I am Thankful For…Local Wines

Thanksgiving is a meal filled with foods that have very diverse flavor profiles.  From the salty of ham to the savory of stuffing to the sweet of sweet potato casserole, this large meal can often be difficult to find the exact right wine for serving.  However, never fear!  There are many wines that pair well with all these flavors.  And since I am more of a Small Business Saturday than a Black Friday type of shopper, I have created a list of wines from our local winemakers to serve with all these foods!  Enjoy this wonderful holiday and promote local wines all at the same time!

Naked Winery tasting rooms—Custer and Hill City, SD

Naked’s Riesling and Gewürztraminer are aromatic, off-dry white wines that will pair well with both the turkey and the ham on the Thanksgiving table.  The savory stuffing and flavored mashed potatoes would also present a nice contrast pairing with these white wines.  Though white wines tend to be more prominent during this feast, it is always nice to have a red wine option for red wine lovers, so Naked Pinot Noir or Dominatrix Pinot Noir would be an option.  The lighter-bodied red wines would go with the turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole due to the more robust flavors of these types of foods.

Naked wines are beautiful in the bottle and the glass.



Stone Faces Winery—Hill City, SD

Pasque, made from Frontenac and Niagara grapes, is a semi-sweet wine with a pink color that will look beautiful on a table filled with abundant fall colors.  Beyond a color match, the slight sweetness will be a nice contrast pairing with the ham, stuffing, potatoes, and gravy. Red wine lovers have an option from Stone Faces as well, the 2013 Sturgis Merlot.  This is a lighter-bodied Merlot, produced more in the style of Pinot Noir.  Because of the lighter style, it would match with the flavorful dishes served. 

Though the bottle is the 2011, the glass on the right is the 2013 Merlot, a lighter-bodied red for Thanksgiving.

Prairie Berry Winery—Hill City, SD

Prairie Berry fruit wines are great options for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Pumpkin Bog is a match made in heaven for the fall festival of food.  Slightly sweet, this wine goes with the salty ham, savory dressing, and creamy potatoes with gravy.  Cranberry and Lawrence Elk (black currant) wines will pair well with this meal for the same reasons. Also of note is the ability to mull wines to enjoy during the Thanksgiving holiday.  All three of the above mentioned wines are great mulled with cinnamon, all spice, and orange slices. 



Cranberry, perfect color and flavor for Thanksgiving food. 

 



Belle Joli Winery—Belle Fourche and Deadwood, SD

Belle Joli’s LaLure wine (La Crescent blend) is a wonderful off-dry wine that would contrast pair with the salty and savory choices of ham, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and green bean casserole.  It would also go well with the cranberry sauces and chutneys served.  With all of this talk of the main meal, dessert wines to pair with Thanksgiving sweets are also very important.  Belle Joli’s Pear and Peach dessert wines are made to have the same sugar content of traditional ice wines; they will pair well with pumpkin, apple, and berry pies.  A wonderful treat before the tryptophan induced nap.



La Lure, a great pairing for many foods!

 



I must not forget my Wyoming wine friends!

Table Mountain Vineyards—Huntley, WY

Table Mountain’s Cowgirl Blush, with its super cute cowgirl label, would accompany the traditional savory flavors and smells of Thanksgiving.  Its slightly pink color will also look wonderful in a pretty glass as part of the formal table setting.  If looking for a unique twist to the serving of traditional wine, Table Mountain has its Wyoming Nectar, mead (honey wine) spiced with cinnamon.  What a great option for the traditional meal.



Table Mountain Vineyard's Wyoming wines.

 

Buffalo Jump Winery—Cody, WY

Buffalo Jump’s slightly crisp Chardonnay would be a wonderful pairing for all the creaminess of the Thanksgiving meal found in the butters and gravies scattered around the table.  Buffalo Jump also has a new Riesling that would pair well.  Rieslings follow the contrast pairing and are a traditional standby for Thanksgiving dinners. I wish I could get my hands on a bottle of Buffalo Jump Riesling to pair with my meal; however, I have to wait yet one more week to try it!



Chardonnay as part of a great line of Buffalo Jump wines.

 



Though pairing wines with the traditional Thanksgiving fare can be slightly tricky, one doesn’t have to look any further than the local wineries of the Black Hills and Wyoming to find great options for the meal.  Whether you enjoy Black Friday or not, do a little early Small Business Saturday shopping at one of these great wineries.  All have wonderful options for every aspect of the bountiful feast you will be serving or attending on Thursday.  Cheers to a wonderful holiday with family and friends. And please be thankful for local wines!

A Sommelier’s Shame

The word “sommelier” is so sophisticated sounding, so beautiful as it rolls off one’s tongue.  Just so…French!  However, even though I am a certified sommelier, sometimes I am forced to not be a sophisticated wine drinker.  Part of this is the area I live and part of this is the circumstances of my life.  I sometimes drink cheap wine (really cheap wine) out of cheap glasses (really cheap glasses).  It happens.  In Wyoming and the Black Hills, not every restaurant is an awesome restaurant; sometimes it is just an amazing burger joint, and not every amazing burger  joint has a wine list.  Or if said burger joint does have a list, it often consists of Cabernet, Merlot, and white Zinfandel, that's all.  I try to stay away from box wines, but I had to try the wine that came in a box that looked like a purse, and I love Bota Box wines for hikes and picnics.  But today I am not talking about that kind of sommelier’s shame, a shame that sommeliers in metropolitan areas don’t have to contend with like I do in my rural surroundings.  Today I am talking about the shame that I have made it my goal to explore and promote all things wine related in the Black Hills and Wyoming, and I have knowingly not done this.  Here’s my confession: 

            About five years ago, I stopped at Stone Faces Winery outside of Hill City, South Dakota.  (Wines made by Valiant Vineyards in eastern South Dakota; Stone Faces is the western SD tasting room with a different name.)  The non-descript sign out front and lack of branding/marketing put me off right away.  I went inside, tasted some wines, and left…never to go back until this past weekend.  Shame.  On.  Me!  I claimed to be promoting area wine businesses, and yet I had chosen to neglect one.  I was so glad I got back to following my own advice; I don’t know why I wasn’t impressed last time, but my second trip made up for this. 

 

The sign welcoming visitors to Stone Faces.

            Once I got past my sign issue, I bellied up to the tasting bar to try my six wines (with no tasting fee).  Because there are still so many newbie wine drinkers in our area, wineries need to have a mix of both sweet and dry wines.  I focused on the dryer reds and whites.  Stone Faces makes wines from both grapes and other fruits, sometimes mixing the two.  The wines also have names primarily dealing with South Dakota or the Black Hills, like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Mount Rushmore.  This was shown in the first wine I sipped, the Full Throttle red that was a brandy-fortified wine with 16 percent alcohol.  I was impressed that this was not too hot from alcohol, though the heat did show up more on the finish.  I then was able to do a short vertical tasting of the Sturgis Merlot 2011 and 2013.  These grapes were sourced from California, as Merlot does not grow well in the harsh Midwestern winters.  The 2011 was dryer with more baked plum notes, while the 2013 was more Pinot Noir-like in body and taste.  (Possibly because grapes were sourced from completely different vineyards, areas, etc.)  Since I was in the process of getting my summer wine palate on, I bought the lighter-bodied 2013…and drank it already!  The next dry red was the Artisan, a mix of California Cabernet and South Dakota St. Croix grapes.  This was also very pleasant, and I liked the idea of the state-sourced grapes. 

 

2011 and 2013 Sturgis Merlots.

            The final red was sweeter, the Rushmore Red.  This was made from California Merlot and eastern South Dakota Noirette.  I transitioned from the reds to the whites with Stone Faces’ pink wine, Pasque (named for the South Dakota state flower).  This was a blend of Frontenac and Niagara grapes, both SD grown.  This was another great summer wine, and I bought a bottle.  It was filled with floral aromas and flavors and had a clean laundry smell--a fun wine with a really beautiful color.  Rushmore White boasted a German style, made from Riesling and Edelweiss grapes—Edelweiss grapes grow well in this area.  The final white, called Sweet White, used Niagara grapes.   There were six other wines on the tasting list, but these were all other fruit wines (like rhubarb and blueberry) and a bit sweet for my palette. 

Stone Faces blueberry wine, with a picture of the tasting room on the label.

            After my stop, I don’t have to be ashamed that I am not experiencing and promoting all aspects of wine in our tiny, budding wine world of the Black Hills as I said I would.  Stone Faces taught me to not judge a book by its cover (maybe I am finally going to get over the issues I have with their poor signage).  I enjoyed the wines I tried, and my tasting associate, Cynthia, was informative, friendly, and energetic.  I could also tell I was not the only one giving more attention to these wines.  The tasting room was quite busy with patrons of all ages:  from me, to distinguished gentlemen, to 20-something couples.  (I always love it when I see young people experiencing wine!  It makes me so happy for the future of the industry.)  Now my sommelier’s shame only has to be when I am forced to drink cheap wine (I don’t mean inexpensive and good quality…I mean CHEAP) out of a red Solo cup (hey, it happens!).