Whether you're a fan of red, white, rosé, orange or bubbles, there’s so much choice when it comes to pairing wine with roast turkey – good news for chefs and guests alike this Christmas and Thanksgiving.

What kind of wine goes with roast turkey?

Good bets for roast turkey include medium to full-bodied white wines that balance freshness with complexity or medium-bodied red wines with relatively understated tannins and refreshing acidity.

Turkey isn’t a powerful meat and is generally quite low in fat, so bigger, bolder styles of red wine that coat your mouth with tannins might overshadow the dish.

Tannins will integrate and soften in the best wines over time, though. That’s partly why styles such as classic Bordeaux blends with a few years of bottle age can be great with a roast turkey dinner.

Acidity, meanwhile, is potentially a great dining partner for all those side dishes at a marathon Christmas or Thanksgiving meal, providing ‘lift’ and refreshing your palate.

Bear in mind that even classic wine styles vary in profile by producer and vintage, so it’s worth putting in some research.

Food and wine pairing is also highly subjective. Personal taste is always important, as expert Fiona Beckett wrote in a previous Decanter article: ‘If you can’t drink your favourite wines at Christmas, then when can you?’

Wine styles and/or grape varieties to consider:

• Fuller-bodied Chardonnay
• Off-dry Riesling
• Pinot Noir
• Gamay (Cru Beaujolais)
• Mature Bordeaux blends
• Rioja Gran Reserva

Choose your strategy: All-rounder vs multiple choice

Some experts argue that turkey’s entourage is almost more important at the Christmas or Thanksgiving table.

‘As turkey has quite a subtle taste and a soft texture, the style of the wine will depend essentially on what accompanies the fowl at Christmas,’ said master sommelier Matthieu Longuère MS, wine development manager at Le Cordon Bleu London culinary school, when speaking with Decanter in 2024.

‘The classic trimmings that tend to be eaten alongside turkey for Christmas lunch are: a mountain of roasted potatoes, stuffing, carrots, parsnips, pigs in blankets, red cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, and an ocean of gravy,’ said Longuère.

‘This variety means that your choice of wine needs to be a good all-rounder. It should not be too tannic or it will clash with the sweetness of the cranberry sauce and root vegetables, and the sweet and sourness of the cabbage.

‘Also, it cannot not be too heavy or too full-bodied, as it will overwhelm the soft turkey meat,’ he said.

The multiple choice approach

It depends on how many people you have around the table, but another approach is to open several bottles and let guests choose something to their taste.

Dana Nigro, Decanter’s North America editor, said, ‘My strategy for Thanksgiving is to bring a mixed case of food-friendly wines that can handle most of what's on the table and suit the other guests' preferences.’

Is red or white wine better for a roast turkey dinner?

White wines with turkey

Off-dry Riesling to bridge savoury and sweet

If you have dishes on the table with a touch of sweetness, then off-dry Riesling is a style to consider.

Nigro said many classic Thanksgiving dishes involve degrees of sweetness, from candied yams to honey-glazed carrots or sweet potato casserole with marshmallows.

‘I generally have an off-dry Riesling on-hand, as it can handle the sweeter dishes while still having the bright acidity and underlying minerality to go with more savoury sides,’ said Nigro.

‘I love German Kabinetts, but the Finger Lakes is amazing for Rieslings of all styles if you live in an area that has access to them.’

Chardonnay with turkey: Match made in heaven?

Chardonnay emerged victorious in a 2011 Decanter expert tasting on what to drink with a roast turkey Christmas lunch.

A ‘fine, minerally’ Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru wine edged out competition Pinot Noir, classic claret and other red wine options.

Serving a wine like this would be a real treat, but white Burgundy at Christmas doesn’t have to be a wallet-busting endeavour: see these 10 tips for buying smarter.

A relatively full-bodied Chardonnay can hold its own with turkey and traditional sides like bread sauce. Well-judged oak can bring some sweet spice notes, while creamy lactic acid may add depth alongside fruit flavours ranging from lemon and honey to ripe pear and quince.

Meanwhile, a backbone of acidity brings balance to the richness and should carve a path through all of those trimmings.

Good Chardonnays are found all over the world, from New Zealand to Oregon, and often broadly in geographical areas that also excel with Pinot Noir.

Red wine with turkey

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir often delivers wines of bright red fruit and refreshing acidity, albeit with varying levels of structure. Consider avoiding styles that are too lightweight.

Longuère recommended a good, five-year-old Pinot from Burgundy, plus Germany or also the UK, as well as from regions outside Europe.

Delicious Pinot Noirs can be found across the world, from Mornington Peninsula in Australia and Central Otago in New Zealand to Oregon’s Willamette Valley in the US and Walker Bay in South Africa.

Amanda Barnes MW also recently explored how Pinot Noir has found its footing in South America, spanning regions of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

Younger reds in general can work with turkey, said Longuère, adding so-called ‘New World’ styles tend to be more approachable in youth, but also that decanting can help to ‘soften up’ younger wines in general.

Gamay: One to watch

There has been talk of a Gamay revival in recent years as more people seek out lighter, easy-drinking reds.

Beaujolais is this variety’s heartland, albeit it’s found elsewhere, too – including the Niagara peninsula in Canada – and insiders have long prized the wines’ food-friendly qualities.

Cru Beaujolais could be a great option for your roast turkey. Longuère advised looking towards cru areas known for lighter styles, citing Fleurie or Brouilly.

In the US, Nigro said Cru Beaujolais is a popular choice, particularly if you’ve got a classic cranberry sauce on the table. ‘It’s bright red fruit flavours go well with cranberry-accented dishes and the wines don't overwhelm the turkey.’

Mature red wines with turkey

Bordeaux blends featuring Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have long been seen as a go-to option for the festive season.

As mentioned, though, wine styles known for prominent tannins in their youth might overpower your taste buds, even if levels vary and some wines show more fine-grained tannins than others.

The good thing is that tannins soften and integrate over time. In the best long-lived wines, layers of delicious primary fruit and ‘tertiary’ flavours can offer a real treat at the table.

Longuère said: ‘If one is going for it, [I’d suggest] a 20-year-old Haut-Médoc or Barolo [Nebbiolo] when they become really complex, with aromas of tobacco, autumn leaf and sweet oak, and feel like pure silk on the palate.’

Bordeaux’s brilliant 2005 vintage recently turned 20 years old, but don’t write off so-called lesser vintages – many of which can be ready for drinking sooner, due to their slightly lighter profile. See Sophie Thorpe's recent guide to mature Bordeaux for inspiration.

Rioja with roast turkey: ‘a slam-dunk match’

Longuère also suggested Rioja Gran Reserva wines at least 10 years old as a potentially great match for turkey.

These wines are released with some bottle age and are often relatively good value in the fine wine world, he noted.

Wine writer Olly Smith is also a fan. ‘Turkey with all the trimmings and a high-end Rioja Gran Reserva is a slam-dunk wine match for Christmas day,’ he previously wrote for Decanter.

Rosé and orange wines with turkey

Rosé needn’t just be for summer sipping. Longuère said fuller-bodied, more complex styles of rosé wines can be a hit with turkey at Christmas.

Look to Bandol in southern France or Navarra in Spain, for example.

And don’t forget bubbles. Decanter’s Champagne correspondent, Tom Hewson, wrote: ‘The [Christmas] main meal is tailor-made for Champagne’s deep and dark rosé de saignée.’

Many orange wines can be a great dining partner. ‘The combination of freshness from white grapes and the structure from the skins makes orange wines extremely versatile on the dinner table,’ wrote Simon Woolf in his Decanter guide to orange wines.

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