Choosing Wine for Thanksgiving: Advice from Urban Liquor

They may have cooked a dozen Thanksgiving dinners, but most Iowa cooks are insecure about choosing a wine to go with the meal.

Don't worry. Lynn and Nicole Schoelerman of , 6401 Douglas Ave., have a short list of wines that go well with turkey. The mother-daughter combo, who work at the family-owned spirits shop, say customers often ask for help picking out wine this time of year.

"The thing we sell the most of at Thanksgiving are Rieslings," said Lynn, describing the wine as "a light, crisp, white wine that's fruity and well-balanced."

"It's a wine that's easy to drink for non-wine drinkers," she said. And you can get any number of types for between $9 and $15 a bottle.

Here are her recommendations:

• "The one that I like is called Relax - a light Riesling that's easy to drink," said Lynn.
• For someone who likes wine, Twisted River has a drier Riesling.
• She also recommends an Iowa wine, Grape Escape, by Kimball Creek winery near Pleasantville.
• Nicole recommended Iowa Brianna by Tassel Ridge winery in Leighton.
• Nicole also likes Farm House Catina, another Iowa white wine.

Don't worry if your guests don't like wine at all. Nicole said there are several good harvest or winter beers you can serve:

• Leinenkugel's Octoberfest beer.
• Samuel Adams Winter Lager, a dark beer flavored with cinnamon, orange zest and ginger.
• There's even a beer from the Amana Colonies: Shokolade Bock, described as having a "robust malt character with a hint of chocolate."

If you don't want wine or beer, try a liqueur as a dessert, said Nicole.

Fun to try might have been Pumpkin Pie liqueur by Fulton, said Lynn. Unfortunately, you can't get it any more in Iowa, she said. "All of a sudden, after it's all gone, everybody wants it," she said.

However, if you really want to try to create a pumpkin-pie-flavored liqueur, try this recipe for "Pumpkin Pie Shot", said Nicole: Half an ounce each of coffee liqueur, Bailey's Irish Cream and cinnamon schnapps.