Thanksgiving is one of those meals where wine really earns its place at the table.
It’s also one of the more interesting meals to pair. Turkey might be the centrepiece, but then you add stuffing, fresh herbs, buttery mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted vegetables and cranberry sauce — often all on the same plate.
There’s richness, acidity, sweetness, earthiness and plenty of herbs competing for attention.
Which means there really isn’t one perfect Thanksgiving wine.
And honestly, I think that’s part of the fun.
Rather than trying to find one bottle that somehow works with everything, Thanksgiving is a great excuse to open a few different styles. Start with something sparkling while everyone arrives, move into a fresh white with dinner, bring out something richer for the heavier dishes, and make sure there’s a lighter red on the table too.
The same principles we use when pairing traditional wine with food apply to non-alcoholic wine. Acidity matters. Texture matters. So do fruit, sweetness, tannin, oak and the overall weight of the wine.
So, here are four wines I’d happily put on my own Thanksgiving table...
Start With Something Sparkling: Studio Italiano Spumante
Thanksgiving dinner usually starts long before everyone actually sits down to eat.
People are arriving, appetizers are coming out of the kitchen, and there’s usually a drink in hand.
For me, that’s the perfect time to open something sparkling.
Studio Italiano Spumante is made in Northern Italy from Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and Glera. It’s fresh and lively, with bright acidity, delicate yellow fruit and just enough sweetness to keep everything balanced.
The bubbles and acidity are great with appetizers because they refresh the palate between bites — particularly useful if there are richer or saltier snacks on the table.
But there’s also something about opening a bottle of sparkling wine when people arrive that immediately makes an occasion feel a little more special.
Thanksgiving is a celebration, after all. Choosing not to drink alcohol shouldn’t mean missing out on that.
Sauvignon Blanc With Turkey and Herbs: DIVIN Vigneron Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favourite choices for Thanksgiving — but I wouldn’t necessarily go for the loudest expression of the grape.
Some New World Sauvignon Blancs can be intensely aromatic. With everything already happening on a Thanksgiving plate, I prefer something with a little more restraint and elegance.
That’s why I like DIVIN Vigneron Sauvignon Blanc here.
Produced from old vines in Touraine, it reminds me much more of the classic Sauvignon Blancs of France’s Loire Valley. There’s plenty of freshness and acidity, but underneath that you get white fruit, pear, blossom, green capsicum, subtle vanilla and fresh wood.
That balance really comes into its own with food.
Turkey itself is fairly delicate, but add sage, rosemary, thyme, stuffing, gravy and roasted vegetables and suddenly there’s a lot going on.
The acidity cuts through the richness, while the wine’s herbal and savoury side feels completely at home alongside those autumn flavours.
It complements the meal rather than competing with it — which is exactly what I want from a Thanksgiving wine.
Chardonnay for the Richer Side of Thanksgiving: Moderato Chardonnay
If Sauvignon Blanc is about freshness and herbs, Chardonnay lets us lean into the richer side of the table.
For this pairing, I like an Old World style with some weight and texture.
Moderato Chardonnay, from the Languedoc in southern France, reminds me of the richer style you might associate with white Burgundy. There’s ripe yellow apple at the core, alongside butter, subtle oak and a lightly toasted character.
The wine spends four months in barrel, adding structure and bringing those buttery, woody notes into the finish without losing the fruit underneath.
And that makes a lot of sense with Thanksgiving food.
Buttery mashed potatoes. Gravy. Stuffing. Roasted squash. Turkey.
Rather than cutting through those flavours, the Chardonnay has enough weight and texture to meet them.
This is pairing through similarity rather than contrast: butter with butter, toasted oak with roasted flavours, and enough ripe apple and acidity to bring some freshness back into the next bite.
If you usually prefer a fuller white wine with dinner, this is where I’d go.
Pinot Noir Is a Thanksgiving Classic for a Reason: DIVIN Pinot Noir
If you prefer red wine with Thanksgiving dinner, Pinot Noir is difficult to beat.
What I particularly like about DIVIN Pinot Noir is its almost Beaujolais-like character. It’s light on its feet, fresh and fruit-driven, but there’s more going on underneath.
Bright cherry and red fruit lead the way, with an almost candied cherry-cola note in the background. There are subtle earthy and herbal undertones too, while fresh acidity keeps everything lively and the tannins never become aggressive.
That combination is exactly why lighter reds work so well at Thanksgiving.
The wine has enough character to sit alongside the meal without overpowering the turkey. The red fruit is a natural match for cranberry sauce, while those earthier notes work beautifully with mushroom stuffing, gravy and roasted vegetables.
Sommelier tip: give this one a slight chill before dinner. A little time in the fridge brings out the freshness of the fruit and makes it even more versatile at the table.
Put More Than One Wine on the Table
If there’s one thing I’d suggest this Thanksgiving, it’s not worrying too much about finding the one bottle that works with absolutely everything.
What not open a few?
Start with the Studio Italiano Spumante while everyone arrives. Put the DIVIN Sauvignon Blanc and Moderato Chardonnay on the dinner table. Open the DIVIN Pinot Noir for the red wine drinkers.
Then let people experiment. Have fun.
You might love the freshness of Sauvignon Blanc with turkey and herbs, while someone across the table prefers the way Chardonnay picks up the butter and roasted flavours. Someone else might discover that Pinot Noir and cranberry sauce are a surprisingly good combination.
That’s what makes food and wine pairing interesting. There doesn’t always have to be one correct answer.
More importantly, having genuinely good non-alcoholic wine on the table means everyone gets to be part of that experience.
Someone choosing not to drink alcohol shouldn’t have to sit with a glass of water while everyone else discusses the wine. They can have bubbles when they arrive, choose a wine for dinner, compare pairings and go back for another glass.
To me, that’s when non-alcoholic wine becomes much more than simply an alternative. It becomes part of the meal, the conversation and the occasion.
Serve it properly. Put it in a good wine glass. Have some fun pairing it with the food.
And most importantly, enjoy it with the people around the table. Because at Thanksgiving, the best bottle is ultimately the one people want to share :)
