Happy Hour #5 Dinner and Wine with Wildlife

Happy Happy Hour to you!!  This week we are going to take a look at some wine choices that will pair well with your Thanksgiving dinner.  But first we have our table set for dinner with some lovely woodland creatures, courtesy of Mom's growing Bareuther Waldsassen collection!  We saw her Bareuther fish plates a couple weeks ago.

The amber color palette is perfect for a Fall candle-lit dinner.  The salad and bread plates are beautiful.  The detail on these plates is so life-like.  Then the dinner plates.  The gold design around the edge glows and looks so regal and rich.  Like the salad/bread plates, each one is different.

Don't you love these amber etched glass wine glasses?  I just found the water glasses last Saturday at a flea market with my girlfriends.  They were $1 each!!  I can't believe how well they match.  The pattern is so twig-like, perfect for our wildlife plates.

Mom's bronze pheasant sculpture takes center stage on the table along with another of my flea market finds, these amber-fading-into-clear glass candlesticks.  Look at that Midwest November sky in the background!!  Not sure who made the candlesticks, but I love them.  That day at the flea market, everything seemed to click!  Don't you just love shopping days like that??

These napkin rings were made by my Great-Grandma Nora.  She was an incredible seamstress.  I have a blanket from her that I cherish!

Now on to Happy Hour!!  Let's talk wine for Thanksgiving.  According to the November 2010 issue of Real Simple, red or white wine will work well with turkey dinner.  All of the wines they have listed are under $15!!  Here is a list of one from each of the categories:


Whites
Crisp and Refreshing
2008 Erath Pinot Gris


Lush and Round
2009 Bonny Doon Vineyard Ca'del Solo Muscat (I'll be trying this one!!)


Reds
Soft and Fruity
2009 Matua Valley Marlborough Pinot Noir


Bold and Rich
2008 Heartland Stickleback Red


For the complete list, get this month's issue of Real Simple magazine.


After you have a few wines selected, set up a wine station!  You know how we like our stations around here.  Remember our soup station?

The tablecloth comes straight from Paris.  And it, of course, has pheasants on it, along with some other wildlife.  The maker of this incredible tablecloth is Le Jacquard Francais.  Check out their site at http:\\www.le-jacquard-francais.fr.

Our etched glass wine glasses make another appearance here at our wine station.  Set up a few bottles with some glasses and you have an instant tasting station!!

Cheers!


Link up you favorite cocktail recipes, barware, or other Happy Hour-related links below!