Smart people don’t talk politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table—and they don’t ask wine critics about pairing wine with green bean casserole. Oh, the horror! The vegetal green beans, the creamy mushroom soup, the crispy dark onions—nothing can go with all of that. Nothing, nothing! (Cue wine critic rushing into the kitchen, sobbing, followed by family’s awkward silence, dissolved by tentative observations about the weather.)
Actually, there is one thing: Argentina’s white wine, torrontés. Pronounced tor-RON-tays, this white wine has been growing in popularity in the U.S. due to one beautiful quality: Lemons. It’s all about the bright acidity of lemons and the quaffable, drinkable qualities of lemonade.
Quite a few are now available in local shops and grocery stores, so look for Alamos’ fine version, which marries a bit of jasmine blossom to its zippy lemon qualities; the one from Crios which is more succulent and fleshy; or the one from Tilia which has nicely herbal notes. All of these should be priced in the $10–16 range, undervalued, in this critic’s opinion, probably because the wine is little known to the greater public, keeping the price down.
Who knows? With all the money you save on wine you could invest in a professional mediator in case Great Uncle Cass decides to tell you what he really thinks about a certain election. —Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl is senior editor at Mpls. St. Paul Magazine and author of Drink This: Wine Made Simple. She has won five James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the food world, for her food and wine writing; this is the first of a continuing series of wine and beverage pairing stories she will be doing for BettyCrocker.com.
General Mills has no affiliation with any of the products mentioned in this article.