Pairing pizza and wine: the best wines to uncork
The debate about which is the best wine for pizza is still open and fiercely debated, and we hardly will able to put all on the same page (bottle?).
One wine to rule them all, One wine to find them, One wine to bring them all and at the table bind them. But this is legit: a bottle of wine should be uncorked for every palate.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t trace some guidelines to identify the main features that make as pleasant as possible one of the most interesting wine & food pairings.
Let’s start by saying that all depends on the pizza seasoning, then we will consider classic pizzas (even some vegetarian so don’t worry) and we’ll match a few bottles we have carefully selected.
Before starting with our Pizza power ranking wines, a few tips.
1)Pizza is not, usually, especially greasy or oily, so avoid wines with heavy tannins such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Sagrantino, serve them for your bbq sauce coated ribs.
2)Beware of tomato, which by nature is acid as an ingredient, so let’s choose soft, spicy, sparkling and fruity wines, just avoid too acidic bottles.
3)For a good pizza and wine pairing, remember that salt and pepper augment the (wine) alcohol perception, so avoid alcoholic bombs and even super-spicy pizzas.
4)Going back to the spicy pizza: as of last resort, to extinguish any fires in your mouth uncork bubbles, Champagne, spumante metodo classico like Trentodoc and Franciacorta, Lambrusco, Prosecco. No need to spend a fortune on a good pizza wine.
5)Remember that Pinot Noir and rosé are the master key of endless combinations, wines with a thousand faces that can easily be served with most of the known pizzas.
6)Drink what you like, these are only boozy tips, you can also drink Moscato di Pantelleria with a pepperoni pizza if it is to your liking…
Ok, let’s uncork some bottles!
Pizza Margherita
Simple, but divine pizza. One of the best wine for Margherita is a gorgeous wine like Lambrusco, but an artisanal wine, not the industrial stuff. Maybe re-fermented in the bottle to combine freshness, bubbles and floral scents to exalt the scents of a gleaming Margherita. Suggested wine: Lambrusco Pozzoferraio from Storchi winery is the perfect bottle.
Pizza sausages and friarelli (salsiccia e friarelli)
Pizza with zucchini and scamorza cheese
Smoked and sweet flavors chase each other in this particular pizza that deserves all your attention. As suggested wine uncorked a warm and intoxicating white as Vermentino di Sardegna. If you like salty, nifty wines you should try the Vermentino Santigaini Capichera from Olianas winery.
Pizza with ham and cheese
Pizza with Truffle, egg and stracchino cheese
Pizza with crab meat, cherry tomatoes, and potatoes
Have you ever eaten this delicacy? Too bad if you didn’t because it’s delicious! But to enhance the sea scent this beauty pair Nosiola (Eugenio Rosi docet) or a classic Greco Greek di Tufo, and with the Pietracupa’s one, you cannot go wrong.
Pizza with sausage, mushrooms and Brie cheese
The sausage and mushroom pizza is an immortal piece of the Italian cuisine and even in this case we are dealing with a decent amount of protein and lipid in the cheesy state: the choice falls on a Montepulciano Cerasuolo, check for Torre dei Beati or Emidio Pepe. Also, a Gaglioppo Rosé could be a nice choice, the A’Vita cellar is liquid poetry, try it!
