When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for one hour.
Melt the butter and add the lemon zest, garlic, sage, thyme and savory
Heat oven to 450 degrees. In the bottom of a large roasting pan, add the cider and enough cooking wine to fill the pan to a 1/4-inch depth. Add half the onions, 6 garlic cloves and the bay leaves.
Stuff the remaining onion quarters, herb bunches and the lemon quarters into the turkey cavity. Loosen the skin on the turkey and put a few tablespoons of butter right on the meat, under the skin. Brush the turkey skin generously with remaining herbed melted butter.
Place turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack set inside the roasting pan. Transfer pan to the oven and roast 30 minutes. Pull the oven open and slide the turkey out. Cover breast with aluminum foil. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh reaches a temperature of 160-165 degrees, about 2-2/12 hours more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
Notes
Left over turkey can be frozen for 3 months. It is best to remove the bones and freeze in a heavy duty freezer bag.
If you can't find savory at the grocery store, then equal parts thyme, marjoram and sage can be used instead.
