What to sip with your turkey? Try a riesling

Riesling for Thanksgiving. That's my plan this year.

The broad community of wine drinkers has made riesling one of the fastest-growing varietals in the country during the past five years. What the masses are buying isn't expensive, however, and it's often sweet. Best-selling rieslings are just as likely to come from Washington state and California, or from Australia, as they are from Europe. New York's Finger Lakes and Virginia also produce tasty rieslings and riesling-based whites that cost $15 or less.

All versions of rieslings - dry or sweet, complex or simple - tend to have a mouth-watering flair that stimulates the appetite, with even the sweet ones finishing on a citrus or tart apple note.

This versatility makes riesling a good bet for the Thanksgiving feast.

Versions labeled as "dry" or "medium dry," or as having 1.5 percent or less residual sugar (or 15 grams per liter) are best for roast turkey, oyster or sausage dressing and the traditional vegetables. If you prepare your turkey with a spicy rub, serve ham or feature marinated or pickled foods, you might want to go with a version that is a little sweeter. A fine plan may be to have both a drier riesling and a semi-sweet riesling on your table, and let folks choose for themselves.

You should know that rieslings below 10 percent in alcohol can be expected to be sweeter than those with higher alcohol. Here are some other tips:

-- Count on the rieslings of Alsace that cost $20 or less to be bone dry. Unfortunately, the 2009s I've tasted recently were weak examples. You may want to look for the 2008 vintage, perhaps the Trimbach Riesling Alsace for $15 to $18. The 2008 Trimbach Riesling Reserve ($24 to $26) will be worth the extra money.

-- Less expensive German rieslings - an example would be the Dr. L 2010 Riesling Mosel, a humble qualitatswein from Dr. Loosen that costs less than $10 - are low in alcohol but relatively high in sugar. Still, most have some racy acidity and are crowd-pleasers. For a splurge, buy the Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Spatlese ($33) from a recent vintage and enjoy a decadent, ripe but clean-finishing example of a German riesling.

-- Eroica 2009 Riesling ($18) made from grapes grown in Washington state's Columbia Valley is from a joint venture of the domestic Chateau Ste. Michelle and Germany's Dr. Loosen. It has juicy apple-peach fruit and clean citrus in an appealing off-dry balance and also hits the mineral notes more often found in German rieslings.

-- Look for dry or not-too-sweet rieslings costing $8 to $17 from Jacob's Creek (Australia); Rockbridge (Virginia); Hogue, Pacific Rim, Columbia Crest and Chateau Ste. Michelle (Washington); Handley and any others from the Anderson Valley (California); and Hermann Wiemer (New York).