Australia and New Zealand Put the Fun in Friendsgiving
Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family, celebrate the season, and reflect on the things we’re most thankful for. While we reserve the day itself for extended family, each year my family and I spend the weekend before giving thanks for our friends with a Friendsgiving party. I love this tradition. We invite as many friends and their families as we can fit into our home. Everyone brings a dish inspired by their own traditions or cultures, and we cook a big turkey. It’s casual, low-stress, and a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season. I highly recommend it.
While I enjoy splurging on a few fancy bottles for Thanksgiving itself, for Friendsgiving, I typically hunt for more affordable wines that punch well above their price point. We don’t want to break the bank, but we want everyone to enjoy the wine. That’s one reason I keep returning to the wines of New Zealand and Australia for Friendsgiving. They’re incredibly delicious, appeal to a wide range of tastes, and consistently offer extraordinary value for the price. Here are some of the wines we’ll be serving at our Friendsgiving this year:
My favorite for Friendsgiving this year is the 2023 Matt Connell "Rendition" Pinot Noir Central Otago $29.99. Matt Connell is one of the most ambitious and exciting winemakers to emerge from New Zealand, and this 2023 Pinot Noir shows exactly why. With beautiful aromatics of black cherry and cranberry, accented by wild thyme, the palate is rich and focused, with well-balanced acidity and soft, fine-grained tannins. It’s an absolute favorite of mine this time of year.
While Pinot Noir and Chardonnay tend to get the most attention this season, don’t overlook Gamay. In my opinion, it’s the perfect variety for Friendsgiving. It’s bright, fruity, versatile, and a crowd pleaser every year. This year, we’ll be pouring the 2023 Mount Edward Gamay Central Otago $24.99. Winemaker Duncan Forsyth has crafted a delicious, minimal-intervention wine that’s a dead ringer for Beaujolais, made in the heart of New Zealand’s Central Otago wine region. This reminds me of some of Beaujolais’ best producers—like Lapierre and Foillard—but at half the price. Medium-bodied with deep aromatics and bright, crunchy red fruit, it’s the perfect complement to nearly everything on the table.
If you prefer full-bodied, powerful Chardonnay, the 2023 Xanadu "Estate" Chardonnay Margaret River Western Australia $24.99 95JH is pound-for-pound one of the best values in the store. I love the brilliant, fresh pineapple notes and the broad swing of acidity that lifts the fruit. What struck me most about this wine is its more stone-fruit character—peach and apricot play strong roles across its creamy texture, which suggests a tasting note of crème fraîche. Nougat and Granny Smith apple linger through a long finish. This wine has all the hallmarks of classic, full-bodied Chardonnay, but with elegance and poise on the palate. A stunning value.
The 2023 Austin's "6 ft. 6" Pinot Noir Geelong Victoria $14.99 is one of the great, undiscovered gems in the K&L selection. Without a doubt, this is the best under-$20 Pinot Noir in the entire store. It has elegant aromatics and powerful fruit on the palate. What I love about this wine is that it’s made in small lots with the same attention to detail you’d find in premium Central Coast Pinot Noir—but at a fraction of the price. Weighing in at 13% ABV, this Pinot is straight-up thrilling at its price point. Maybe the ultimate Friendsgiving wine.
If you have guests who are more inclined to drink Sancerre, I wholeheartedly recommend the 2022 Settlement "Heritage Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough $9.99. I loved this wine when I first tasted it earlier this year. Its aromas of grapefruit and clementine, with stone-fruit accents and rich texture, felt right for a $20 boutique Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. But fast-forward to last month, when I was offered an incredible deal that brought the price down to $9.99. This is top-quality Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at an unbelievably affordable price. A stress-free way to make your friends happy on a budget.