Top Missouri Wines for your Thanksgiving Feast

Eat local. Now, drink local. While many of us are striving to eat locally grown ingredients this Thanksgiving, don’t forget to also support the local grape growers of the Midwest and drink local. Along with Thanksgiving comes colder nights, warm fires and for me dry wines. Missouri wine can often be wrongly assumed as only sweet, so I’ve created a list of 7 wines to show off Missouri’s semi-dry to dry wines for your Thanksgiving feast:

Semi-dry white wine:

St. James Winery’s Friendship School White, a mix of Cayuga and Vidal grapes, is one of our favorite wines to bring as a gift to friends houses. It’s crisp light flavor makes it a wine perfect to accompany a wide range of food.  Plus, it’s what my husband and I call a “perfect compromise wine” – he likes wine a little sweeter, while I lean towards the dry.

Off dry white wine:

Cave Vineyard’s “Cave Rock Off Dry” is 100% Traminette, a grape that is similar to a Riesling. I really love the light orange blossom finish with hints of sweetness, but not enough sugar to call it a sweet wine. It’s fresh, fruity and would go great paired with a Thanksgiving meal.

Dry White:

Have guests with a love of Chardonnay? Direct them over to Chaumette Vineyards and Winery’s Unoaked Chardonel. It’s fermented in stainless steel, instead of oak barrels, which makes this crisp dry wine go well with just about any meal. Since it is not aged in oak, it does not have any over powering flavors that could compete with your meal.

Smooth Dry Red:

Augusta Winery’s Estate Bottled Chambourcin is a silky smooth red. The owner prefers to make his Chambourcin fruit forward, so you have tastes of black licorice, leather, vanilla and clove. This Chambourcin is aged in oak barrels for 18-24 months and the silkiness is from fully ripened tannins. To read my full review of 2009 Augusta Winery Chambourcin, go here.

Big Dry Red:

Stone Hill Winery Norton, won the gold medal “C.V. Riley Award – Best Norton” at the 2011 Missouri Wine Competition and is often compared to the spiciness of a Shiraz or a Red Zinfandel. This one is aged in French, Hungarian and American Oak barrels and has a complex taste of fruit, spice and earthy flavors. A good Norton will continue to leave your mouth bursting with flavor long after the first sip.

Dessert wine:

Chaumette Vineyards and Winery’s 2008 Port Wine is made from 40% brandy and a variety of grapes, including Norton, that were aged 18 months or more in French oak barrels. This port has aromas of blackberry, dark cherry and chocolate and a full-bodied, fruit forward finish. With a 19.4% ABV, this bad boy is high in alcohol, but a perfect ending to the night.

A bit of bubbly:

Have a relative who is a die hard Champagne fan? Steer them over to the St. James Winery’s Sparkling Chambourcin, which is dark red in color, bubbly and perfect with rich dessert. At a wine dinner I once attended, I was served a sparkling Shiraz paired with dark chocolate truffles. This sparkling Chamboucin reminded me of that delicious pairing.

What local Midwest wine are planning on drinking for Thanksgiving?