grapes, but rather a carefully chosen barrel selection based on the wine being more ‘drinky’ and enjoyable when young. The vineyard sources? Three of the best in Willamette: Freedom Hill Vineyard 32%, Temperance Hill Vineyard 29%, Shea Vineyard 39%.

Tasting notes from Mark:

The Pinot noir, Villages Cuvée has robust sweet spice aromas with lovely black cherry, smoky berry and dark rose notes. Juicy and pungent flavors of dark cherry, wild strawberry, allspice, cinnamon with a touch of smoke fill your mouth.

Beautifully balanced with soft tannins and fresh acidity, the finish slowly fades into supple dried fruit and spices. Still young now the wine will fill out through the winter and into the spring. This is my favorite wine for thanksgiving and flavorful white meat dishes. It is just as good with burgers, brats and pizza.

https://store.stinnocentwine.com/product/2022-Pinot-Noir-Villages-Cuvee

Marco Felluga “Mongris” Pinot Grigio, Friulli

Let’s just get this out of the way: there is a ton of shit Pinot Grigio out there.

Those that strive for quantity over quality love Pinot Grigio, for you can push that grape with fertilizers up to the 10-13 tons per acre range. Sure the wine tastes like lemon water, but who cares? All those Americans will buy it!

This has been the uphill battle for this wonderful grape. And nowhere else on the globe does it make as fantastic of a wine as it does in far northeastern Italy, on the Slovenian border, in Friuli.

The Felluga family are royalty when it comes to this region. From the importer’s website:

The Felluga family traces its wine industry lineage to the late 1800s, when Ilaria Felluga’s great-great-great-grandfather Michele started a business buying and selling wines in Istria (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Michele’s son Marco added winemaking to the business, growing grapes and making some wine on the family farm just south of Trieste in what is now southwestern Slovenia. After World War I, Marco’s son Giovanni continued the family wine trade, selling Istrian wine in Trieste and in Grado in southern Friuli. He also opened a cellar in Gradisca d’Isonzo in Collio in 1938, but World War II soon broke out, disrupting life for a decade. 

After the war, Istria became part of Soviet-dominated Yugoslavia, the family lost their farm there, and Collio became their home. Two of Giovanni’s seven children ultimately established wineries in the vicinity. Marco Felluga, after graduating from the renowned enology school in Conegliano, worked for his elder brother Livio for a while, before Livio left to open his own winery in Rosazzo. Marco stayed in the walled 15th-century fortress town of Gradisca d’Isonzo and founded his eponymous winery in 1956.

This wine proves just how good a well made, lower-yield, carefully touched Pinot Grigio can be. 90 points from James Suckling, if that’s a thing for you.

Tasting note: In the spirit of having this with Thanksgiving, I picked it because of the versatility on the table. Medium weight with loads of yellow apple and pear aromas, along with a minerality picked up from the stone-infused soils of the region. Friuli is hilly in spots, including where this wine comes from, and the lack of water retention in the vines makes for a more concentrated style. It’s a crowd-pleaser, but it’s also a damn good, rock-solid, right down the middle of the tracks wine.

Villa Wolf Gewürztraminer

Talk about a perfect wine for Thanksgiving when you have the who range of wine drinkers at the table!

You love complex wines with layers and detail and finesse and food-pairing ability.

Aunt Marge “Likes something sweet and I’m not picky. Anything is fine.” (*sigh*)

Solution? You grab this wine.

It’s not overtly sweet. In fact, it’s 11.5% ABV, so I’d put it in the “off dry” category, but with a load of acidity. In other words, Aunt Marge will be fooled into thinking it’s sweet, but really not. Bam! High five! Gotcha!

I love this wine. I have for nearly two decades.

Tasting note: Clean, fruity, bright, and spicy. The flavors are precise, typical of well made German wines, and loaded with a dance of ripe fruit and acidity. The typical spicebox of Gewürz is well presented here, but not overtly. Some Gewüz and be too heavy on being who they are, if you know what I mean. This one is more lean and subtle, but still showing off. It’s a tightrope walk but it makes it to the other side with style.

Here’s the tech sheet for the wine:

In conclusion / buying advice

This is a great little collection, and covers a ton of ground. Even if you don’t pop all the bottles on Thanksgiving 2024, you’ll appreciate having any of these on hand going into the holiday season. All make great gifts, all have versatility on the table, and all taste way above their price points.

Onward to a great Thanksgiving!

Thanks, everyone!

Jason Kallsen
Sommelier and founder/owner of Twin Cities Wine Education

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Offer and special pricing are available as inventory lasts