Wines with Thanksgiving leftovers

I still think wistfully of the first time when I put all the Thanksgiving leftovers, except salad and cranberry sauce, into one big Teflon pan and stir-fried them together.

I say the first time, because I tried it when I was a junior in college, and it was surprisingly delicious. Why not? Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, some broccoli if I remember correctly, pan fried in olive oil. I felt like a culinary genius at an age when Pop-Tarts were still a legitimate breakfast choice.

However, I tried the same trick a couple more times later in life but never recaptured the magic. (Though one Christmas I did make amazing stuffing with some leftover black beans and rice because I was short of bread.) Now I reheat the stuff separately, sigh.

So what wine do you drink with the melange of seen-better-times food?

The obvious answer is whatever wine is leftover. From our party yesterday, however, there was none.

I like something juicier today than I did on Thanksgiving day. I always have leftover white-meat turkey, because I eat the dark meat first, but it will be drier today, and there's only so much resurrection that leftover gravy can do. Similarly, leftover stuffing is a lot drier today.

Plus, I lean toward minerally, austere whites on the day itself, and today I'm ready for a change of pace.

Grenache is probably my favorite choice -- good acidity, plenty of fruit. There are plenty of good ones from Spain (called Garnacha) and also from southern France. I tend to lean toward American wines on our Thanksgiving holiday so I'm ready for a change from that today as well.

A lot of people like Zinfandel on Thanksgiving, as it is the American grape. (Yeah, I know about Croatia, blah blah. So it has immigrant roots. Don't we all?) I prefer it today, though, because I'm more in the mood for it.

This may be heresy for some, but I don't mind opening a nice Merlot today. Sparkling Shiraz, if you have one, is another good choice.

Hope your turkey day went well. Mine did!