Wine as a Hostess Gift for Thanksgiving

[vafarmwife]

I have been invited to my neighbors house for Thanksgiving this year and I want to bring them a bottle or two of wine as a thank you. I am totally clueless when it comes to wine. What would be a good brand and type to bring. I would like to spend about $20-25 per bottle if that's possible for something nice. I know they drink merlot as they have offered it to me in the past. This wine would be for them and not to go with the Thanksgiving meal. Oh and the closest wine store to me is about 1.5 hours away so this needs to be something I can get local. I have Kroger, Food City, and Wal-Mart (shudder) in my area.
Thanks

[scrappydog]

How about a sparkling wine (a domestic version of Champagne) ? Roederer Estate Brut (Alexander Valley) is usually fairly widely available and might be available at Kroger (Ralph's which is owned by Kroger carries it in California.) It would work with Thanksgiving if your host wanted to open it, but would do just fine on it's own on another occasion. It is usually priced at around $22 to $25, but is on sale for the holidays in many areas for around $18 currently. It is one of the better sparkling wines that is widely available and moderately priced.

I do not have a good recommendation for a Merlot, as I don't know what would be available at the stores you have listed. In a supermarket, I would normally pick up something like Columbia Crest Grand Estates for around $10 to $12 (or less if on sale.)

[waitress]

Kroger is probably your best bet, if you go to Kroger in the morning, there is a good chance you could talk to one of their wine salesman and they can give you some guidance. You also, could call the manager and ask someone to help you. There is bound to be someone around to help.

In the $20 price range, you could find a great Pinot Noir and that is perfect for Thanksgiving fare, Acacia, LaCrema, Saintsbury, Cambria, MacMurray Ranch, Bearboat, King Estate, Aldesheim, one of these has to be there. You will be fine, grab one from Oregon, France or CA in your price range..

If you want to take a second bottle, grab a white, Trimbach Pinot Blanc, a Macon Villages in the French section. In the Italian section a Pinot Grigio... or a Pinot Gris from Oregon. If they are big wine drinkers bring a bottle of sparkling wine from CA in the Champagne section.

Dry Creek Dry Chenin Blanc $11. Other Whites Section
St Urban Hof Riesling $12 German Section
Columbia Valley Riesling $11 Other Whites Section
Evolution #9 $22 Other White Section
Georges Duebouf Macon Villages $12 French Section

I just reread that it isn't for the Thanksgiving meal, St Supery Merlot is one of my favorites!! Kroger will have some high end red wines on sale .. Some other names Fransican, Coppola, Rodney Strong, Markham.

[Politeness]

vafarmwife, your sophistication in writing, "This wine would be for them and not to go with the Thanksgiving meal," is admirable. A hostess gift is -- and should be -- for the hostess's consumption; you are very right. One means to convey to the hostess that you understand that precept is to bring a wine that is "inappropriate" with the Thanksgiving turkey. Then, there can be no question that is a gift for them, not something to be opened right away.

Within the guideline of "inappropriate for turkey" wines, we suggest Tuscan or Umbrian reds. You may have a hard time finding the better Umbrian reds at Krogers, but you should be able to find a good Tuscan Carmignano or Tuscan Rosso di Montalcino at any major Kroger's store. Ambra Carmignano, which should run you around $17 -$18 a bottle, is stocked at our local Fred Meyer, a Kroger subsidiary, and (if you can find Carmignano) you can pep up the presentation a little with the (true) anecdote that one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson -- you're in Virginai, right? -- bought Carmignano by the barrel for shipment to his estate at Monticello. Capezzana also makes excellent Carmignanos that are widely distributed. The prices of various brands of Rosso di Montalcino vary over a much wider range than Carmignanos do, but a $25 Rosso di Montalcino is likely to be excellent.

Another note: among all the world's wines, Carmignano -- which was the first wine in history to have a legislated designation of origin -- may be the most reliable. All of the producers within the Carmignano DOCG zone get together once a year and taste each others' to-be-released wines. Unless the members of the consortium agree, no producer's wine may be sold under the appellation Carmignano. In some years, no wine is released with the Carmignano appellation, but wine that has been released under that appellation has passed the consortium's taste test.

[maria lorraine]

Where are you in Virginia? Any wine stores nearby?

I just went to the Kroger site, and to the wine selections. Not much there, but there is
a lovely red wine called 1999 Frei Brothers Reserve Pinot Noir. Get this exact wine.
Not a different year (not the 2000 at all). Get the Reserve. Give Kroger a call to
make sure they have it. If there's a website link Kroger's can give you, please share it.

http://recipes.kroger.com/wine/browse...

[vafarmwife]

I live in southwest Virginia and the closest wine store is in Blacksburg or Roanoke which are 1 1/2 to 2 hours away respectively.

I have been trying to do some research on my own, but other than searching for "supermarket wine", I am not coming up with much. I plan on going to Kroger today on my lunch hour to check out the wine section and will definitely bring along the above recommendations. Thanks

[njfoodies]

I was down at Fort Lee, VA, and shocked to see Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc in a Wal Mart or a Target there a few years ago. That is a good option at your price point. -mJ

[vafarmwife]

After doing some research and reading the recs here, I wanted to purchase MacMurray Ranch 2007 Pinot Gris or a King Estate 2007 Pinot Gris. I also wanted a 2007 Mossback Pinot Noir. I was unable to find either label at Kroger or Food City. As a side note, my local Food City has a whole aisle of wine whereas Kroger had less than 1/4 of an aisle. I ended up with a Hogue Cellars 2007 Pinot Gris and and A by Acacia Pinot Noir 2007. Both were on sale for $10 and $18 respectively.