The best non-alcoholic wine for Thanksgiving is the same style that works with turkey when the wine has alcohol: an off-dry Riesling like Giesen 0% Riesling, a light, slightly chilled Pinot Noir like Leitz Zero Point Five Pinot Noir, and a dry sparkling wine like Bolle Blanc de Blancs to start. Put all three on the table and every dish has a match.
The difficulty is the meal, not the wine. A Thanksgiving plate is sweet, savory, tart, rich and salty all at once: turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans. That's hard for any wine, and harder for non-alcoholic wine, which can taste thin or sweet next to rich food. The answer is acidity, a little fruit, light tannin and bubbles. Below, the bottles that have them, a dish-by-dish pairing guide, a batch punch and a couple of Thanksgiving mocktails that make the day feel like a holiday.
The short list
The bottles we’d buy, and the one we make at home.
Giesen 0% Riesling
$17 · 750 ml
Leitz Zero Point Five Pinot Noir
$21 · 750 ml
BOLLE Blanc de Blancs
$40 · 750 ml
House recipe · 10 min · Wine glass
Cranberry Cider Punch
- 32 ozFresh apple cider, chilled
- 16 ozCranberry juice cocktail, chilled
- 3 ozFresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- 6 ozLyre's Italian Spritz
- 1 bottleGiesen 0% Sparkling Brut, well chilled
- 1Large block of ice (freeze water in a loaf tin or bundt pan)
- 1 cupFresh cranberries
- 2Apples, thinly sliced
- 4Cinnamon sticks
- Up to a day ahead, stir the cider, cranberry juice, lemon juice and Lyre's Italian Spritz together in a pitcher and refrigerate.
- Before guests arrive, pour the base into a punch bowl and add the ice block, cranberries, apple slices and cinnamon sticks.
- Just before serving, pour in the sparkling wine gently down the side of the bowl.
- Ladle into wine glasses over a little ice. For a kids' batch, leave out the Lyre's and top with sparkling water instead of the wine.
Garnish: Apple slices, fresh cranberries and cinnamon sticks
Go deeper
What to drink with turkey
Wine people give the same advice every November, and it holds without the alcohol:
- Acidity over power. Turkey is lean and mild. Big, tannic reds flatten it and clash with cranberry sauce. Bright acidity cuts through gravy and butter and keeps the palate fresh through a long meal.
- A little fruit. Off-dry whites and fruity reds bridge the sweet dishes, like sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, without tasting sugary.
- Light tannin. If you want red, go light: Pinot Noir and fruity blends rather than a heavy Cabernet.
- Bubbles help everything. Sparkling wine scrubs the palate between rich bites and feels festive in the glass.
So, red or white with turkey? Both, if you can. It's a buffet of flavors, and a bottle of each lets people choose. If you only open one, make it a dry sparkling or an off-dry Riesling.
Non-alcoholic wine has one more job at Thanksgiving: it has to taste like wine, not juice, so the people not drinking feel they're at the same meal. Dealcoholized wines made from real grapes do this best. Wine alternatives like the NON range are brilliant with food but taste like themselves, which some tables love and some don't.
The best non-alcoholic wine for Thanksgiving, by style
Sparkling, to start and all the way through
A dry sparkler is the safest single bottle for Thanksgiving. Bolle Blanc de Blancs is refermented after the alcohol comes out, so it has natural bubbles and a toasty, bready edge that loves roast turkey. French Bloom Le Rosé is dry with sharp acidity and fine bubbles, and it stands up to rich food. Giesen 0% Sparkling Brut is crisp and dry, and the value pick if you need several bottles.
BOLLE Blanc de Blancs
$40 · 750 ml
French Bloom Le Rosé
$44 · 750 ml
Giesen 0% Sparkling Brut
$20 · 750 ml
White: Riesling first
Off-dry Riesling is the classic Thanksgiving white, and it happens to be one of the best non-alcoholic styles. Giesen 0% Riesling has lime, mandarin and honey with a touch of sweetness left in and a crisp finish. Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling is green apple, lime and peach, just off-dry. Missing Thorn White Riesling from Napa is honeycomb, lemon and pink grapefruit.
If your table prefers Chardonnay, go buttery: Ariel Chardonnay is barrel-aged, with butterscotch and toasty French oak, and it's good with gravy and mashed potatoes. Hand on Heart Chardonnay is mango, golden apple, toasted almond and sweet spice.
Giesen 0% Riesling
$17 · 750 ml
Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling
$19 · 750 ml
Missing Thorn White Riesling
$25 · 750 ml
Ariel Chardonnay
$13 · 750 ml
Red: light, fruity, slightly chilled
Leitz Zero Point Five Pinot Noir is red and black cherry, cranberry and a little earthy, mushroomy character, light-bodied and worth serving slightly chilled. That cranberry note is made for the cranberry sauce. Luminara Napa Red Blend is mostly Pinot Noir with some Zinfandel: black cherry, balanced tannins and a smoky, spiced finish. Giesen Premium Red has blackberry, plum and fine tannins, lighter than a full Cabernet.
Leitz Zero Point Five Pinot Noir
$21 · 750 ml
Luminara Napa Red Blend
$20 · 750 ml
Giesen Premium Red
$17 · 750 ml
Rosé: the diplomat
Rosé goes with nearly everything on the plate, which makes it a good compromise when the table can't agree. Giesen 0% Rosé is dry, with raspberry, cherry and good acidity. Missing Thorn Still Rosé is a lively, dry Barbera rosé with strawberry, cherry and quince.
Not from wine: the NON range
NON's bottles aren't dealcoholized wine. Each is built around two flavors on the label, and several are made for exactly this kind of meal. NON2 Caramelised Pear & Kombu is bold and buttery, roasted pear with kombu minerality, made for cheese boards and roasts. NON8 Torched Apple & Oolong is a still bottle with crisp apple acidity and oolong tea, made for a planned special meal. NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum is the fullest, most red-wine-like NON, with firm tannins and a spiced finish.
NON2 Caramelised Pear & Kombu
$30 · 750 ml
NON8 Torched Apple & Oolong
$30 · 750 ml
NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum
$30 · 750 ml
Beer and cider, for the football
Not everyone wants wine, and Thanksgiving afternoon is long. Non-alcoholic beer is the easy answer for the couch. Brooklyn Original is the brewery's classic amber, alcohol-free, and amber lagers suit roast food. Athletic Wit's Peak is a Belgian-style white with coriander and orange peel, soft and lightly herbal, and good with the sides. Guinness 0 is roasted and creamy for anyone who drinks stout. For a dry alternative to wine at the table, Proxies Dry Cider is modeled on farmhouse cider and Spanish sidra: tart apple skin, white flowers and a little French oak. Apple and turkey are an old pairing.
Dish by dish
- Roast turkey: Riesling, Pinot Noir or dry sparkling. Bolle's toasty notes are especially good with crisp skin.
- Gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes: a buttery Chardonnay like Ariel, or NON2 for its roasted pear and savory depth.
- Cranberry sauce: Leitz Pinot Noir, which has its own cranberry note, or a dry rosé.
- Sweet potatoes and squash: off-dry Riesling. The touch of sweetness in Giesen's matches the dish instead of fighting it.
- Green beans, Brussels sprouts and salads: dry sparkling or a crisp rosé.
- Ham: Riesling or sparkling rosé. Salt and sweetness love both.
- Pie: sparkling rosé with fruit pies; for pecan or chocolate, the after-dinner drinks below.
How much to buy
A standard 750 ml bottle pours about five 5-ounce glasses. For a long meal, plan on two to three glasses per person who wants wine, and buy a few different styles rather than a case of one, so people can choose. Chill the whites, rosés and sparklers well, and put the Pinot Noir in the fridge for 20 minutes before dinner.
The batch drink
Every Thanksgiving table needs one pitcher or bowl that anyone can serve themselves from, adults and kids alike. This is ours: apple cider and cranberry with a little bitter orange for grown-up edge, topped with dry non-alcoholic sparkling at the last minute.
House recipe · 10 min · Wine glass
Cranberry Cider Punch
- 32 ozFresh apple cider, chilled
- 16 ozCranberry juice cocktail, chilled
- 3 ozFresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- 6 ozLyre's Italian Spritz
- 1 bottleGiesen 0% Sparkling Brut, well chilled
- 1Large block of ice (freeze water in a loaf tin or bundt pan)
- 1 cupFresh cranberries
- 2Apples, thinly sliced
- 4Cinnamon sticks
- Up to a day ahead, stir the cider, cranberry juice, lemon juice and Lyre's Italian Spritz together in a pitcher and refrigerate.
- Before guests arrive, pour the base into a punch bowl and add the ice block, cranberries, apple slices and cinnamon sticks.
- Just before serving, pour in the sparkling wine gently down the side of the bowl.
- Ladle into wine glasses over a little ice. For a kids' batch, leave out the Lyre's and top with sparkling water instead of the wine.
Garnish: Apple slices, fresh cranberries and cinnamon sticks
For thanksgiving mocktails for kids, make a second small batch without the Lyre's and top it with sparkling water. Set it next to the grown-up bowl with a label so nobody has to ask.
More Thanksgiving mocktails
- For the parade in the morning: a Fauxmosa, dry non-alcoholic sparkling with cold orange juice.
- When guests arrive: a Spiced Cider Highball, apple cider and a spiced bourbon alternative topped with ginger beer. It's easy to make one at a time while the turkey rests.
- For the toast: a Berry Royale, a splash of dark berry aperitif under dry bubbles.
House recipe · 2 min · Highball
Spiced Cider Highball
- 1.5 ozSpiritless Kentucky 74 Spiced
- 3 ozFresh apple cider (the cloudy, unfiltered kind), chilled
- 0.25 ozFresh lemon juice
- 2 ozFever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer, chilled
- PinchSalt
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Add the Kentucky 74 Spiced, apple cider, lemon juice and salt, and stir to chill.
- Top with ginger beer and give it one gentle lift with a bar spoon.
- Fan a few apple slices down the side of the glass and add the cinnamon stick.
Garnish: Thin apple slices and a cinnamon stick
After dinner
Something stirred, strong-tasting and slow is the right way to end the meal. This one borrows the season's maple and apple:
House recipe · 3 min · Rocks
Maple Apple Old Fashioned
- 2 ozLyre's American Malt
- 0.5 ozFresh apple cider
- 1 tspMaple syrup
- 1 dropperAll The Bitter Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
- PinchSalt
- Add everything to a mixing glass with plenty of ice.
- Stir for about 15 seconds; zero-proof drinks dilute faster than spirits, so don't overdo it.
- Strain over one large ice cube in a rocks glass.
- Express an orange peel over the top and add a thin apple slice.
Garnish: Orange peel and a thin apple slice
If nobody wants to stir anything, pour a small glass of non-alcoholic amaro. St. Agrestis Amaro Falso is 20 herbs, spices and citrus, led by mint and gentian, and works neat after dinner. Lapo's Amaro is licorice, cinnamon, orange blossom and pine. NON7 Stewed Cherry & Coffee is good with chocolate pie, but it contains caffeine.
Hosting when some guests drink and some don't
Mixed tables are the norm, and a few small choices make them easy.
- Same glasses for everyone. Pour non-alcoholic wine into the same stemware as the regular wine. It stops the questions and makes the people not drinking feel included.
- Label the bottles if both kinds are on the table, and keep the non-alcoholic ones clearly separate.
- Open a proper bottle. A good non-alcoholic wine says "we planned for you," which is the point of hosting.
- Make the punch the default. When the shared drink has no alcohol, nobody has to choose in public.
Bringing a bottle as a guest
If you're not drinking and you're a guest, bring your own bottle and offer it round. A dry sparkler like Bolle or a crowd-pleasing rosé is the safest gift; it looks like any other bottle of wine on the table, and the host will be glad of it.
The best bottles, side by side
Our first picks for the Thanksgiving table.
| Bottle | Style | Price | Rating | Tastes most of | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOLLE Blanc de Blancs | Non-alcoholic sparkling white | $40 / 750 ml | 4.3 | sour, citrus, fruit | Buy |
| French Bloom Le Rosé | Alcohol-free sparkling rosé | $44 / 750 ml | 4.4 | sour, fruit, citrus | Buy |
| Giesen 0% Riesling | Dealcoholised Riesling | $17 / 750 ml | 4.5 | sweet, sour, citrus | Buy |
| Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling | Dealcoholised Riesling | $19 / 750 ml | 3.4 | sour, citrus, fruit | Buy |
| Ariel Chardonnay | Dealcoholised Chardonnay | $13 / 750 ml | 3.9 | fruit, body, sweet | Buy |
| Leitz Zero Point Five Pinot Noir | Dealcoholised Pinot Noir | $21 / 750 ml | 4.6 | sour, fruit, body | Buy |
| Luminara Napa Red Blend | Dealcoholised red blend | $20 / 750 ml | 4.2 | fruit, body, sour | Buy |
| Giesen Rosé | Dealcoholised rosé | $17 / 750 ml | 4.4 | sour, fruit, body | Buy |
| NON2 Caramelised Pear & Kombu | Sparkling wine alternative | $30 / 750 ml | — | body, fruit, sweet | Buy |
| NON9 Oaked Blackberry & Plum | Wine alternative | $30 / 750 ml | — | fruit, body, spice | Buy |
Keep going
The holidays don't stop at Thanksgiving. Our holiday party guide has batch drinks and a zero-proof bar plan for December, and the sparkling guide ranks every non-alcoholic bubbly we list.
Where to go out
If you're out the night before Thanksgiving, alcohol-free bars are the easiest place to be. A few worth the trip:
Questions
Is there a non-alcoholic wine?
Yes, lots. Most is real wine with the alcohol removed, usually by vacuum distillation or a spinning cone, which work at low temperature to protect the flavor. There are also wine alternatives, like the NON range, made from juices, teas and botanicals to drink like wine.
What is the best non-alcoholic wine for Thanksgiving?
An off-dry Riesling like Giesen 0% Riesling, a light Pinot Noir like Leitz Zero Point Five, and a dry sparkling wine like Bolle Blanc de Blancs. If you can only buy one bottle, make it the sparkling.
What wine goes with turkey, red or white?
Both work. Choose whites with good acidity and a little fruit, like Riesling, or light reds with low tannin, like Pinot Noir. Avoid big, heavy reds, which overpower turkey and clash with cranberry sauce.
What should I drink with turkey if I'm not drinking alcohol?
Non-alcoholic Riesling, Pinot Noir or sparkling wine all pair well. If you don't want wine at all, dry cider is a natural match: Proxies Dry Cider is tart apple skin and white flowers, far from sparkling apple juice. A cranberry cider punch works too.
What are easy Thanksgiving mocktails?
A cranberry cider punch in a bowl, a spiced cider highball with ginger beer, a mimosa made with non-alcoholic sparkling wine, or a berry royale for the toast. All can be made in minutes.
How do you make a non-alcoholic Thanksgiving punch?
Mix apple cider, cranberry juice and lemon juice ahead of time, then pour it over a large block of ice with apples, cranberries and cinnamon sticks. Top with chilled non-alcoholic sparkling wine or sparkling water right before serving so it stays fizzy.
What are good Thanksgiving mocktails for kids?
Make the cranberry cider punch without the bitter aperitif and top it with sparkling water. Serve it in a nice glass with a cinnamon stick, and kids will feel included in the toast.
Can you make a non-alcoholic Thanksgiving sangria?
Yes. Use a fruity non-alcoholic red like Giesen Premium Red or Luminara Red Blend, add apple cider, orange juice, sliced apples, oranges and a cinnamon stick, and chill for a few hours. Top with sparkling water just before serving.
Is non-alcoholic wine bad for you?
That's a question for a doctor rather than a drinks site. What we can say: most non-alcoholic wine contains a trace of alcohol, up to 0.5% ABV, and some producers add juice or sugar back for body. Check the label if either matters to you.