MICHAEL KNISLEY'S TURKEY DAY CHAMPAGNE PICKS

What's better than Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving with Champagne! Champagne is one of the most versatile wines around when it comes to food pairings, which is great when you have such an array of flavors and textures on your holiday table. You can find one that will work from start to finish or, choose a few and pair them with different parts of the meal. Here are my personal picks for the upcoming holiday:

Champagne Louis Nicaise Brut Reserve
Many of you are already familiar with the affordable and absolutely delicious wines of Champagne Louis Nicaise. This is classic through and through - all 3 grapes, a blend of multiple years, and that cornucopia of fruit flavors, toastiness, acidity, and chalky minerality that makes champagne such a treat. (It's worth noting that the perfectly judged dosage here is also classic [read: higher than the prevailing "style" right now], and is a huge part why this is such a great all-purpose champagne.) All of that is reason enough to pick up a bottle - but this is a brand new supply that just arrived here in town and I'm here to tell you that this batch is showing superbly right now! This will be fantastic on its own while you cook, but also has enough complexity and acidity to match perfectly fine with whatever traditional Thanksgiving dish you happen to serve it alongside. There are particularly prominent flavors of perfectly ripe golden delicious apple and salted butter pie crust and they will make you keep the glass filled up. This always sells out before the next shipment arrives, so stock up now.

Champagne Lacourte-Godbillon
A new champagne has arrived to New Orleans! When I opened up the first few bottles last week, I was not only thrilled with how well they were tasting after their long journey but also immediately thought "these are going to be fantastic for Thanksgiving"! Based in the village of Écueil in the northwest part of the Montagne de Reims, the house is run by Geraldine Lacourte-Godbillon and her husband Richard Desvignes. They have spent the last decade changing the winery into a high quality, sustainable endeavor, and the efforts are paying off with each passing year as quality goes higher and higher. I have been anticipating the arrival of these wines for a while, and the wait was worth it. I'm sure you'll agree.

Terroirs d'Ecueil - the entry level wine for any house acts as a calling card of sorts, an introduction to their style (and more than ever in Champagne, their "place"). 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, based on the relatively generous and open 2016 vintage with about 50% reserve wines and aged for 2 years in their cellar before disgorgement, this is a proper introduction to the house as well as the village. Most of the vineyards face North and East, and the soil has high proportions of sand and clay over the chalk. Here, that comes through as bright tart cherry flavors and brisk acidity, that is softened and lightened on the palate by the effects of the sandy soil. It is elegant, lively, and well-crafted. It also can work from aperitif to main course to dessert.

Rosé - this is all Pinot Noir, made rosé by the addition of a small proportion of red wine (the most common method in Champagne). In this case, it is floral on the nose, with juicy plum and pleasantly pithy blood orange on the palate. While the flavors are bold, it again finishes light and crisp and makes you want to take another drink. This is fantastic with charcuterie and would be great with duck or other game birds.

Champagne Cedric Bouchard Roses de Jeanne Val Vilaine V16
One of the most sought-after champagnes in the world is Roses de Jeanne from Cedric Bouchard, a man who famously has said he doesn't really care much for champagne because the bubbles distract him. It's important to know that when you experience his wines. From the very southern reaches of the Champagne appellation, right on the border with Burgundy, he takes his carefully raised grapes from Burgundian type soil, and puts them through the champagne process with a light touch. In champagne, the winemakers can control the degree of effervescence, and he aims for the lower end of the fizz factor. So, it's useful to approach these as Burgundy with bubbles - in this case a Pinot Noir from a single plot and a single year, vinified in stainless steel and finished without dosage. This is the outlier of the group - it’s a beautiful wine, and deserves food, but only after you've let it breathe and open up. For maximum pleasure, I recommend opening this a few hours before you plan to serve it. Take a sip when you first pop the cork so you can see just how much it blooms during that time and begins to show it's brambly fruit and plum character, with hints of champagne toastiness and vibrant, refreshing minerality.

And of course, all of the above wines are available at Swirl :-) Happy Thanksgiving!