Thanksgiving may be the greatest holiday for wine lovers. Meals have become so elaborate and so diverse that they beg for wines that will complement a wide array of flavors. Gone are the days when all people drank were simple white wines or sweet pink ones. This year, broaden your horizons and try something that will have body and flavor to stand up to all of the dishes on the table.

Turkey has to be the most important dish on the Thanksgiving table. Depending on how it is prepared, the turkey can have the full flavors of the bird or more elaborate flavors from preparation with spices and berries. Try a white wine that has the structure to stand up to these flavors; like an oak-aged Chardonnay that will have flavors of ripe fruits, citrus and spice (try the Beringer – Chardonnay, Napa Valley, one of the most consistent Chardonnays produced in California), or a wine that has more delicate flavors but the body and spice to complement the turkey like an Australian Grüner Veltliner (Laurenz und Sophie – 'Singing' Grüner Veltliner is produced by the Lenz Moser family which has been crafting Austrian Grüner Veltliner for 5 generations). If you'd rather drink a red wine with your turkey, try a Pinot Noir or Beaujolais. Depending on where it is grown, a Pinot Noir will have red-berry flavors with hints of earth and mushrooms like those from France (look for La Baume – Pinot Noir, a great value from France), or the wine will have "lnew world" flavors with brighter fruit and possibly some tropical notes and spice (Five Rivers – Pinot Noir is a wonderful value produced in Santa Barbara, CA). If you are looking for a red wine with a little more body but something that won't overpower the turkey, try a Cru Beaujolais. Unlike the candy sweet Beaujolais Nouveau, a Cru Beaujolais is fermented dry and has a silky mouthfeel and rich dark-red fruit flavors (one of the best produced is Louis Jadot – Chateau Des Jacques, Moulin-a-Vent).

Other dishes on the Thanksgiving table tend to have more flavor than the turkey. Stuffing can include vegetables, berries or meats; potatoes with cheese; squash with honey or brown-sugar; even beans with salt, pepper and other spices. These dishes require wines that can be very versatile. California red Zinfandel can be produced in a wide array of styles, from easy drinking balanced wine (like the Renwood – Zinfandel from Amador County) to a dark and brooding wine (like the single vineyard Zinfandels from Medusa Winery). Or try some of the great food wines from Italy, like a Cabernet/Sangiovese blend from Tuscany (try Banfi – Col-Di-Sasso) which will have the dark flavors of a Cabernet complemented with the bright flavors of Sangiovese; or open a bottle of Italian Barbera that will have jammy berry flavors and floral notes (Michele Chiarlo – Barbera D'Asti 'La Court' is always a great choice).

Dessert can often be the most exciting part of the Thanksgiving meal. Whether its pies, sweets or cheeses, there are always wonderful wines to finish a meal. Light, semi-sparkling wines like Moscato D'Asti will pair well with fruits, light cheeses or pumpkin pie. It will also cleanse the palate at the end of the meal, leaving your mouth feeling refreshed (try Nivole from Michele Chiarlo - the name means clouds and the softy flavors of apricot and citrus will make you feel like floating). If chocolate is your dessert of choice, try a Port. Port comes in an array of styles, but usually falls into two categories; ruby Port or tawny Port. Ruby Port is fruity and straightforward; usually aged for 2-3 years. Ruby Ports tend to have ripe, red fruit flavors (Fonseca Bin 27 is one of the best selling ruby Ports in restaurants across the US). Tawny Ports have been aged for longer periods, usually ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty years. Because of the extended barrel aging, tawny Ports develop nutty flavors entwined with the sweetness of brown sugar and vanilla. These are Ports that pair very well with stronger cheeses (try the Delaforce – 'His Eminence Choice' 10 Year Old Tawny - one of the great values in tawny Port). Lastly, if you want a wine that is going to wow everyone at your table, and have the versatility to serve at the beginning of the meal as an aperitif or at the end of the meal with fruits or even chocolate, try the red-sparkling wine Brachetto d'Acqui (with hints of rose petals and raspberries, Rosa Regale - Brachetto d'Acqui is a favorite among many).

So open a few bottles this Thanksgiving, share them with your friends and family, and have a wonderful holiday.

As the popularity of wine continues to expand, so is the variety of wine packages available in your local wine shop or liquor store. Alternative packaging (wine bottles without the traditional natural cork closure or wine not packaged in a bottle) is growing rapidly. New Zealand has been leading the way with screw-cap wines, with over 25 wineries converting from cork closure to screw caps. In Australia, over half of the wine consumed is sold in either a box or an individual tetra-pack. So what is hampering the growth of these alternative packages in the United States; a preconceived notion about the quality of a wine due to its packaging. Just last month, the Oregon State University released a study showing this consumer bias toward wines closed with screw caps and synthetic corks. Yet, when consumers tasted all of the wines blind (without seeing the label or packaging) they could tell no differences in the wines closed with cork, synthetic cork, or screw caps. My advice: keep an open mind and try wines with a variety of different packages, and your sure to find wines you'll enjoy within each packaging category. Below are some of the pros and cons to today's more popular wine packaging.

Traditional cork bottled wines have been the mainstay of wine packaging for centuries. Many believe this is the best closure to use for wines that are intended to be aged for long periods of time, though the same people will also admit that the aging process will not be consistent due to the differences in each cork. One other drawback is there is a percentage of wine produced that is spoiled or "corked" (a wine with a musty smell and taste) due to TCA, a substance used to sanitize the natural cork prior to bottling. There is a debate about how much wine is spoiled due to the cork, but it is usually estimated that it could be as high as 5-10% of the wine sold in a retail store.

Synthetic corks are derived from plastic, a non-biodegradable material. They were designed to look and "pop" like a natural cork and eliminate the risk of TCA taint. Synthetic corks look and function like a natural cork, except they have difficulty keeping the wine fresh for extended periods of time. Over time, synthetic corks allow some oxygen into the wine decreasing its shelf life. Therefore, this is not the ideal closure for wines you'd like to age for extended periods of time.

Screw caps were designed to eliminate the problems posed by both natural and synthetic corks. Screw caps provide a tight seal so they prevent any oxygen from reaching the wine and because they are produced from tin or aluminum there is no risk of "corked" flavors. This allows the screw caps to best maintain the fruit characteristics of a wine. Screw caps do have their drawbacks as many people feel they are not as "romantic" to open as a bottle of wine with a cork. Also, because the head-space in a screw capped wine (that area of air between the wine and the cap) is larger than that of a wine bottled with a cork, the winemaker must adjust his/her bottling to make sure that head-space is devoid of oxygen.

In 2004, Hogue Cellars released a 4 year study they performed by bottling a 1999 Merlot and a 2000 Chardonnay each with a natural cork, synthetic cork and a screw cap. The wines were then opened and tasted every six months for two and a half years. What they discovered is that the wines closed with a natural cork did show some levels of cork taint, while the synthetic and screw capped wines showed none. The synthetic cork wines did age faster as they showed oxidation characteristics. The screw capped closures maintained the fruit flavors in the wine and seemed fresher and less developed than both of the cork closed wines. At both two years and two and a half years, tasters preferred the screw cap wines over the synthetics, which were preferred over the natural cork. As a result of this study, Hogue began bottling a large percentage of its wine with crew caps. Interestingly, in March of 2006 the Spanish government outlawed the use of alterative wine closures in 11 of Spain's wine producing regions. It is no secret that Spain and Portugal are two of the world's largest producers of natural wine corks.

Premium boxed wine has been the fastest growing wine packaging format over the last few years, with sales increasing 70% in the last two years. Many feel it was the success of screw caps that paved the way for consumer acceptance of premium boxed wine. Laurie Jones from The Wine Group contends that their studies have shown that 98% of consumers who purchase three-liter wine casks also purchase 750ml bottles of wine. Boxed wine has its benefits, as a 3ltr. cask (box) is equivalent to 4 bottles (750ml) of wine. It also provides an environment where no oxygen can reach the wine because the bag within the box collapses as the wine is poured. Therefore, once a boxed wine is opened, it will stay fresh for 4 to 6 weeks.

As alternative wine closures become more accepted, new devices are being developed. Vino-Seal is a plastic/glass closure that acts as a glass stopper with an o-ring, creating a tight seal on the bottle and preventing oxidation and TCA contamination. Preventing the vino-seal from becoming widely used is that it is rather expensive for each plug. Zork is a closure developed in South Australia and produced from recyclable food grade polymers. Zork it attempting to create a closure that "pops" like a traditional cork and protects like a screw cap; it can be removed from the bottle without a tool (corkscrew) and easily resealed. Crown Caps are the same closure that is being used on beer bottles. Champagne producers use crown caps during the bottle fermentation of Champagne, but they are removed and replaced with corks prior to release. Some producers of other sparkling wines are using crown caps on their finished wine, as the caps provide a tight seal to keep oxygen out and the bubbles in.

The wine world continues to evolve, and it's one of the things that keeps wine fun. Next time you're going to buy some wine, experiment with something you haven't tried before, chances are you'll find something enjoyable and exciting that you'll want to share with your friends.