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The first Thanksgiving was a three-day party feauturing venison, wild fowl, beans, corn and squash, and although there's no record of any beverages present, one has to imagine that, perhaps with the Indians' help, they found something to drink. (Yes, the Puritans enjoyed alcohol - in moderation, of course.) Which brings us to our annual Staff Picks for Thanksgiving, a fabulous group of wines chosen to complement the menu and please your guests. As Eric Asimov pointed out in the New York Times last week, reds should be light to medium-bodied with pure fruit and good acidity, perhaps like a good Beaujolais. (He chose the light and lovely Frappato from Valle dell' Acate). Whites should be flavorful, with good acidity - built to stand up to the creamed onions and meaty stuffing. And why not a good Rosé or a sparkling pear cider? So here's our eclectic and food-friendly turkey-day list, with plenty of time for local and national delivery... Cheers! (All prices, except sparkling wine/Champagne, discount 10% on a case or mixed case)

In our opinion, Bernard Baudry and his son Matthieu have been making the most elegant wines from Chinon for many years, wines that are subtle and detailed expressions of the various terroirs in and around Cravant les Coteaux. Their wines are firmly rooted in thousands of years of history as well as the uniques soils of Chinon and the great work they do in the vineyard and in the cellar. While we love the basic cuvée, Les Granges, which comes from sand and gravel soils near the Vienne, it's the Domaine, Les Grézeaux and La Croix Boissée that year after year amaze us with their focus, depth and yes, affordability, making this estate one of our favorites in the Loire Valley. Which brings us to the 2007 vintage, a year that was difficult by anyone's standards, and yet the low yields and good acidities did enable the top producers to make some excellent whites and lovely lighter-bodied reds. The Baudry's however, excelled. My first encounter with these wines in February of 2008 resulted in repetitive notes of "elegant, balanced, long, lovely fruit..." The following year I was very impressed with the development of these lovely wines - lighter but perhaps prettier and more refreshing than the 2005's and definitely finer and better balanced than the 2006s. "It's a very transparent vintage" says Matthieu. "In a hot year the terroir is often less apparent, but in 2007 the soils speak very clearly." The Baudrys are wonderfully friendly and straightforward people - we're proud to recommend their delicious wines! Our normal 10% discount on a case or mixed case applies... (Here are their notes on the vintage, roughly translated.)

Fall is an ideal time for wine lovers to take a fresh look at Grenache, a grape known and loved for yielding wines with robust fruit, abundant spice, and plush texture. These are the succulent and often sweet flavors of fruit- ripened in southern climates- that initially caused many of us to become besotted by wine. To palates that have been bathed by crisp white, rosé, and light-bodied red all summer long, the warmth of Grenache is just what’s needed as the weather cools down, sometimes too quickly for comfort. Don’t wait for that old bottle of Chateauneuf or Priorat to remind you what there is to love about this grape. Here are a number of wines available to normal humans that have the potential to dispel the notion that the flavors of Grenache are in any way one dimensional.

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