Sommelier-Approved Thanksgiving Wines

The challenge of picking wine for Thanksgiving is multifaceted. Your selections must be lively enough to enjoy as guests work their way through charcuterie, balanced enough to play well with turkey, and versatile enough to rub shoulders with dessert. It’s a tall order for anyone tasked with bringing the bottles to their holiday meal. To help, five beloved wine-heads from across the country weighed in on the bottles that everyone around your holiday table will adore.Here are the crowd-pleasing offerings sure to liven up your Thanksgiving.Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Emma RingnessTHE CLASSIC SPARKLINGBérêche & Fils Brut Champagne Réserve NVFor Adam Robins, beverage director at State Bird Provisions and The Progress in San Francisco, there’s no better way to start a festive meal than with Champagne. Bérêche & Fils delivers classic brioche notes tempered with fruit like Bosc and Asian pears, brought together with a snap of acidity to prime the palate for the feast aheadPhotograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Emma RingnessTHE VIBRANT SKIN CONTACTLes Cigales dans la Fourmilière Escarpolette Blanc 2024Los Angeles’s Lasita is beloved for its natural wine selections and its menu of kicky Filipino favorites. Co-owners Chase and Steff Valencia adore this Languedoc orange wine, which offers notes of bold fruit—peach and apricot—and a bright acidity that can cut through even the butteriest of mashed potatoes.Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Emma RingnessTHE ELECTRIC WHITEPeter Lauer Riesling Schonfels Kabinett No. 111“More people should be drinking Riesling,” says Matt Turner of Lei, one of Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants of 2026. He points to this German stunner with direct minerality and notes of stone fruit, which sips just as well alongside a cheesy cauliflower gratinée as a garlic-studded beef tenderloin.Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Emma RingnessTHE COMPLEX REDSRC, Etna Rosso Nerello MascaleseAt the James Beard–nominated Wild Child in Lafayette, Louisiana, natural wine rules supreme. Ian LaCour, who helps curate the bottle list, gravitates toward this muscular red. Thanks to a silky body and dusky notes of stewed red fruit, it plays well with the “heartier proteins on the Thanksgiving table.”Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Emma RingnessTHE WILD CARDDomaine de la Tournelle MacvinYou’d be forgiven for being unfamiliar with macvin, a niche style of fortified wine made in France’s Jura region. But the oaky fresh apple and cider notes in this punchy bottling—akin to a less-oxidized, sweeter oloroso sherry—make for a divine digestif. “It fares well with every dessert,” says Nick Arone of Detroit’s Bar Chenin.