Pick Up a Green Holiday Wine to Enjoy with Your Turkey (or Whatever You Eat)

Holidays are a busy time. Once you're finished stuffing the turkey, prepped the Tofurky, and/or gone over the river and through the woods, the beverage(s) to accompany your meal can sort of be left to an afterthought. Add to that the disparate elements that often accompany a holiday meal -- rich gravy, tart cranberries, sweet squash or potatoes -- and finding something to complement the rich diversity on your table can be tricky. Adding organic, biodynamic, or otherwise green wines to that list of requirements might seem like a dealbreaker, but there are delicious, affordable, sustainable options for every palate this holiday season.

The traditional menu doesn't require that only one varietal, region, or even color be served with a meal of turkey/Tofurky, gravy, stuffing, mashed root veggies of all kinds, and all the other fixins that often make it to the table, and that's good news for green wine fans; generally, you can go with what you like.

For Red Wine Fans

Pinot noir goes well with turkey and the fixins -- it has a lighter body and fewer tannins that cabernet, merlot, and other bigger reds, and that helps it go with just about anything. This is good news for us here in the U.S., since it comes from a variety of spots. Sonoma and the Russian River in California produce pinot, and Oregon makes some wonderful old-world, Burgundy-style pinots (I'm partial to these, myself). TreeHugger's Best Green Winery from 2009, Sokol Blosser Winery, makes some delightful pinot noir; I'll be serving the 2007 vintage for my holiday affairs this year.

Since it's greener to have European wines shipped to the East Coast (rather than trucked from the West Coast), pinot fans east of the Mississippi should look to France for some tasty options. A quick search at The Organic Wine Company can help get you started; you can also look for Demeter, EcoCert, and other certifying labels for green wine in France.

Cabernet Franc is another good choice for those who prefer a little more body and fruit in their red holiday wine. The burgeoning Long Island wine industry is producing some excellent cab franc, which is great for green wine fans on the East Coast of the U.S.

For White Wine Fans

Depending on your preference for dry or sweeter white wines, there are a handful that can complement your holiday gathering.

Dry White Wine

Here on the west coast, Chardonnay is a popular, crowd-pleasing choice. Your predilection for oak can help determine where it comes from; fans of more oak should look to California producers like Bonterra, while those who prefer crisper, cleaner Chardonnay can look to Oregon and Washington producers, who tend to employ less oak in the process; I like Bethel Heights Vineyard and Badger Mountain Vineyard for those.

On the East Coast, if the offerings of Four Chimneys Organic Winery -- the "first organic winery in North America" -- aren't to your liking, you can do worse than turning to western Europe for varietals like chardonnay, pinot grigio, and viognier. Check in with WineSearcher.com to get some picks for organic and otherwise green European white wines.

Sweet White Wine

Germanic varietals like Gewurztraminer and Riesling fit the bill here. More and more wineries on the west coast have started growing these grapes, and there are some excellent wines being made in most wine-growing regions, in the States and otherwise. The Green Guide has some solid choices for these sweeter whites, including some good choices for East Coast wine fans.

Green Tips for Buying Wine

No matter what your varietal of choice, here are a few tips to keep your holiday wine choices as green as possible.

Buy local: Wine is heavy, and is shipped in heavy glass bottles. If you live in or near a wine-producing region, buying local is perhaps the greenest choice you can make.

Buy certified organic, biodynamic, or organically grown: Wines that are certified organic, or biodynamic, or grown with either practice, will have a much smaller impact on the planet, thanks to the huge reduction in fossil fuel use that comes with cutting petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides out of the equation.

Buy reduced packaging: If you can't go local, then buying wines that eschew the traditional glass bottles in favor of PET plastic or Tetra Pak drastically cuts down on the carbon footprint of both packaging and shipping the wine. Selections from purveyors like French Rabbit can also give you more wine bang for your buck, since the reduced packaging costs can go all the way back up the supply chain to the winery itself.

No matter what you choose, here's to hoping you have a safe, happy, green holiday season.