It wouldn’t be the Friday after Thanksgiving if I wasn’t sitting at my computer inhaling microwaved leftover turkey with all the trimmings.

And I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t washing it down with a leftover wine.

On Wednesday night, Joel and I opened a bottle of Robert Skalli 2006 Pinot Noir to enjoy with some goat cheese stuffed portobello mushrooms. I re-corked the bottle and we spent all day Thursday out noshing at friends’ houses and sneaking home their leftovers.

So today, naturally, I opened the two-day old wine to test its anti oxidation powers. Not bad. It’s an intense, full-bodied extracted Pinot to begin with — dark red with a blue tint and blueberry and black cherry flavors. Not much earth. Its acidity stood up nicely to the meyer-lemon cranberry sauce topping my turkey slices and the heavy fruit worked with the prune-and-raisin tinged yams. Thanks for those again, Yudi.  

Skalli’s estate vineyard is on Corsica, an island in the South of France (yes, Napoleon’s birth place). The climate is much like California’s (Mediterranean) so the grapes benefit from a long growing season and the terraced vineyard is nestled on a sloping hill. If you don’t believe Pinot Noir from France can be big in style, check this wine out.

So how is this disastrous economy impacting wine? Well, according to recent numbers, we’re still buying the stuff, but not surprisingly, we want less cru-class Bordeauxs and more offbeat value-priced varietals.

Specifically, according to Tim Fish’s piece in this month’s Wine Spectator, sales of cremant Champagne are up 70 percent and Costco is experiencing double digit increases in the $8.99 to $13.99 range and a moderate increase in the $15 to $20 range (my favorite price point). I imagine whites from South America (like Torrontes) and Spain (Albarino) are flying off shelves, too.

My story on Thanksgiving wines comes out on Nov. 26 in Food & Wine. If you haven’t yet purchased your wine for the big meal and are looking to taste before you buy, stop by Pleasant Hill Wine Merchants from 5 to 8 p.m. The $7 tasting fee will be waived if you buy a bottle of the recommended wines.

Victoria and the gang will be tasting a variety of white wines, Pinot Noir (Zepaltas, Patz& Hall, Miner Family) and Port. Plus they have their usual deep discounts on two great turkey wines from Sonoma County’s Alcina Cellars. At only $20 (almost 50 percent off the winery price) a bottle, here’s a taste from the wine merchant:

Alcina Cellars 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

“Grown on the southernmost edge of Russian River Valley AVA, the fruit displays its RRV family tree, although on the dark red berry side, darker than their Sonoma Coast bottlings. Nose of dark cherry, strawberry, sassafras and black tea shows its RRV parentage. Palate follows with red cherry, cola and black tea. The wine displays very good balance with nice acidity and plush tannins. 729 cases produced. (last year the 2005 vintage got 90 pts Wine Spectator!)

Alcina Cellars 2006 Syrah, Bennett Valley, Connell Vineyard

Grown on Southwest edge of Bennett Valley AVA border, the vineyard is in the path of the Petaluma Gap winds and thus cooler and later ripening than most local vineyards. Syrah Noir and 877 clones. The wine shows its cold climate pedigree with restrained aromatics of garrigue and dark fruits that gain and expand with air contact. The palate shows a lot of complexity and plenty of dark fruits that are balanced by silky mid palate and long finish

Anyone tried the Fair Trade Certified wines available at Target and Whole Foods? They’re only about $9.99 and buying them benefits the growers in Chile, South Africa and Argentina. There’s talk of a sparkling wine coming out in time for New Year’s Eve, so we can toast and do some good.

Apparently, these wines are the first sold in America that are officially Fair Trade Certified according to international (FLO) standards. They’re already doing well in Europe. The Fair Trade Certified label guarantees that vineyard workers will be paid fair wages, they will use sustainable agriculture practices, and premiums from sales of the wine will go toward education, child care, or anti-crime programs in their wine growing communities.

I had a friend working harvest in Stellenbosch and the stories he would tell about treatment of the native farm workers sent chills up my spine. So wrong.

The Fair Trade Certified guarantee is made by TransFair USA, an Oakland non-profit. So we have a local reason to uncork too. You numbers folks might be interested to know that In 2007, U.S. sales of Fair Trade Certified product surpassed $1 billion for the first time, according to estimates from TransFair USA and the Fairtrade Labelling Organization. These sales have helped TransFair USA deliver more than $100 million in additional revenue to farmers throughout the world in just over eight years.

Here are some of the labels to look for. They have a black and white Fair Trade logo and should be in stores this month:

Live-A-Little - South Africa’s Stellar Organics
Wandering Grape - Sourced from grapes in Argentina and South Africa.
Neu Direction - Argentina’s Bodega Furlotti Winery and the Viña de la Solidaridad Co-op

The Today Show had a good piece on the continued devastation in Oz as a result of climate change. Not only was harvest an entire month early last year in the Hunter Valley, but five years of drought followed by last year’s sweeping floods put such a strain on the grapes that no red grapes — yes, no reds — made it to bottle for the 2008 vintage.

They profiled Brokenwood, a winery in the Hunter Valley that recycles and reuses its water to the best of its ability, but winemaker Iain Riggs says the 2009 vintage could make or break their bottom line. Scary stuff.

The wine news out of Washington State this week has nothing to do with smooth Syrah or cool-climate Riesling. To break up a fight, a woman in Silverdale whacked a Poulsbo friend of hers over the head with a wine glass, causing 44 stitches to his head and landing her in jail at $50,000 bail.

I’m assuming it was lead glass and not pure crystal. New meaning to the term wine headache, eh?

The most well-known maker of dry Gewurztraminer in these parts is will charge you one penny to ship a case of wine or juice if you purchase it before Dec. 31. Navarro Vineyards of Philo is calling this “middle class bailout” their attempt to stimulate the economy and keep wine afloat.

Too soon? Who cares. Have you tasted that juice? If anyone hears of other wine deals and ways to save, post them here!

According to the movies, all the protests and underground boozing of the 13 years of Prohibition took place in Chicago and New York, but little St. Helena had its fair share of speakeasies and bathtub gin.

Next month, beginning on Dec. 5, the wineries and businesses surrounding Appellation St. Helena will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Repeal (formerly known as the 21st Amendment) with free tastings, discounted dinners and giant parties.

Among the creative attractions at wineries is a tasting room converted to a speakeasy at Rutherford Grove Winery; waived tasting fee, hors d’oeuvre at Chase Cellars; and a group of boutique wineries gathering to pour at Ehlers Estate.

When my sister and I were little, we traded stickers. I’d swap a grape scratch ‘n’ sniff for her puffy Peppermint Patty. Twenty years later, I’m trading wine. With stickers, it was easy to determine who was getting the bum deal. I’d scratch those stickers raw before I gave them to my sis. Is it as easy with wine?

That’s hard to say. Wine is so subjective. One person’s oaky Chardonnay is another’s opulent masterpiece. I have a Napa friend who, in a trade, would most likely pick the Stonehenge Cabernet Sauvignon she can count on for consistency rather than take a chance on a French Bordeaux - even if it was twice the price.

If you drank a bottle of your roommate’s wine by mistake and couldn’t locate a bottle to replace it, what would you do? Give her a bottle of the same varietal from your rack? Search for a bottling from the same vintage but different region or appellation? Use it as an opportunity to introduce her to your favorite little Alicante, a wine that has nothing to do with her bottle that you consumed?

What would you do in a game of wine trade?

Money’s tight, and I stumbled upon a great web site for self-gifting or holiday gifting ideas. So thought I’d share.

The Massachusetts-based Bin Ends is an online retailer that sells overstock, inventory reduction and close-out fine wines at a major savings. This week’s markdowns includes a case of 2002 Masion Louis Latour Mersault 1er Cru “Perrieres” for $475 or $39 a bottle. That a savings of more than 30 percent.

They offer other packaged savings, like a hand-selected six bottle pack for $58 with free nationwide shipping. Search for a particular wine by vintage or region, check in with the insta-sommelier or follow their live tastings via Twitter.