The Best Champagnes For Your Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Champagne is a great gastronomical wine and it pairs well throughout a meal. This champagne guide will show you which styles of champagne will pair best throughout your Thanksgiving meal.

I have made a list of NV Brut champagne, Blanc de Blancs champagne, Rosé champagne, Vintage champagne and tête de cuvée champagne to pair throughout your Thanksgiving meal. If you plan to have champagne with your Thanksgiving leave a comment with what champagne you are planning to have! I would love to hear what you are celebrating with! Also follow me on Instagram as I will be sharing my meals and champagnes throughout the dinner. Cheers!

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THE PERFECT AP´ERTIF

A blanc de blancs is the perfect palate cleanser and an ideal way to start any meal. This is one of the most acidic champagnes if it comes from the Côte des Blancs (the area in champagne that has chalk soils and the slopes face east and southeast). It is 100% Chardonnay based the majority of the time and is the ideal way to wet the appetite. It should be served chilled and in a tulip shaped glass.

Some great blanc de blancs are:

Champagne Henriot

Champagne Louis Roederer

Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blanc

I plan to open a Duval-Leroy Blanc de Blancs

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Hors d'oeuvre Pairing

There are so many hors d’oeuvre options when it comes to a Thanksgiving dinner menu. Here are some that I found via Good Housekeeping that I think would go perfect with a brut champagne: Egg Salad Blini Bites (add caviar if you are feeling a little extra), Brie and Apple Tart, Ginger Shrimp Toast, and Chive Potato Chips and the list goes on! So if you are making any of these or something similar than a brut champagne is a great sidekick!

The Brut Champagne I recommend:

Louis Roederer NV Brut

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To Serve with the Entrée and Sides

With the main meal - I would recommend a vintage or tête de cuvée as this will stand up to the turkey pairing would also stand up to the turducken. The Cuvée Hemera 2005 from Champagne Henriot is perfect for the main course as it has notes of citrus, apricot, and some nuttiness. It is blend of 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The extended aging of 12+ years allows it to hold its own with a rich mouthfeel and structure.

A Vintage Champagne I recommend is the 2008 Billecart-Salmon. I recently had this champagne and it was a crowd pleaser! The perfect vintage for a well rounded meal (would go so well with truffle mashed potatoes!

The Krug Champagne is technically a NonVintage Brut however the quality and price point are more in line with a vintage or tete de cuvée. If you are looking for a splurge this is a great champagne to pair with a meal! The 168 edition is base year 2012 vintage which is an excellent harvest for champagne.

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THE PINK CHAMPAGNES (Rosé Champagne)

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This is the wild card champagne for Turkey day! Depending on the style of the rosé you can pair this with the appetizer or with the mains and sides or hey you can even spice it up and use it as the apértif!

It is important to understand which style of rosé you are buying. Is your rosé a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Meunier dominant blend or is it 100 Pinot Noir or 100 Meunier? A Chardonnay dominant blend will work well as either the apértif or with a appetizer such as a crab cake. A Pinot Noir dominant blend can stand up to the turkey. A Meunier blend would go very well with your cranberry focused dish!

Another great choice is a vintage rosé and one I had recently that I think could hold its own is the Charles Heidsieck 2006 Rosé. This will have the age and structure to serve with the mains and sides.

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Dessert and Demi-Sec

This one is easy to remember DD! Desserts pair the best with a Demi-Sec and you can pair most desserts with this style of champagne! Whether you are having pecan, apple or pumpkin pie a demi-sec is great! A demi-sec would also pair exceptionally well with a pumpkin cheesecake! A demi-sec has 32 - 50 g of sugar per liter so this is on the sweeter scale of the champagne sweetness levels (the most sweet Doux is hard to come by in the United States).

Here are some Demi-Secs that are easily accessible:

Piper Heidsieck

Laurent Perrier

Moet and Chandon Nectar Imperial

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