Wine Industry Pros Share What They’re Pouring on Thanksgiving

What the people who know wine best are drinking this holiday

If I’m being honest, Thanksgiving was never really my favorite holiday growing up. But that all changed once I discovered my passion for wine. Two of my greatest joys in life are sharing my wine discoveries with others and dreaming up fantastic food and wine pairings, and Thanksgiving provides the perfect opportunity to do both. Plus, as I get older and life just keeps getting faster, I very much appreciate any opportunity to slow down, gather with family and friends, and take a moment to celebrate all that we have to be grateful for.

Rather than put together a guide to the best wines for Thanksgiving like I’ve done in years past (which you’ll find linked below), I thought I’d do something different this year. I reached out to a variety of wine industry professionals to see what they’ll be pouring at the Thanksgiving table and asked them if they’d like to share a wine memory they’re grateful for, too. Here’s what they had to say:

Todd Nelson

Vice President of Marketing at Winesellers Limited

Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40 Tastemaker

This Thanksgiving, I’m keeping things both fresh and classic. For starters, I’ll be popping open some Kind of Wild Wine Organic Cava—it’s bubbly, organic, and just fun for kicking things off.

For red wine fans, I’m going with Kind of Wild Organic Pinot Noir; lately, I’m really enjoying lighter, lower-alcohol options.

But honestly, it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving for me without a bottle of Barbera or Sangiovese from Eberle Winery in Paso Robles. That’s a tradition at my table—partly because they’re delicious, and partly because of what they mean to me.

Eberle Winery is extra special to me because it was actually my very first job after college. Gary, who I worked with there, played a huge role in helping me find my place in the wine world—he let me explore, learn, and figure things out, which really set me on my path. Every time I open a bottle from Eberle at Thanksgiving, it’s like raising a glass to that journey and all the people who helped along the way.

Gino Colangelo

President, Colangelo & Partners

I’ll be pouring a beautiful Chianti Classico Riserva from Perano. I can’t think of a better, more versatile and food-friendly wine. Before that, I’ll start with a crisp Villa Sandi Prosecco, a great way to prepare the palate for the big meal ahead. I have so much to be thankful for, starting with my family and friends. We’ll be celebrating together.

Kathleen Willcox:

Wine Writer

Find her on Substack & subscribe to Good + Tasty

For many years, it was hard for me to decide what to serve at major feasts where a lot of people I love are going to show up, and, I fear, judge my choice with a superciliously raised brow.

In recent years though, I have shaken off the imposter syndrome and embraced the advice I share with anyone who reads my work or listens to my words: “if you like the wine and think it pairs well with the food, that’s the important part.”

Wine choices—to a point—are subjective. So yes, I totally know what I’ll be serving on Thanksgiving, and if anyone doesn’t love it, I’d love to wrestle them, both for the stress relief and because they’re so wrong. It’s a wild yeast, unfiltered, unfined amphora-aged Carménère from the organically farmed Chateau Carsin in the Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux. The 2020 is black fruit, spice, forest herbs, perfect with roasted and toasted turkeys, both poultry and human.

Hailey Bohlman

Founder, Cork & Fizz

Wine Educator, Event Host, & Podcaster

Find her on Instagram: @corkandfizz & Facebook

As for what I’m serving, this year looks VERY different for me as I’m pregnant so I’ll be sharing a couple non-alcoholic wines over Thanksgiving. It’s just my husband and I plus his parents who don’t drink much so they just follow my lead. I’m planning to bring Domaine EdeM Sparkling Rosé (from Spain, they infuse this with rose petals to give extra flavor) and Sea Monster Tidal Wave White.

I still don’t *love* NA wine, but these are some of the best tasting ones I’ve found. They don’t taste like wine but they taste good!

And for the wine memory I’m grateful for: the one that comes to mind is one my husband actually reminded me of recently. We were visiting Santa Barbara and sitting outside in the common area of the hotel we were at before heading to dinner. They had a fire pit with chairs all around it.

After a bit, this other couple joined us and we started chatting. We’d never met before but we already knew we had one commonality: love for wine! They started telling us about the wine they were drinking, it was this red wine from Paso Robles where the winemaker used almost like a sherry technique by constantly adding different vintages to the same barrel.

They saw we were intrigued and so they offered us a glass! Again, we’d never met before. They only had one bottle of this. (And I’ll bet it was expensive.) And they were sharing it with total strangers.

This interaction just reminds me of how much wine brings people together. It’s meant to be shared. When a wine lover has a bottle they find really special, they WANT to share it. It has the ability to create really special moments and relationships.

Kristy Wenz

Wine Writer, Educator & Communicator

Find her on Substack: Kristy’s Wine Travels & Instagram: @kristys_winetravels

Each Thanksgiving, I open and share bottles that have a particular meaning to me for the past year. Something for which I’m extremely grateful. This year, those bottles will include the 2022 Poggio della Dogana “Farfarello Brix” Albana from Romagna, Italy, and the 2021 Bernard Baudry “Le Croix Boissee” Cabernet Franc from Chinon, France. And this year, I’ll be raising a glass to my Rioja Wine Academy Camp and Diploma that I completed this month.

Spanish wines were my first wine loves and it has long been a dream to move to Spain and study the wines and cultures even further. Rioja Camp was a step in that direction and an opportunity to immerse in Rioja at a level I never imagined possible. Rioja is the reason I fell in love with wine, and Rioja Camp has moved me closer to my goal of eventual relocation.

Keith Akers

WSET Diploma with 18 years of experience in the industry. Currently runs a consultancy focusing on providing wine-driven trips for private clients.

Find him on Instagram: @docgkeith, Substack: @Throughthewineglass & YouTube: @Throughthewineglass

For Thanksgiving I’ll open a bottle of Gigondas. It’s one of those things where I love how versatile Grenache is with a lot of classic Thanksgiving food and it works well as an affordable crowd pleaser while still appealing to my geeky side!

It’s not so much a wine memory, but a wine professional that I am deeply grateful for. His name is Neil Charles and he’s had a massive hand in shaping who I am as a professional and how I view wine. He was the first person to really encourage me to seek out WSET and go for major certifications and has always believed in me. It’s really impossible for me to say where I’d be without him and I ever crossing paths.

Thanksgiving Wine Inspiration

Hopefully, these wine industry pros gave you some inspiration for what wines to serve this Thanksgiving. But in case you’re in need of additional guidance, check out the following:

And if you have holiday wine or gift shopping to do:

Shop the top 100 wines from Wine.com: It’s the Top 100! Shop Wine.com’s top wines from 2025

Or get a little discount on Wine.com shopping: Take $20 off your order of $150 with code NOVSAVER20, New Customers only, expires 11/30/25

Let us know what wines you’re planning to savor this Thanksgiving in the comments below. Happy Thanksgiving!