I suggest either a nice bottle of Mountain Zinfandel from Opolo, or Justin Isosceles red. These are from the Paso Robles area of California’s central coast, an area known for excellent Zinfandels. I think s Cabernet is too bold, too extreme. A nice zin is a little lighter and more middle of the road.
And, no, you cannot expect the host to open it at your dinner. They certainly can (and I think they should) save it for another occasion.
Again, to each their own. I don’t keep wine around the house. If the guest says he’d going to bring a bottle of wine, that’s what we’re going to be drinking. It’s just like if a guest says he’ll bring, I dunno, soup, I won’t have a pot of soup of my own lying around just in case.
If I’m hosting a big meal, we’ll have all the wine courses planned out and ready (chilling or warming to room temp, decanted if needed). Gift wine may be incorporated into the meal but most likely not, unless it’s something like a dessert wine. Unless we’ve coordinated that a guest is bringing a particular wine specifically for the meal, I wouldn’t expect to serve gift wine.
But my family includes winemakers, we take wine pairing seriously and plan them well in advance. It pays to know something about your hosts before bringing a gift. But any gift wine would be greatly appreciated and would go into the wine fridge for later use.
We do this as well. It is released the third Thursday of November. We bring a couple bottles to open and enjoy before the meal, since my MIL always has her favorite wine to serve with the meal.
We opened a bottle last night and had it with chili. It was excellent.
Those appear to me to be contradictory statements. Social groups who do things differently aren’t doing them wrong.
First, check whether the host household drinks wine. I once brought a bottle of wine to a potluck, having not been informed by the person who invited me that it was to be held at the sort of Baptist church that disapproves of alcohol. They didn’t say anything to me, but the bottle disappeared instantly; and I very much doubt that anybody drank it, other than probably the sink drain.
I would ask, in general, ‘Can I bring something?’ Some social groups expect everybody to contribute to the meal. Others are insulted because they think bringing something implies that the host won’t supply enough for the guests. Others have carefully designed a specific meal and don’t want additions that may clash, however much they may like potlucks that are designated as such in advance.
If you ask what you can bring, they may suggest something – wine, or salad, or pie, or whatever. If instead you’re told 'Oh no, we’re all set", and you want to bring a gift anyway, then you make it clear that it’s for use some other day.
You can also ask whoever invited you – presumably they know the people in question.
That’s a neat suggestion – but again, check first. Because while my family certainly does that, some families don’t; and some social groups consider it rude to expect to take home leftovers.
The trickiest gift giving situation I’ve run into has been trying to pick out a gift for someone whose tastes I knew diverged greatly from mine.
If I gave them almost anything that I’d want, I knew they wouldn’t want it. So I gave them things I knew I wouldn’t want, but thought that they might. (Think pink jewelry, when I don’t like pink and have no use for jewelry). Sometimes I got it right, sometimes I didn’t; but at least I wasn’t deliberately giving them something I knew they didn’t want, just because I’d want it.
Agreed, which is why I mentioned in that post that I was backchanneling with the parties about things I could bring that would reduce stress, rather than add to it. [ not throwing shade at you, I promise ]
Which brings us back to the whole point of bringing a gift to your host - you are trying to be considerate and show your gratitude for being involved. If you keep both those points in mind, you’re unlikely to go wrong, and even if so, your sincerity will likely be appreciated.
But it never hurts to check!
In case anyone was wondering, I did ask the son of my hosts, who’s the friend who invited me, what his parents would want, and he had as little clue as I did. He also said I didn’t necessarily need to bring anything, but I decided I should anyway. After browsing for like fifteen minutes trying to find a few of the names from this thread, and failing, I got a bottle of red at pretty much random. Its retail price was $25+, so I figured it had a chance of at least not being too cheap. We’ll see what happens.
That’s a very thoughtful gift. I’m sure your hosts will appreciate it. Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
I’ll add my $0.02 CAN (for what that’s worth!).
First off as a wine enthusiast (who doesn’t really like many white wines) if someone brings me a bottle of wine, I have to think they probably chose that bottle for a reason (it’s a favorite, or they got a recommendation from the guy at the liquor store) so I’ll definitely try it!
I might also ask them if we should have the wine with dinner or at a later time.
And if I was to show up to a Thanksgiving dinner I would bring 2 bottles of wine. My go-to for turkey dinner is Mateus Rose from Portugal. It’s a family staple for any turkey dinner. This would be to drink with the meal and I would recommend as such. In Canada a 750ml bottle is ~$10 CAN (1.14L is ~$14 CAN).
The second bottle would be for the host to drink at a later time. and would be a personal favorite of mine. This would probably range in the $18-$45 range depending on who the person is inviting me (Friend? Relative? Stranger? Like wine? etc.). This would probably be a local wine from the Okanagan region in BC (Hillside Mosaic [~$55] or Cassini Cellars Quatro [~$30] for close friends and relatives or a Kettle Valley Syrah [~$20] for others)
When presenting the wines I would probably say “Hi host! Thanks for the invite. I recommend the Mateus to eat with the turkey, my family always enjoyed it. I’m curious if the people here agree as well. This second bottle is for you to enjoy whenever. Feel free to open it now, tomorrow or a year from now!”
Cheers