Last Thursday I did an experimental tasting with Bruce Kinsey at QFC Factoria. Bruce was looking for 'something new' in the way of wines for Thanksgiving. Bruce had the brilliant idea of running over to the deli and getting a piece of turkey and a piece of ham, so that we could get scientific instead of speculative. Everybody knows the classic matches, gewurztraminer or riesling for the whites, Beaujolais or Pinot for reds. I freely admit that there were some real surprises - some wines I was sure were going to be great were just OK and others came out of left field as amazing matches. Interestingly, there were even a couple of wines that performed well with both meats - no small feat! 
These were the winners:
BEST OVERALL
The overall winner was also the least expensive wine - the Domaine du Prince Costieres de Nimes Blanc. It was a great match with both meats, really doing well with both.
BEST WITH TURKEY
Another great match with the Turkey was the Domaine des Forges Anjou Blanc. A fairly atypical Anjou (weightier than most and with a light touch of botrytis) It was a seamless match that surprised us both. The Cote Roannaise (gamay) from Lapandery was also a good match with the turkey.
BEST WITH HAM
This was another big surprise - the Lapandery was not a great match with ham so we didn't expect much from the Coteaux du Giennois Rouge from Domaine Poupat as it is also a medium-bodied, fairly acidic red. This wine, 60% gamay and 40% pinot noir was revelatory - it blew away all of the other wines as a match for the ham, and was good with the Turkey too.
These wines are all available at QFC Factoria if you are in that neighborhood, otherwise call your habitual retailer to special order.
