Wine with Turkey: What Wine Goes with Turkey?

What wine goes best with turkey? Indeed when we talk about turkey at Christmas, we are talking about a roast turkey. But we all know that a roast means ingredients way beyond the centrepiece. This is a meal that includes stuffings – both meat and vegetarian based – roast tatties, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, rich gravy, and a host of veggies too. It is a spectacular feast, rich in flavour, variety, and texture. The Christmas spread is an effort to pull together and deserves a bit of consideration when it comes to deciding which wines go best with it.

For the Vintage Roots guide to the best wines with turkey, read on.

General Tips for Pairing Wine with Turkey

Turkey is a lean meat, but with plenty of flavour, particularly in the legs. (Note: that low-fat content is the reason turkey can become dry if over-cooked).

The top tip for finding the best wine to have with turkey is to avoid excessive tannin. With a low-fat meat like turkey, high-tannin wines can appear harsher and more evident.

Of course, you can’t forget that turkey, served with gravy and mashed potatoes or stuffing, can be a fairly salty dish. Therefore, wines with some fruitiness, acidity and low tannin work the best.

What Wine Goes with Turkey?

A good place to start when you’re hunting down the ultimate roast turkey wine pairing is to identify some of the best grape varieties.

We know we are looking for a wine where the tannins aren’t too marked. It’s also a good plan to have a wine that has a good crunch of acidity. Acidity may not always sound inviting but it is a core part of wine, and acidity is your best friend when you have a meal that’s full to bursting with diverse flavours and textures.

With this in mind, our top three (and not exclusive!) list of red grapes to consider pairing with your turkey this Christmas are Pinot Noir, Tempranillo and Sangiovese.

When it comes to white grapes for turkey, it’s hard to choose! Again, not definitive, but Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewurztraminer can all work well.

Six Red Wine Ideas for Turkey

The low-tannin wines are ideal for bringing out the light flavours of the meat, but without overpowering it with sweetness. Lush, fruity reds are our recommendation for the best pairings of red wine with turkey.

Two organic Pinot Noir wines to consider:

Sleek, stylish, full of ripe berry fruit and with a refreshing underscore of acidity, Walnut Block Nutcracker Pinot Noir from New Zealand is a fantastic choice.

For another Pinot Noir to have with turkey, consider Ampelidae’s No Added Sulphur Pinot Noir, its red fruit abundance and ripe soft tannins would make for a flavourful match.

Sangiovese and three Tempranillos

Sangiovese is such a great grape for food matching. It rarely disappoints. We love Barone Pizzini’s Rosso dei Poderi, which has the structure and breadth to be a winner for this year’s Christmas lunch.

It is possible to drink delicious wine, at the same time as doing a spot of celebrity name dropping! When We Dance is Trudie Styler and Sting’s highly recommended Chianti. Another Vintage Roots favourite.

Spain’s Tempranillo comes in a range of styles from the lighter, brighter sort of red, to wines with considerable depth and complexity. The award-winning Generacion 76 Tempranillo is delicious with its juicy dark fruit flavours and balanced integrated oak spice.

Altogether much richer and fuller-bodied is Dominio’s Basconcillos Ribera del Duero Roble. Oak-ageing adds real power and structure to the Tempranillo fruit. A wine that’s very well-placed to match up to all those Christmas lunch trimmings.

Six White Wine Ideas for Roast Turkey

Where to start?! There are so many white wines that we would recommend here. Two key things to bear in mind are weight and structure. Remember all those flavours you’re bringing to the table? Your white must be able to hold its own!

Two Chardonnays

Chablis is a classic choice for a reason. The best Chablis wines are a thrill to drink and add more than a splash of sophistication to anybody’s turkey. We’ve been working with Domaine Philippe Goulley for a very long time and have no hesitation in suggesting his Chablis Premier Cru Montmains to you.

For another Chardonnay for turkey, Domaine Bousquet’s Reserve Chardonnay is a lovely ‘New World’ Chardonnay with plenty of richness. Made from the best plots only, 50% of the wine is blended in French oak and 50% in stainless steel for the perfect oaky balance.

A lovely Gewurz and Riesling

Gewurztraminer and Rieslings are both considered more aromatic grapes, and thus the richer flavours of these wines can be well suited to a plate full of Christmas trimmings. With its distinct lychee, orange rind and floral character, André Stentz’s Alsace Gewurztraminer is a real treat for the senses.

For a Riesling, consider the Theodorus Riesling Trocken, a delicious off-dry Pfalz Riesling with wonderfully complex flavours that would stand up to roast turkey and all the sides (or roast pork as well).

A White Tempranillo and No Sulphur Added White

We’ve recommended some red Tempranillo’s but you might not be expecting a Tempranillo Blanco (white Tempranillo). Yup, that is white Tempranillo. Again, this is from Viña Ijalba, who have chosen to age the wine in American oak barrels, giving it a lavish mouthfeel and good weight. Both delicious and interesting.

Rien de Rien No Added Sulphur from Château Grinou is a luscious blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon and has the textural complexity and power to make itself nicely heard above all the food noise.

Turkey Leftovers … Adding a bit of wine bling!

Jamie Oliver has a great blog, entitled “12 ways to use up leftover turkey”. For fun, here is a wine recommendation for seven ov the recipes.

His oozy and comforting turkey risotto calls for Prosecco, so what better pairing than a Prosecco to go with it? Giol’s Prosecco Frizzante is always a good choice.

The ultimate toad in the hole. Serve with the ripe and juicy Rioja Tempranillo from Vina Ijalba for the ultimate gastro / vinous hug!

Warm turkey salad: This is the sort of supper that calls for something fruity and lighter, look no further than Domaine Rousset’s Rosé Fruité

Old school turkey stew is a wholesome, warming dish that will shine with a glass of Château Rochecolombe Côtes du Rhone, which just oozes deliciousness.

Leftover turkey banh mi is really a Vietnamese sandwich! Rather than wine, why not try the flavoursome Arrogant Frog Orange wine from Paul in the Languedoc?

Sloppy Joes – Christmas style. For this we were looking for a red wine that was effortlessly tasty and could think of no better a wine than Domaine Bousquet’s Malbec. A great pairing.

Family-friendly festive turkey pie. Our top-choice for this recipe is the charming Montmija Chardonnay for a soothing, post-party night in.

Turkey is a Christmas staple for many households, and having the right wine to match it lets this dish truly shine!

For Vegetarian/Vegan Christmas food and wine ideas:

Check out our Vegan Christmas Dinner Ideas & Wine Ideas post here and our Vegan & Vegetarian Christmas Dinner Ideas with Wine Pairings post here.