So last week’s blog I talked about picking your Thanksgiving wines (in a nutshell, get a white and a red, save 10% when you buy 6. I like a non-sweet Riesling and a Pinot), but the other day, I got to actually help someone pick wines for the Thanksgiving week.

While my brother grilled me on some wine question or other, a customer heard me talking and asked for help. She had friends coming over for the holiday week and wasn’t sure what to get.

She was on the right track – I just swapped out one choice.

That’s great, Alyssa, you’re probably thinking, but what’s your point?

The biggest misconception I see with wine is that most folks don’t give themselves enough credit.

Even if you think you don’t know very much about wine, you probably do. You know what you like, and that’s the best place to start from.

I, for example, love a big beefy, knock-ya-down-take-no-prisoners Cabernet Sauvignon. My brother likes a big fruit bowl jammy Zin. Some of the wines that I love and rave about leave him cold (hello Rodney Strong Symmetry). And I am not a huge Zin fan.

Neither of us are right. Neither of us are wrong. Everyone has a different palate.

But I'd bet that if my brother was standing in the wine aisle by himself, he'd be able to find a great wine that we'd both like. Why? Because he knows what he likes - and really, that's where the experts start from, too.

Back to our shopper, she knew there would be different kinds of food, so she had chosen wines that wouldn’t overwhelm them – a Merlot, a Pinot and a Pinot Grigio. I changed the PG to a Chardonnay (Fat Bastard, on sale, by the way - and going back to my earlier point, one of my favorites because it is so easily drinkable and usually under $10) because PGs tend to be very delicately-flavored and can get lost with the wrong food pairing. In this instance, I thought it better to opt for an all-purpose Chardonnay.

If she had gone with the PG, it’s not a big deal – she was enjoying great food with great friends, right? Try something different or try an old favorite, the most important thing about wine is to ENJOY it.

I’ll be sipping Cambria Chardonnay ($10 off, friends) with my butternut squash ravioli dinner for the days after T-Day, and MacMurray Ranch Pinot with our fire-glazed ham on the big day.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!