Napa Valley Roasted Turkey with Red Wine Gravy (From our friends at HALL Wines)

INGREDIENTS
For Turkey

1 (14- to 16-lb) turkey, fully cleaned
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, 5 tablespoons softened and 5 tablespoons melted
1 tablespoon grey sea salt (or ground kosher salt if grey salt is unavailable)
1 teaspoons black pepper
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 large sweet onion, quartered
2 large fresh thyme sprigs
2 large fresh sage sprigs

For Gravy

1/3 cup fine sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cherry juice
1/4 cup unsweetened cranberry juice
1/4 cup Pan juices (and roasting pan) from turkey + 1 tablespoon HALL Napa Valley Merlot or WALT "Blue Jay" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
About 3 cups organic chicken or turkey stock, heated
1 cup water
6 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

METHOD
To roast turkey:

1. Position oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry.
3. Working from neck (small) cavity, run your fingers between skin and meat to loosen skin from breast, legs, and thighs, being careful not to tear skin. Rub softened butter between skin and flesh, then sprinkle turkey cavities and skin with salt and pepper. Fold neck skin under body and secure with metal skewer and fold wing tips under breast. Stuff large cavity with onion and thyme sprigs and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string. Brush skin all over with some melted butter.
4. Put turkey on rack in a large roasting pan.
5. Roast for  2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, basting with some melted butter and/or pan juices every 20 minutes (if turkey is browning too fast, cover loosely with foil), cook until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of a thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F.
6. Remove turkey from oven and carefully tilt turkey so any juices inside large cavity drain into the roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter and let rest, loosely covered with foil for 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). RESERVE ROASTING PAN AND JUICES.

Make gravy while turkey stands:
1. Heat sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted into a deep golden (but not too dark!) caramel. You do not want the mixture to smoke. Adjust heat as needed.
2. Add the blended fruit juices (use caution; mixture will bubble and steam vigorously) and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel is dissolved. Remove syrup from heat.
[Note: Your fruit syrup can be made up to one day ahead and stored covered at room temperature.]
3. Strain pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure or bowl. Skim off fat and reserve 1/4 cup of it. Add enough turkey stock to pan juices to total 3 1/2 cups liquid.
4. Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners.  Add water and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, about 1 minute. Pour through fine-mesh sieve into glass measure with stock.
5. Whisk together reserved fat and flour in a 3-quart heavy saucepan and cook roux over moderately low heat, whisking, until pale golden, 7 to 10 minutes.
6. Add hot stock mixture in a stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil, whisking. Add cherry/cranberry syrup, add wine.
7. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
8. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of Merlot or Pinot Noir. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Remove string and skewer from turkey and discard onion and thyme from cavity.
10. Serve turkey with gravy on the side. Garnish turkey with fresh pitted cherries as desired.

Serve with 2010 WALT "Blue Jan" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and 2009 HALL Napa Valley Merlot