Best Wine for Thanksgiving: Turkey, Sides and Value Picks

The best wine for Thanksgiving is one that can handle everything on the plate at once: a light, fruity red such as Pinot Noir or Beaujolais, and a dry or off-dry Riesling for white wine drinkers. Turkey itself is easy. The cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, stuffing and gravy are what trip a wine up, so this guide picks styles that work with all of them, names three critic-rated bottles under $20, and tells you how much to buy.

Why the sides matter more than the turkey

Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny calls turkey a mild protein that works with most wines, and points to the side dishes as the real challenge: sweet potatoes, tart cranberries and spicy sausage stuffing all pull in different directions. The advice that follows is simple: choose food-friendly wines and avoid anything too tannic, too acidic or too oaky.

Tannin is the drying, grippy feeling a red wine leaves on your gums. A big, tannic red such as a young Cabernet Sauvignon can taste harsh next to lean white meat and sweet sides. Wine Folly’s holiday guide adds that turkey’s subtle flavor rules out full-bodied reds, and that roasted dishes generally suit rosé or red better than white.

Acidity, the mouthwatering tang you also get from lemon juice, is your friend here. It cuts through gravy and butter and keeps the wine tasting fresh against cranberry sauce. That is why the same few styles come up again and again in Wine Spectator’s and Wine Folly’s Thanksgiving advice.

The best Thanksgiving wines by style

Style	Why it works	Best with
Pinot Noir	Light body, high acidity, cherry and cranberry fruit	Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham
Beaujolais (Gamay)	Juicy, low tannin, served slightly cool	Turkey, creamy and cheesy sides
Zinfandel	Ripe fruit, warm spice, fairly low tannin	Dark meat, spiced cranberry, smoked turkey
Grenache	Soft, fruity, medium body	Roasted vegetables, sausage stuffing
Riesling (dry or off-dry)	Bright acidity, a touch of sweetness in off-dry styles	Sweet potatoes, gravy, spicy sides
Chenin Blanc, Viognier	Rich but fresh whites	Creamy casseroles, turkey breast
Sparkling wine	Acidity and bubbles clean the palate	Appetizers and the whole meal
Tawny Port	Sweet, nutty, spicy	Pumpkin pie

Sources: Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny and Wine Folly’s Thanksgiving and holiday guides.

Red wine: Pinot Noir, Beaujolais and Zinfandel

Wine Folly recommends Pinot Noir because its light body and high acidity cut through rich food, and its cherry and cranberry notes match the table.

Gamay, the grape of Beaujolais, is the other classic. Wine Folly lists it for turkey, chicken and dishes with cream or cheese, and Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny names Beaujolais among the reds to pour. Beaujolais Nouveau, the first wine of the vintage, is released on the third Thursday of November, according to Decanter. In 2026 that is November 19, a week before Thanksgiving.

Wine Folly calls Zinfandel a long-standing turkey wine: its lower tannin is kind to dry turkey, and its cinnamon, clove and vanilla notes suit fall cooking. In our view it is the best choice if your family loves the dark meat or smokes the bird.

White wine: Riesling first

Wine Folly picks dry Riesling as the best white for the meal: its bright acidity cuts through the fat in gravy, stuffing, potatoes and yams, and its freshness balances cranberry sauce. Dr. Vinny suggests either dry or off-dry Riesling, plus Viognier and Chenin Blanc. If your sweet potatoes come with marshmallows or maple, an off-dry (slightly sweet) Riesling is the safer bet, because sweet food makes a dry wine taste thin.

Sparkling wine and rosé

Dr. Vinny calls sparkling wine “a can’t-miss pairing” with the Thanksgiving spread, and Wine Folly suggests opening one as guests arrive. You don’t need Champagne. Cava, Crémant and Prosecco cost much less, and our best wine under $20 list includes a critic-rated sparkling pick. A dry rosé is another easy bottle for a table where everyone eats something different.

Three value picks for Thanksgiving

How we picked

We don’t taste the wines ourselves. Each pick has a published professional score for the exact vintage named and a US shelf price checked at two or more retailers in October 2026. We then applied the thresholds in our Blue Book Value method: 90 to 92 points is a Great Value at $20 or less and a Good Value at $30 or less. Prices vary by state and store.

Wine	Critic score	Typical price (Oct 2026)	Verdict
Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2024	91, Wine Enthusiast	about $12–$19	Great Value
Mark West Pinot Noir 2024 (California)	90, Wine Enthusiast	about $13–$16	Great Value
Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling 2024	92, Wine Review Online	about $16–$22	Great Value

Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2024

• Score: 91 points, Wine Enthusiast (reviewed by Reggie Solomon, April 2026 issue), the only professional score we found for this vintage.
• Price: about $12 to $19, checked October 2026 ($12.49 at Lisa’s Liquor Barn and $18.99 at France 44, both for the 2024).
• Verdict: Great Value.

Wine Enthusiast’s reviewer found black plum and a graphite note on the nose, then red cherry and dried hay over velvety tannins. Our pick for the turkey: soft enough for white meat, fresh enough for cranberry sauce, and widely sold. Serve it slightly cool, around 55°F.

Note: Some stores already stock the 2025 vintage of this wine. The score above applies to the 2024 only, so check the label.

Mark West Pinot Noir 2024

• Score: 90 points, Wine Enthusiast (reviewed by Tonya Pitts, October 2026 issue), the only professional score we found for this vintage.
• Price: about $13 to $16, checked October 2026 ($12.95 regular price at BuyWinesOnline and $15.95 regular price at Wine On Sale, both for the 2024).
• Verdict: Great Value.

The reviewer describes Bing cherry, plum, citrus peel and sweet oak on the nose and a generous palate whose tannins are well integrated by the finish. It is a riper, rounder Pinot than most from Oregon, which suits a table with sweet sides. We’d buy it by the case for a big gathering: it is the cheapest pick here. For more bottles in this style, see our best Pinot Noir under $20.

Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling 2024

• Score: 92 points, Wine Review Online (reviewed by Lucia Capretti, June 17, 2026), the only professional score we could confirm for this vintage.
• Price: about $16 to $22, checked October 2026 ($15.94 at Saratoga Wine, $19.95 at BuyWinesOnline and $22 at Blackwell’s Wines, all for the 2024). At $20 or less it is a Great Value; at $22 it would be a Good Value.
• Verdict: Great Value.

Eroica is a Washington Riesling made by Chateau Ste. Michelle with the German producer Dr. Loosen. Wine Review Online’s reviewer found peach, honey, apple, lemon pith and white flowers, and judged the bright acidity and residual sugar well balanced. It is off-dry, so it handles candied yams and spicy sausage stuffing better than a bone-dry white. Our pick for white wine drinkers, and for anyone serving ham alongside the turkey:

Wine for Thanksgiving dessert

Dessert is the one course where your dinner wine won’t work. Sweet food makes wine taste drier and more sour, so the wine needs to be at least as sweet as the dish. For pumpkin pie, Wine Folly suggests a 20-year Tawny Port for its dried orange, fig, toffee and spice notes. It calls pecan pie a hard match, because the nuts and the sugary filling fight most wines; a fruity Gamay works “on paper,” but Wine Folly admits coffee or bourbon may win. Wine Folly’s light-hearted top pick for pumpkin pie is not a wine at all but a spiced Belgian-style beer.

How many bottles to buy

A standard 750 ml bottle holds about 25 ounces. The US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) counts 5 ounces of 12% wine as one standard drink, so a bottle pours about five standard glasses.

A simple way to plan:

Adults who drink wine	Two glasses each	Three glasses each
4	2 bottles	3 bottles
8	4 bottles	5 bottles
12	5 bottles	8 bottles
20	8 bottles	12 bottles

Bottle counts are rounded up from five glasses per bottle. Add one bottle of sparkling wine for every five or six guests if you want a toast. For a split between red, white and sparkling based on your guests and the length of the party, use our wine party calculator.

Tip: Buy one or two extra bottles of whatever you expect to run out of first. Unopened wine keeps, and you won’t have to send anyone to the store on the holiday.

Have water on the table, offer non-alcoholic drinks, and make sure everyone who drives home is sober. Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.