As we are quickly approaching the Thanksgiving holiday it is a time for not only celebrating our family and friends, but also for enjoying a delicious meal while doing so. While there are a variety of traditional dishes prepared for Thanksgiving, knowing which wine to serve with the Thanksgiving feast is always a question on everyone’s mind this time of year.
From the appetizers to side dishes to the main feast followed by dessert how can one decide which wines are the best? Personally, I drink what I like. Plain and simple. Although, something is to be said for finding that perfect pairing to marry the flavors of the dishes with the wine. I find it easier to break it up by course. I always go for a sparkling wine or white wine for the appetizers, red for the main course, and a dessert wine to end the meal. Although with so many pies to dig into, the dessert wine selection sometimes gets left by the wayside. Can you blame me?
This week I prepared a mini-Thanksgiving feast to enjoy a wine that I was reminded of at a recent class on Umbrian wines in Boston last month. I also had a bottle on hand at home and it seemed it would pair lovely with a Thanksgiving meal preview. This bottle is the 2020 Madrevite C’osa Gamay del Trasimeno Riserva DOC. You may recall I have featured Madrevite previously with their 2019 vintage of C’osa.
The Madrevite Winery
The Madrevite winery is located in northern Umbria, bordering Tuscany, within the Perugia province in the town of Castiglione del Lago. The name of the winery, Madrevite, comes from an ancient name for the piece that corked the barrels.
Nicola reintroduced a clone of Gamay from old Gamay vines that he discovered on the property of Madrevite and planted new vines. The Gamay grape was brought to the Trasimeno area in the 1600’s by the Spanish. Eleonora Alarcon y Mendoza, whom was the wife of Duke Fulvio della Corgna whose family ruled Castiglione, was a fan of Gamay for its aromatics, structure, roundness and alcohol levels.
Madrevite Wine 
Nicola Chiucchiurlotto and the future of Madrevite
The 2020 Madrevite C’osa Gamay del Trasimeno Riserva DOC is a wine made from 100% Gamay del Trasimeno. This wine was given the name C’osa to represent whom is daring to try this wine. The eye-catching artwork on the label from artist Jean-Michel Basquiat seems to capture that essence of boldness.
Nicola’s grandfather, Zino, grafted these ancient Gamay cuttings in the 70’s to 100+ year old vines at the small vineyard on top of the hill at the estate. The grapes were manually harvested and spent 6 months in concrete with 12 months in large barrel with an additional 6 months in the bottle. Deeper ruby colored the aromas of this wine are lovely. Ripe and dried blackberries, plums and black cherry with a little bit of spice. Juicy acidity on the palate with smooth, fine tannin and a round mouthfeel.
Thanksgiving wine pairing
I found this wine to go rather nicely with this mini selection of a pre-Thanksgiving meal. Medium bodied with ample fruit, good acidity along with smooth tannins helped complement the turkey and sides. Although this was just a small selection of some of the typical sides to be enjoyed on Thanksgiving, I feel this wine will stand up well to many of the options for your Thanksgiving meal.
Join my fellow Italian food and wine lovers as they share some other Italian wines to consider for your Thanksgiving feast!
- Wine Predator... Gwendolyn Alley serves up 4 Italian Wines for Thanksgiving: Prosecco, Chardonnay, Barolo, Passito with a coursed meal
- A Day in the Life on the Farm is Celebrating an American Thanksgiving with an Italian Antipasti Platter and a Sparkling Wine from Italy that is not Prosecco
- Culinary CamNAME says Grazie Mille: Veg-Forward Sides and Villa Dora's 'Vigna del Vulcano' Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Bianco
- Our Good Life shares Wine pairings and Pumpkin Pie
- Wineivore is serving an Italian Thanksgiving with Coppo Wines