Blog Posts by Snooth Media

Waiter pours wine into a glass.It's so late to be just now looking for wines for Thanksgiving. What were you thinking? Well, never fear, finding a great wine for Thanksgiving is simple. You just have to think of the big picture now, since it's probably too late to track down specific recommendations.

So, here's a basic guide to pairing the classic dishes of Thanksgiving with easy-to-find, affordable solutions to your last-minute Turkey Day's conundrums!

ROAST TURKEY
Turkey, as we all know, is a rather neutral meat that pairs easily with a variety of wines. From light whites to medium-bodied red wines, an argument can be made for each, not so much based on the turkey itself, but rather based on the meal each chef creates around the holiday bird.

It's actually challenging to pair a single wine with all the various dishes that grace the traditional holiday table. From cranberries to root vegetables, gravy to mashed potatoes, there are so many things going on, it can be tough to choose a single wine. The same

A glass of red wine is served with a salad.Every year there seems to be a new "best" wine for Thanksgiving. But the fact is your menu probably hasn't changed much in years!

Thanksgiving should be about sharing the day with friends and family, and the quintessential All-American comfort foods. The bottom line is that the wine you like is the best wine for your Thanksgiving but, in case you are searching through all the options, I thought this would be a good time break down some of the classic pairings for Thanksgiving.

1. Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the most popular wine in America and there's no need to avoid it on Thanksgiving, as it's actually as good a choice as almost any other wine.

If your meal has orchard fruits and a nutty element, apples, pecans, or wild rice, those flavors can serve as a classic bridge, making this complementary pairing an easy winner.

I would opt for a wine with a little oak. The spice and sweetness imparted by the oak will help the wine stand up to the richer dishes at the table.

Two to try:
Lange

Wine is many things: a nice way to relax, something to share with friends, a perfect complement to a well-cooked meal. But what you don't often hear is that wine can also be part of a healthy diet.

A glass of red wine is served with Moroccan salad. While many of us who are dieting think that we need to cut wine out of our diet completely, there are a few reasons you should reconsider that plan. Reducing your intake of alcohol might certainly be in order, but there is a lot of medical evidence that shows that moderate alcohol can be healthy. Even beyond the proven medical implications of wine consumption, there are several factors that argue in favor of incorporating wine into a reduced calorie diet!

Scientific Studies About Wine

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that "Compared with nondrinkers, initially normal-weight women who consumed a light to moderate amount of alcohol gained less weight and had a lower risk of becoming overweight and/or obese during 12.9 years of follow-up." This particular study

The ghouls are beginning to crawl out, spiderwebs are getting tangled, decorations and candy are abound and we are all getting into Halloween party mode. In that case, why not arrive in costume with a bottle of Halloween-appropriate wine.

Finding a good wine for Halloween isn't always easy. A spooky label is a good start -- and there are plenty of wines we can recommend with spooky labels. They may look scary (and even have a frightening backstory to boot) but they are delicious.

Here's our count down of the top 6 scary-good wines for Halloween:

6. Gray Ghost Chardonnay
The label for Gray Ghost wines is shown.Anything with ghost in the name deserves a nod on Halloween. Named for a long-dead Confederate colonel, the wine may not have quite a paranormal association but it certainly has a haunting history.

The Chardonnay from this Virginia winery offers flavors of oak and tropical fruit and pairs well with poultry, seafood and pasta.

5. Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon
The label for Vampire wines is shown.With ties to Transylvania, this wine has a bit of a bite to

Two glasses of red wine are tilted.With the end of summer behind us, that first snap of fall has hit. While there may be a few more weeks of warm weather left, that day when you need a coat will be here before you know it. You'll want to be able to reach for the right wine to pair it the season's first cool evening.

Be prepared for the end of warm weather, the beginning of fall and, with any luck, a little bit of an Indian summer to laze away a few more precious weekends before we return indoors for our annual hibernation.

Crisp White Wines
You might want to ratchet up the intensity of your crisp whites and look for wines that will be just as fab at 55 degrees as they will be in 80 degree weather. A nice Pinot Bianco is a great choice. There are tons of great options available from Italy, Alsace, Oregon and other regions, like Austria, Germany and Hungary. Pinot Blanc is a star on the rise. Taste some in the coming months!

Two to Try:

2010 Tenuta Costa Lahnhof Pinot Bianco Alto Adige, $19
A fairly rich style of Pinot

By Gregory Dal Piaz, Snooth.com

White wine is poured into a glass.One thing you learn quickly when you get to taste as many wines as I do is that there is only a loose correlation between price and quality. Paying more for a wine certainly doesn't guarantee a better wine, but when you move from one price point to another you can at least hope that the average score of the relative groups will justify the price differential.

With Pinot Grigio, that is certainly true. This group of wines, ranging from just under $10 to about $15, is really a nice representation of what to expect at this price point. There are a few winners, wines that can easily compete with bottles costing 50 percent more, but there are also a lot of duds here. Sometimes when we spend a little less hoping to save money, we end up with a lot less wine for our money. Shop carefully and you'll see that there are many values to be found in Pinot Grigio under $15 a bottle.

These wines are bursting with the trademark fresh fruit and bright character we all

A bottle of red wine is poured into a glass.Wine reviewers often use terms like "structure," "crisp," "bright" and "tannins." But what do these terms actually mean when it comes to a flavor of a wine?

Let's break down the mystery, starting with "structure."

Structure is kind of like the framework of a wine. It is most often used in reference to levels of acid (especially found in white wines) or tannin (often found in red wines). But there are other things that come into play such as alcohol, sweetness and "body." By themselves, none of these components really mean anything but they are amplified by delicious flavors like fruitiness, oakiness, minerality, florals, herbs and others.

Fortunately, Mother Nature has made it remarkably easy to detect the main wine components. Grab a glass of red wine and taste as we walk you through it. Now let's get started!

Acid:
Acid has a tart flavor. Some wines, especially reds, are so flavorful that it's difficult to taste the acid but sometimes you can still gauge it. As you taste the

By Gregory Dal Piaz
A glass of Chardonnay reflects reflects light.Chardonnay is the world's most popular white wine, yet finding good value Chardonnay is often a real challenge. For whatever reason, perhaps its popularity, Chardonnay tends to be more expensive than other comparable wines and inexpensive Chardonnay has a tendency to be dreadful stuff. Perhaps I overstate my case there a bit, but the truth is that there is nothing I dread more, or have dreaded more throughout my professional career in wine, than the days I have to taste inexpensive Chardonnay.

Now don't get me wrong, there are delightful examples out there that are well priced and the quality of all these wines is moving in the right direction. Where cheap Chardonnay used to smell and taste of tin cans and tuna fish, today you might find green olive juice instead! Hey, at least it's a fruit instead of Chicken of the Sea.

So, every so often I brace for the worst and start popping bottles. Basically, your choices for inexpensive Chardonnay are limited to sweet, soft