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Thanksgiving wines: The turkeys strike back
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All Saints Day is Halloween’s answer to Boxing Day; Haunt Night plus one. Now that the cemetery gates are locked and the dear departed have agreed to remain that way for another year, culinary types can turn their attention to the one holiday that really counts: Thanksgiving.
As a recovering vegetarian with a five-year pin, there’s personal satisfaction inherent in this carnal, hedonistic flesh-fest which seems more pagan than sacred; a slaughter of innocent fowl and subsequent roastage best syrupified and sentimentalized by Norman Rockwell in his famous painting Freedom From Want..jpg)
And what we want, brothers and sisters, is meat. And obscene portions thereof. Never mind the collateral damage, the gobbler orphans, et cetera. We’re Americans, and as such, we should get everything we want the moment we want it—after all, we had the atom bomb before anybody else and magnanimously chose not to blow everybody else up.
So when there is a rumble of discontent among American turkeys, who should be happy to give their lives to our comestible cause, it’s newsworthy. When it amounts to anarchy, it’s Page One.
And that’s precisely what happened at Dutcher Crossing winery, a boutique producer in Dry Creek Valley whose award-winning wines and congenial attitude toward carnivorous drinkers should have been an immunity idol inside their own vineyards. You’d think, right?
Under the watch of Dutcher Crossing proprietor Debra Mathey and her supreme squeeze Tom, the winery has set its sights on a pair of Thanksgiving friendly wines, viognier and rousanne. These varietals are often relegated to the status of ‘also-rans’ in chardonnay-crazed Trendopolis. But the various contrasting flavors associated with Thanksgiving often make a ‘universal’ wine something a head-scratcher, and for my money, both rousanne (flowery, pear-scented and rich) and viognier (fruit-forward and honeyed) work beautifully. Cabernet, merlot or shiraz are too heavy, sauvignon blanc too predictable and chardonnay too wood-fat for a special occasion (unless you have access to a Corton-Charlemagne or a Montrachet—in which case, forego the turkey and simply drink). The myriad nuances in a well-made rousanne or viognier are wonderful foils for the sweet, succulent flavors of roasted fowl.
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Do you imagine for a moment that turkeys don’t know this? And that Dutcher Crossing has not attempted to keep these Bolshevik birds from their fledgling harvests of both viognier and rousanne? Come on! Of course they did, though alas, to no avail.
As a result, the sole reason that we, patriotic, red-blooded Americans celebrating the original Thanksgiving when the Indians bailed us out with free food and free advice—just prior to our killing them all or relegating them to reservations—are unable to enjoy a 2008 vintage of Dutcher Crossing rousanne or viognier is because the wild turkeys ate them all.
Obviously, it was time to bring in the heavy artillery.
According to Kate Jones, our favorite PR guru from Healdsburg, Deb and Tom trained their dogs Duchesse and Doris to chase wild turkeys all the way back to Turkey, and as vineyard commandants, they ruled. This year, Jones reports, “The score stands even, one to one. In 2009, Dutcher Crossing harvested their first viognier and rousanne, and Duchesse, who is on the large size, even lost a pound
chasing Turkeys.”
Losing weight during Thanksgiving is of itself laudable. Kanine kudos all around, and may the 2010 vintage be that much more protected, may we enjoy our avian entrée with immunity, impunity and biological amnesty , and may God have mercy on our souls.
(While awaiting the release of the subject wines, check out Dutcher Crossing's portfolio of scrumptious hand-crafted Dry Creek gems: www.dutchercrossingwinery.com)
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