I think we can call it. Thanksgiving tables have officially become more than just basic turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy in recent years. And while the debate over canned vs. fresh cranberry sauce still goes on—though the correct answer is clearly canned—every tandoori turkey, pumpkin risotto, or apple pie mac and cheese presents a new opportunity to try even more creative pairings this year. That’s why we’ve picked the broadest range of libations yet for our 2026 Thanksgiving wine, sake, cider, and spirit recommendations. Enjoy in happiness and good health.
Whites & Lighter Reds: For versatile, food-friendly bottles that won't overpower the meal.
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- 100% Ligurian Rossese Bianco grapes from ungrafted and own-rooted vines, with plants dating from the 1700s
- Once among the finest crops in Liguria, Rossese Bianco dates back to the pre-modern era, but it was abandoned in favor of more productive grape varieties
- The Anfosso family is currently the only owner of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines and is the only producer of Rossese Bianco from vines over a hundred years old
- Harvested from clay-limestone soils from vines located in Soldano and San Biagio della Cima (less than 0.25 hectares)
- Vines are trellised in the Alberello method
- Approximately 96 hours of skin contact at low temperature in stainless steel before fermentation
- Once the juice is drawn off the skins, fermentation begins and lasts about one month
- The wine ages 12-15 months in 500L untoasted acacia casks and then additional 3 month in bottle
- Production varies from 500-1400 bottles per year
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- 100% Carricante from the Etna Bianco Superiore DOC
- Produced from young vines within the Contrada Caselle in Milo on the eastern slope of Etna
- 840 meters above sea level with eastern exposure
- 15 year-old vines
- Sandy, volcanic soils, very rich in minerals, with subacid composition
- Harvested by hand at the end of September, the whole clusters are gently crushed
- Spontaneous fermentation takes place at a low temperature in stainless steel with aging in stainless steel for 18 months
- Additional aging in bottle for 24 months prior to release
- Approximately 267 cases produced annually
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- Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
- Region: Podravje
- Vineyard: Ried Ciringa
- Soil Type: Coral limestone
- Fermentation & Élevage: Spontaneous fermentation, élevage for 20-32 months in large, used oak barrels and then an additional 12 months in stainless steel
- Farming: Certified Organic
The Fosilni Breg Reserve is a cask selection of the three strongest and most distinctive casks. These casks are kept for an extra year on the full lees before being racked and aging for almost another year in stainless steel.
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- Practicing Organic
- 100% Gamay
- 50+ year old vines
- Vines from Les Côtes de la Roche just west of Juliénas in the hamlet of Jullié
- 350+ meters in altitude and on a clear day you can see Mont Blanc!
- High density planting: 10,000 vines/ha
- Steep slopes of crushed granite, blue stones – with the bedrock very close
- Semi-carbonic vinification in large upright wooden barrels
- Aged in stainless steel
- There are many terroir parallels between Jullié and Juliénas. This is a character-rich, expressive Gamay from just outside of Beaujolais’ band of “cru” villages. Certainly one of the finest values for serious quality anywhere; floral, aromatic and full of intensely layered red fruits.
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- 100% Cinsault
- Sourced from 4 granite vineyards in Guarilihue Alto
- Hand harvested
- 100% whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeast in oak tanks at low temperatures for 15 days
- 12 days of maceration
- Aged for 1 year in concrete and large oak casks
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- 100% Pinot Noir
- Sourced from four vineyards in the Bannockburn subregion
- The nature of being a gravity flow winery allows grapes to be gently destemmed without pumping
- 20% whole cluster fermentation
- Native yeast fermentation
- Aged for 13 months in French oak (25% new)
- No fining or filtering
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- Practicing Organic
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Baker Ranch sits deeper in the Anderson Valley west of the hamlet of Philo
- Vineyard sits on a mid-elevation east-facing slope on the south side of the valley
- Casabonne-Wohly complex solis
- Planted 20 years ago and are farmed by the Baker family
- Native Yeast Fermentation and 50% whole cluster
- Elevage in 30% new French oak
- 25ppm SO2 at bottling
- 200cs produced
- 13.1% abv
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- Practicing Organic
- 100% Grenache
- Sourced from 3 sites in Santa Barbara County
- Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard (Sierra Madres Mountains)
- 3,200 ft. elevation
- Vie Caprice Vineyard (Los Olivos)
- Densely planted 5′ x 4′
- New source from Mt. Refugio for the Grace lineup
- 84% whole-cluster fermentation
- Aged 12 months elevage in neutral French 220L and 500L puncheon
- 14.3% abc
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Bolder Reds & Beyond: For richer dishes, darker fruit, savory flavors, and guests who prefer more structure.
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- Certified Regenerative Organic
- 62% Zinfandel, 19% Carignan, 10% Mataro, and 8% from 20+ other varietals in the field blend (Syrah, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Trousseau, Castets, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Alicante Bouschet, Grand Noir, Lenoir, et al.)
- Sonoma Valley AVA
- Vines planted in 1888
- Elevage 10 months in 28% new oak, the rest neutral oak
- Native Yeast Fermentation
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- Certified Demeter biodynamic
- 100% Syrah
- Terroir of rounded pebbles over clay and limestone
- 40+ year old vines
- Ambient yeast fermentation
- Whole cluster carbonic maceration in stainless steel
- Aged in concrete
- Zero SO2 added
- 12% alc. by vol.
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Bubbles, Ciders & Sweets: For celebratory pours, dessert, and the end of the meal.
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- 85% Sauvignon Blanc & 15% Roussanne
- Keermont’s vineyard team use pliers to pinch the stem of the bunches when the grapes are at optimal ripeness
- Hand harvested
- Fermented with indigenous yeast in Hungarian and French oak barrels
- Aged for 18 months in these same barrels
- Only 2566 bottles produced
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- Practicing Sustainable
- 100% Zinfandel
- Lily Hill Vineyard (Dry Creek Valley AVA)
- Originally planted in 1915, replanted in 2001
- 800 – 1,000 ft. elevation
- Harvested 3-4 weeks after normal picking for dry wines
- Crushed into stainless steel tanks
- Native yeast fermentation
- Aged in older French barrels
- R.S. 90 g/L or 9% by volume
- 381 cases produced
- 14.5% abv
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- Practicing Organic
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Mendocino AVA
- 48 months sur lies
- Disgorged in April 2025
- 2 g/l dosage
- 1475 bottles produced
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- A Touriga Nacional-based blend of traditional Douro red varieties, grown on schist-sandstone soils at 600 meters of elevation
- Tawny port is a style marked by the oxidative characteristics of long aging in oak barrels
- Casks of different years are then blended to achieve the desired age character – in Kopke’s case, the age on the label is the average age of all the wines in the blend
- Wines labeled with average age of the blend (20 year) are commonly referred to as “Statement of Age” Tawny.
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- 100% Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro harvested from the Passanello vineyard, located between Vignola and Castelvetro
- Planted in 1978 on 7 hectares of red clay/silty soils in Savignano sul Panaro
- South/West exposure located at 280 meters above sea level
- Harvested by hand and destemmed
- 3 day fermentation/maceration at cool temperatures to maintain aromatics
- Secondary fermentation occurs in autoclaves over a period of 40-50 days
- Residual sugar: 6 g/L
- Approximately 6000 cases produced annually
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- San Colombano, Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia bianca grapes from vines planted in the early 1970s
- Loamy clay soils
- Harvest mid-September and left to dry on straw mats until January following the harvest
- Ferments in 50 to 100 liter casks of chestnut, oak, cherry, acacia and mulberry where it remains for no less than five years.
- Rested in the bottle for at least six months before release
- Average annual production 165 cases
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- Sparkling perry (cider made from pears) produced by Didier Lemorton at La Baillée Fétu in Mantilly, France
- Made in the Domfrontais Calvados appellation of Normandy
- Made from 100% Plant de Blanc pears fermented partially on the lees
- Bright and refreshing sans the farmhouse funk found in some expressions, fresh pear and light citrus make for effortless enjoyment
- 4% ABV
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Large Formats: For bottles made for sharing.
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- Variety: Riesling
- Region: Nahe
- Vineyard: Mostly from Oberhäuser Felsenberg and Kieselberg
- Soil Type: Stony, weathered volcanic soils of porphyry and melaphyr, with slate and quartzite
- Fermentation & Élevage: A mixture of stainless steel vats and neutral 10+-year-old 1200L German stückfass from Hösch
The idea here is to make a village wine, basically, though it’s sold and marketed as a Gutswein or Estate bottled basic wine. The Estate wine combines the two major soils that dominate the holdings for the estate, giving the drinker a look into what Dönnhoff is all about. The basic wine is a calling card and thus Cornelius wants to make statement. The geology of the middle Nahe is notably shaped by its eons-old clay slate formations and rich volcanic soils. The concentration of porphyry and melaphyr stone in and around the old Oberhausen vineyards – Kieselberg and Felsenberg, help provide the perfect berry base for Gutsriesling.
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Brewery: Matsuura Shuzo • Prefecture: Ishikawa• Rice: Hyogo grown Yamada Nishiki milled to 55% • Yeast: Kanazawa #1 • Water: Soft well water • Sake Meter Value: -1 • Acidity: 1.64 • ABV: 15.5%
- A soft, elegant and lightly fruity Junmai Ginjo with subtle sweetness.
- Extremely versatile for pairing but the maker particularly recommends it with delicate seafood like fluke, squid and seabream.
- With lighter flavors the sweetness of the sake recedes and becomes crisp and dry, and with richer flavor the umami blooms and expands.
- Light sweetness provides an excellent contrast to vinegared dishes or ponzu dipping sauce.
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Behind the Bar: For seasonal cocktails and festive pours to kick off the holiday or round out the evening
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- Vintage-dated, limited-release aged apple brandy produced by St. George Spirits in Alameda, California
- 2025 Release
- Distilled from a field blend of apples from a family-owned farm in Mendocino County
- Apple varieties include Fall Pippin, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Black Arkansas, Red
- Delicious, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, McIntosh, Sierra Beauty, Swaar, and Winter
- Banana
- Apple cider is cold fermented in stainless steel for 1–2 weeks and then distilled once in a copper pot still with the addition of fresh apples directly placed in the pot
- Matured in a combination of French and American oak casks that previously held cider, whiskey, and wine
- A portion of 2023 St. George Reserve Apple Brandy, retained in stainless steel tanks and drums, is added to the blend
- Final age range is 3–12 years
- Dry cider, baking spice, crisp green apple, and lemon meringue on the nose lead to a palate of apple pie and clover honey with a finish of sage, clove, and jasmine
- 43% ABV
Perennially sought after but infrequently released, this sumptuous apple brandy from St. George is well worth the anticipation that accompanies a new vintage. Eleven varieties of locally grown apples are both fermented and freshly distilled before a combination of cask types lend further dimension to a spirit that speaks to both fresh and confectionary orchard fruit. The addition of some of 2023’s release to the 2025 blend adds even more depth and kicks the derived age range up an entire year.
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- Annually released small batch cask strength wheated straight bourbon whiskey produced by Castle & Key Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky
- Produced from a mash bill of 73% white corn, 17% malted barley, 10% wheat
- Sweet mash fermented
- Water for production comes from Castle & Key’s historic key-shaped limestone spring
- Distilled in 24-inch and 36-inch Vendome copper column stills and a 375-gallon doubler
- Aged 7 years in char #3 new American oak barrels
- Classic bake-shop notes of oatmeal raisin cookie and vanilla frosting lead to roasted peaches and candied pear, accented by orange peel and soft cinnamon. The palate provides buttery almond pastry, dark chocolate, dried cranberry, and clove leading to a finish of raw brown sugar and roasted walnut with hints of leather and French toast.
- Non-chill filtered; bottled at a cask strength of 54.9% ABV
Now consistently offered with 7 years of age (a production benchmark for a distillery that began releasing aged spirits in 2020) the annual limited release of Castle & Key’s cask strength wheated bourbon combines the consistency of a “core” expression with the anticipation of a single yearly release. Classically constructed, this lovely wheater balances abundant confectionary appeal with cask strength proof, leading to endlessly rewarding weekend-style sipping that comes with a weeknight price.
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- Persimmon botanical liqueur produced by Apologue in Chicago, Illinois
- Botanical maceration in non-GMO neutral grain spirit includes persimmon pulp, hibiscus, cinchona bark, gentian root, rhubarb root, ginger root, cinnamon, green cardamom, spearmint, sweet and bitter orange peel, and lemon peel
- Persimmon sourced from Twin Tykes, a multi-generation-run family farm in Indiana
- Sweetened with organic cane sugar
- Bold, fresh persimmon is complemented by hints of confectionary baking spice, gentian, and rhubarb
- 27% ABV
Apologue’s Persimmon Liqueur is crafted around the profile of ripe persimmon—a sweet, tannic fruit with vibrant, honeyed flesh. Apologue Persimmon is built for cocktails and those who mix them, so enjoy this bittersweet liqueur over ice, in a Spritz, or in Negronis or other classic cocktails that normally call for an Italian bitter.
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- Reposado tequila produced at Cascahuín (NOM 1123) in El Arenal, Jalisco
- 2024 vintage
- Maestro Tequilero Salvador ‘Chava’ Rosales Trejo
- Made from 100% Azul, aka Blue Weber (Agave tequilana) harvested from the La Sabina rancho in Romita, Guanajuato
- Cooked in masonry steam ovens; crushed using a combination of 70% steel roller mill and 30% traditional stone tahona
- Agaves crushed by roller mill are fermented in stainless steel tanks; tahona-crushed agaves are fermented naturally using ambient yeast in open-air wooden tanks
- Double distilled; first distillation occurs in a 2,000 L stainless steel pot still with a copper coil, and the second distillation occurs in a 350 L copper pot still
- Rested for 3 months in 3rd- and 4th-fill ex–bourbon barrels
- Notes of lightly toasted marshmallow, pumpkin pie filling, and rich custard punctuated with hints of violets, citrus, and cream soda
- Additive free
- 46% ABV
La Sabina (not to be confused with 2023’s “El Sabino” release) is the first Lágrimas release produced using agave from the state of Guanajuato. Cradled in a valley surrounded by mountains in the municipality of Romita, the La Sabina rancho is located 1,760 meters above sea level in a climate prone to extreme temperature shifts, high winds, and the occasional frost. These conditions stress the agave, resulting in mature plants with a high average sugar level of 37 °Brix that are grown in dark, dry, dense soil with fragrant huisache, or sweet acacia, trees interplanted with the agave. Aging in third- and fourth-fill ex–bourbon barrels provides a soft blanket of sweet, rounded pastry notes while ensuring the citrusy and herbal flavors of the tequila shine through.
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- Spiced rum produced by St. Lucia Distillers, Saint Lucia’s last remaining distillery, in Roseau
- Produced in accordance with the Saint Lucia Rum Geographical Indication
- Made from 100% molasses
- Open fermented for 36–45 hours in concrete tanks using proprietary yeast and water from the Roseau River
- Distilled in a Coffey column still
- Aged 2–3 years in ex–bourbon barrels before local fruits and spices are added over an additional 6 months
- The original Chairman’s Reserve recipe is first steeped with Bois Bandé, a local Caribbean bark, before cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, allspice, almond, lemon and orange peels are added
- The expressive aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon leads to a sweet and rich mouthfeel that is balanced by a crisp citrus character and a pleasant grip on the finish
- Allergen advisory: Made with nuts
- 40% ABV
A complex spirit that paints a vivid picture of the island from which it originates, this dry and citrus-forward spiced rum works beautifully when paired with other aged spirits in complex cocktails. If you’re a fan of bold baking spice, it can just as easily be enjoyed neat—perhaps paired with a Friday night fish fry as is done in St. Lucia!
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- Blended malt whisky produced by Kuju Distillery in Oita, Japan
- Composed of a blend of unpeated 2-year-old single malt whisky distilled by Kuju Distillery and unpeated single malt Speyside Scotch whiskies aged 4–10 years
- All sourced Scotch is re-barreled for further aging at Kuju Distillery
- Component whiskies are aged between 2–10 years in a combination of first-fill ex–bourbon, sherry, and French oak casks; non-age statement
- Vibrant aromas of warm biscuit, green apple, honey, and mint precede a bright and fruity dram with a rich, malty backbone accented by orange blossom, allspice, pear, and cocoa
- No added coloring
- Non-chill filtered; 46% ABV
Kuju Distillery’s flagship and evergreen “world blend” whisky is inspired by the profile of unpeated Speyside Scotch. Kuju’s own two-year-old single malt is blended with Speyside Scotch that has been re-barreled and further aged alongside the distillery’s own malt. Bursting with bright aromatics meant to evoke the lush, green beauty of Kuju in the spring, this rich and decadent sipper is sure to impress fans of Japanese single malt and Speyside single malt alike.
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