I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my home this year. After all, it's been years since I cooked a turkey and all the trimmings. Having spent years in the restaurant business, I was fairly confident I could pull this off without a glitch, but still....

The afternoon began just as planned. The Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta Brut was a huge hit with the pre-dinner appetizers. As my house filled with the intoxicating aroma of roast turkey, my anxiety grew. The moment of truth came when I started carving the bird and could see it was perfectly cooked...job done...or so I thought.

I had a couple of bottles of 2005 vintage Beaune Premier Cru in my wine fridge just waiting to be uncorked for the big day. Great producer, extraordinary vintage, and as so often happens with red Burgundy, the bottles disappointed rather than delivered. {Sorry to my Francophile friends but I'm sure you have experienced this as well}. The wine was supposed to be the easy part of my turkey day meal.

I knew I had to act quickly. I could see my friends were not enjoying the wine as much the food. I reached into my Danby and pulled out a bottle of Poggio Il Castellare Sant' Antimo Cervio. Tuscan cabernet is not a wine I would normally choose for Thanksgiving dinner but the wonderful scents of crushed berries and fresh herbs along with the velvety tannins was a perfect match. Fortunately I had a second bottle to get us through the dinner. Sadly, however, most of this spectacular wine is quickly disappearing from our stores.

Don't despair, though, if you don't find any of the 2008 Cervio left in our stores. The 2009 vintage of this wine should be in our stores before Christmas. Wine Spectator has once again awarded the wine 93 points and describes it as follows: "Deeply rooted black currant, cherry, spice and earth flavors mingle in this intense red. This is more about the fruit, with well-mannered tannins and structure nicely integrated. The fine finish of black currant and spice lingers. $60" Our price is $34.99 at the time of this writing.

Paul Quaglini

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