How did Thanksgiving come so quickly?  It is right around the corner.  We have items to pair with this very important meal in the year. 

Our very best selling wine item is Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.  The flavors of pineapple, mango, papaya, and lemon are the experience on your palate.  The finish on this best seller is butter and toasted oak.  This wine is very versatile.  A great wine to serve when guests arrive as sipper.  K.J. Chardonnay also pairs well with your turkey.   You can find this great wine at a great value in our ad this week.
Chateau Chantal on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City, Michigan has a new Rosé made from their Malbec from Argentina.  The name is Amour Malbec Rosé.  This is a full bodied Rosé made from fully ripe Malbec grapes.  This wine has enough gumption to get you from appetizers to the main course.  Here is another great wine to serve newly arrived guests.   Juicy and lush would be my description of this great tasting wine. 

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends in Wisconsin make sure and pick up a bottle of Wollersheim Prairie Fume.  Prairie Fumé, the wine that made Wollersheim Winery famous, continues to be a showstopper in the world of international wine competitions, recently receiving various accolades for 2018.

Wollersheim’s most popular wine has been awarded a multitude of high honors for this year including Best of Class and Triple Gold at the 2018 Dan Berger International Wine Competition, Platinum and 94 Points at the 2018 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition, Gold at the 2018 Los Angeles International Wine Competition, as well as Gold at the 2018 Tasters Guild International Wine Competition.

For our Rapid City customers, make sure and bring home a bottle of a local Prairie Berry Wine.  Prairie Berry continues to win awards every year for their best-selling wines.  Pick one up and enjoy it with friends and family.

How about Rosemount Estates Traminer Riesling?  I asked you to remember this wine for Thanksgiving back in September.  This wine is 79% Gewurztraminer and 29% Riesling.  It has a great balance of dry and very floral flavors from the Gewurzt blended with sweetness and acidity of the Riesling.  This wine spends 5 months in stainless steel and has a great aroma and flavor.  This wine is a perfectly pairs with Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetables.  Serve chilled.  A great sipper as well. 

Sparkling waters that are spiked have taken the scene with a storm.  These new sparkling water items are leading the pack as growth items for 2018.  One of the new sparkling water items is called Truly.  For us, they were the first sparkling water with alcohol that we offered in our stores.  It was received extremely well.  Truly has all the great information you look for on a label boldly positioned on the front of the label.  The package that is selling really well for Truly is the variety pack, 3 cans of 4 flavors.  The flavors included are Wild Berry, Blueberry Acai, Raspberry Lime, and Pomegranate.  The nutritional information on this that is easily read on the label are as follows: 5% ABV, 100 calories, 1g sugar, and gluten free.  This item is very versatile with food or just sipping. 

How about a beer as an opener while waiting for the big meal to get ready? Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is brewed using a boatload of intense Northwest hops, this beer is boiled for 60 minutes while continuous hopping occurs.  This produces a bold flavor of hops balanced with sweet maltiness.  None of that violent hop in this beer.  The ABV is 6% and the IBUs are 60.  Also a great pairing with cheddar cheese, spicy snack, or some smoked salmon dip.

What pairs with Founders Solid Gold?  Solid Gold is the newest Founders beer item introduced in 2018.  This is not your father’s lager beer.  This is a lager that has never been made in the manner that only Founders could pull off.  This is your beer if you like a full bodied, easy drinking, delicious lager.  The aroma starts with the beautiful Lemondrop Hop that is pleasing to the nose.  The beer tastes sweet, malty, and pleasant on the mid-palate.  This beer finishes with the slight hop flavor that is balanced.

I hope these pairings add a new dimension to your typical Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy responsibly and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Greg VanOverloop, Beer & Wine Specialist

• Started in the Grocery business bagging at D&W in 1975.  Worked at D&W for 30 years in various departments.
• Worked at SpartanNash for 11 years.  Currently the Category Manager for Wine/Beer/Spirits for SpartanNash East.
• Have been a category manager since 1990 and a category manager of beer  since 1997.  CM of wine and spirits since 2007.
• Have travelled extensively which provided the opportunity to taste many foods and beverages from Hong Kong to Caribbean, from California to Maine.
• Love to cook, grill, and bake, snow ski, sail, and read books.    Best baked item – a bourbon pecan pie with rum crust.  Best grilled item – salmon with blueberry onion wine sauce and goat cheese.  Best cooked item – Squash Apple soup with bourbon.  Best ski slope – Go Devil at Keystone.  Best book – Wonder.
• 1 wife, 3 children, 7.3 grandchildren.