TURKEY TIPPLES Fred Dexheimer, wine director for BLT Steak, Prime, and Fish, gave a tutorial on Thanksgiving wines last Wednesday at Victor’s Cafe. “Most people gravitate toward reds in the fall,” he said, by way of explaining why only one of his six main-course selections was white. But that single pick was both rare and intriguing: Marsanne Beckmen 2003 ($18.99 at Union Square Wine & Spirits). The sole stronghold of the marsanne grape is in the Northern Rhone Valley, where it is the backbone of such wines as Hermitage Blanc. But here was a version from California’s Santa Ynez Valley, and it was in a sensory realm all its own. The wine’s nutty, grainy, scent reminded me of groats browning in a pan. It tasted softly full, with greater amplitude than most any chardonnay. If your wine list for tomorrow’s table includes all the usual suspects, here is an interloper ready to create a stir.

Another offbeat white ready for holiday duty is the newly released Lopez de Heredia Blanco, Vina Tondonia 1988 ($29.99 at Crush Wine & Spirits). Compared with the modern wine time line – which has already brought us 2005 whites from the Southern Hemisphere – this 17-year-old Vina Tondonia might as well have been made in the Pilgrim era. In lesser hands, it would probably be not just a D.O., but D.O.A. Lopez de Heridia, holding fast to traditional methods even as new wave wineries wash over Spain, knows how to nurse a wine to glowing maturity. Bewitchingly scented and expansive in the mouth, this minerally white has an acid spine that keeps it surprisingly fresh.

BEAUJOLAIS, SOUR AND SWEET More reliable than autumn reds, the fresh purple of Beaujolais Nouveau always appears on the third Thursday of November. But this year, George Duboeuf, whose name is synonomous with Beaujolais, is beset by troubles relating to last summer’s discovery of illegal mixing of certain vats of wine from differing appellations. The misdeed is ironic, since Duboeuf, by far the region’s largest bottler, has always sought to show off distinctions between the different nooks and crannies of Beajolais terroir with myriad different bottlings in each vintage. But no shadow fell on last Thursday’s “coming out” party for the 2005 Nouveau at Daniel. Franck Duboeuf, son of George, described the 2005 vintage as “silken, and filled with the taste of blackberries and blueberries.” Not that anyone is critiquing the new wine too closely.

For an extra dollop of fresh Beaujolais flavor in your Nouveau, try Le Petit Coq ($12.99 at Chelsea Wine Vault), a brand that first arrived three years ago. It comes in a distinctive 500 mil “pot,” midway between a half and full bottle, just right for a dinner a deux.

GRAND TASTING PJ Wines is the Little Engine That Could of Manhattan wine merchants. Located on a frayed strip of Broadway at 204th Street, this shop, owned by Peter Yi, a second-generation Korean-American, has chugged into the conciousness of serious wine buyers, most of whom only visit it online. Last Wednesday, the shop hosted its third annual Grand Tasting at the Puck Building. Wines from more than 100 wineries, including the likes of Chateau Margaux and Latour, were poured, to be washed down with wine-friendly small bites from the likes of Suba, Beppe, and Vento Trattoria.

Even the most voracious wine sampler can’t hope to attack more than a fraction of the offerings at such an extravaganza. The challenge is to triage. Since PJ’s is the city’s reigning specialist in Spanish wines, I stayed with that category – but only after jumpstarting my palate with a swirl of J.J. Prum’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 2003. Liltingly fresh and creamy-textured, this is the kind of airborne riesling that may be in the dreams of winemakers elsewhere in the world, but not in their vineyards.

I’d hoped to sample the Vega Sicilia Unico 1994 ($289.97), the Iberian Romanee-Conti, but only two bottles had been allotted, and they had been drained by early-bird tasters. Immediate consolation was provided by Rioja Alta Grand Reserva’s 904 ($39.97), pale and orange-tinged as an old Volnay, a wine that treaded gently with leathery soles but covered a lot of ground in the mouth. A more fruit-driven wine was the San Roman Toro 2001 ($34.97), which was dense yet elegantly balanced. Many wines later, I signed off on with a stunning dessert sherry, the Gonzales Byass Noe ($21.97). Think essence of ripest black figs infused with dark chocolate. Magnificent.

UPTOWN SIPS Above 125th Street, well-crafted restaurant wine lists are scarce. Hosannas, then, to Earl “the Pearl” Monroe’s striking new restaurant in Riverbank State Park at West 145th Street. Composed of 60 well-chosen wines, the former Knick’s list has breadth without being esoteric. Two dozen wines are offered by the glass. The least expensive bottles, at $26, include a graceful Chilean chardonnay from Casillero del Diablo and the rich Paringa Shiraz from Australia. Atop the list are Chateau d’Orschwihr’s Bollenberg 2004 Gewurztraminer ($42) and Nando’s Amarone della Valpolicella 2000 ($85).

It’s a good wine list, and even if it weren’t, the singular and sweeping view from the bar, looking north to the George Washington Bridge, would make it a treat to hang out here with a glass of any old plonk. On a clear night, the bridge is a mighty diadem, its pylon lights casting a silvery wash on the river below. After a light supper of tamale-stuffed pork, it was the perfect place to contemplate a glass of Konzelmann Estate’s Vidal Ice Wine 2002 ($15): sparkle on the water, sparkle in the glass.