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.
THE CLASSIC SPARKLING
Bérêche & Fils Brut Champagne Réserve NV
For 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 ahead
THE VIBRANT SKIN CONTACT
Les Cigales dans la Fourmilière Escarpolette Blanc 2024
Los 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.
THE ELECTRIC WHITE
Peter 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.
THE COMPLEX RED
SRC, Etna Rosso Nerello Mascalese
At 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.”
THE WILD CARD
Domaine de la Tournelle Macvin
You’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.
