Wine suggestions today are a bit of a grab bag, chosen with an eye to the Thanksgiving table. Since the holiday often means guests sharing the meal, I've included a couple of lower-priced wines that should please a crowd.

One thing to keep in mind when pairing a wine to turkey (assuming, of course, you're going the traditional route) is that the meat is essentially neutral; the stuffing is the determining factor. Of course, that's after you've taken into account personal taste, which is always the prime consideration.

A meaty sausage dressing calls for a meaty red, while a savoury bread and onion stuffing will go best with a white wine that has those same qualities. You get the idea.

Someone may want to start the gathering with a beer, so consider the new MOLSON RICKARD'S WHITE ALE (various sizes, regular prices in beer stores). It's the twin of the successful Rickard's Red, and has been in bars and restaurants for about a year, but is only now on the shelves.

The beer is modelled on German wheat beers with a slightly sour/spicy style. It's unfiltered, so the opaque/cloudy appearance is natural. The ingredient list includes wheat, oats, coriander and orange peel, and the result is a refreshing ale with a yeasty, citrusy, rather toasty flavour, more distinctly fruity than regular Canadian beer. Drink it cold.

At the other end of the spectrum is a glass of good bubbly. If you're splurging, try LANSON BLACK LABEL BRUT CHAMPAGNE ($44.95, code 41889, Vintages essential listing). Yes, real Champagne from a good producer and moderately priced. The colour is fairly dark with a touch of gold, reflecting the dominant Pinot Noir grape variety. The mousse is lively and the bubbles tiny (a good sign), with a smell of honeysuckle and jasmine, and with a lovely feel of peaches and citrus, and of course the vital chalk/mineral undertone of Champagne.

Now we're ready to sit down and eat, so let's fill those glasses.

DOPFF & IRION CRYSTAL D'ALSACE ($11.45, code 35667). Here's a really good, consistent and affordable white that has been around for ages. The grape is Sylvaner, though the wine is grown in France. It's dry and crisp yet with good flesh and flavour. There's a slight creamy/lactic feel and the flavours are of lemon drops, fresh mint, green melons and a touch of almond blossom.

DOPFF & IRION GEWURZTRAMINER ($15.95, code 81463). If you have a peppery/spicy/herbaceous stuffing, look no further. Also from Alsace, this is a quite full-bodied and exotic Gewurz, dry but showing loads of tropical lychee and mango fruit, apple sauce, dried apricots and white pepper.

CHATEAU DE SANCERRE, SANCERRE ($24.80, code 340893). Look for the 2006 vintage that is coming into the system now. The '05 is very good, but the '06 might be the best year for this estate. Better still, try a bottle of each side by side to compare. French, of course, from the eastern Loire and made from Sauvignon Blanc.

The wine is complex and rich, perfectly balanced, with a background of fresh cream but also the expected mineral/steel edge of the area. Flavours of orange, peach, ripe gooseberries and lime peel.

SANTA CAROLINA CHARDONNAY ($7.95, code 259192). The bargain white. Tasty and consistent, well focused and showing good varietal character -- apple, pear, orange melons -- yet inexpensive.

ANGOVE'S CABERNET SAUVIGNON SHIRAZ ($9.95, code 618447). An Aussie red under $10? Impossible. Yet true. This bargain red starts with big (I mean big) raspberry smell and taste, then turns to plums, then notes of mint, coffee and tobacco leaf emerge. It's plump yet balanced, with a smack of ripe tannin and a white pepper finish.

FINCA FLICHMAN MISTERIO MALBEC ($9.75, code 28803). From the Argentine project of Chile's Vina San Pedro, this is a new general list in Ontario. A remarkable value.

Again, they've gone for some size in this wine, very forward flavours of damson plums, mulberries, cassis, with a moderate tannic background.

VIEUX CHATEAU LANDON 2003 ($31.95, code 35535). A Vintages release in August and a decent supply is still around. Here's your upscale Thanksgiving red, a classic Bordeaux that has earned the important Cru Bourgeois designation, just below "classified." It's still on the young side, but let it breathe two hours and you're fine. Cassis, cedar, cigar box, black olive, eucalyptus, dried strawberries all emerge.

dkislenko@thespec.com

905-526-3450