The Perfect Pour: Pairing Wines with Bolognese Lasagna
The question is serious: which are the most suitable wines to enhance the lipidic sumptuousness of lasagna alla bolognese?
Well, you’ve spent hours and hours in the kitchen preparing the legendary baked green lasagna with meat sauce and béchamel, the classic Bolognese lasagna, but now the dilemma is: which wine to pair with lasagna?
A vigorous and tannic red wine! Of course, you can never go wrong with a Sagrantino di Montefalco or a glorious French Tannant, but there are many possibilities to explore beyond the classic battle red.
Also a good artisan Grasparossa Lambrusco, a rocky rosé like a Montepulciano Cerasuolo, or a couple of orange wines like Dario Princic’s Pinot Grigio or the sublime Ribolle Gialle from Gravner, Castellada, and Radikon.
Not to mention sparkling wines and rosé Champagnes with great structure such as those of Contract, Pojer, Sandri, and Rev, just to mention the last ones we drank.
As you can see, you can combine a myriad of wines with baked lasagna, not just the usual, banal all-muscle red.
Lambrusco Grasparossa Grasparossa della Tradizione, cantina Pederzana
A Lambrusco that is both winey and fruity, full-bodied, with pulp to sell and lively tannins that are not afraid of béchamel and ragù, but instead manage to tame them perfectly. A simple wine that does its job
Poggio Tura 2013, Sangiovese from Vigne dei Boschi
Could a great red wine from Romagna, a Sangiovese, be missing from the list of wines that go well with lasagna alla bolognese? Of course not! And you can’t go wrong with this bottle. The wine is dry, sharp, and already airy, with a scary mentholated spice kit. The tannins aren’t too harsh; it’s a pure Sangiovese that shows how rebellious and wild it is, but does so in an elegant way.
Forsesco, Barberani winery
A simple but tasty red wine that is very fresh, fruity, and easy to drink. Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon all have a good balance of roundness and acidity. It’s all about how nice it tastes, but the tannins and acidity are great for cleaning your mouth after every bite of lasagna. Honest price, not even 10 euros.
Maggiorina 2013, Le Piane winery
A wine that seems simple, but is very smooth, elegant, and full of fruity flavors that are hard to avoid. It’s not hard to understand and doesn’t have a lot of tannins, but once you try it, you’ll love its smooth pace and incredibly clean smell. Even the worst baked lasagna can’t stand up to this crazy acidity.
Schioppettino, Dario Coos
A rich and fruity wine with a strong structure but a lot of roundness and pleasantness. The wine is structured, wide, and rich, but it has a good shape and is full of spice and ripe fruit. The strong tannins will stop the lipid storm in the lasagna from getting worse.
Dievole Chianti Classico 2015
A rocky, fresh Chianti Classico with strong tannins but a good sense of balance. Warm but never soft, the fruit is always alert and hard. Elegant and ready to take on even the toughest lasagna, this dish is a winner.
Priorat Garnacha DOQ “Maquinon” 2016
A round, but not marmalade-like, red wine with a strong rhythm and a lot of balance. Clean start, fruit and spices explode, endless flowers, and then a very dry end. All of this Spanish grit is a great way to balance out the beauty of the protein in lasagna.
Brunnenhof Mazzon Blauburgunder 2013
Mazzon’s Pinot Noir is now widely regarded as the greatest in Italy, and this example from the Brunnenhof winery is characteristic, incisive, and superb not only for its elegance, but also for its austerity and the ethereal notes it provides with both hands. The tannins are firm but well-finished. A fantastic accompaniment to lasagna.
Nardone Aglianico Taurasi DOCG
This Aglianico is good—a mature and evolved wine from 2010, a rich and enveloping wine with mature tones that do not yield to softness. It never wavers, never gives up, and has a magnificent aromatic depth framed by a fruity spirit and extremely exquisite spice. The tannins and body are still blazing and ready to bite into jugular lasagna.
Rebaioli Cavaliere Enrico Togni Rebaioli 2011
Enrico Togni wines are always on our lists of memorable wines for one simple reason: this young winemaker is a legend. Great passion and sincerity; the wines have a lot of character, potential, and elegance. He doesn’t manufacture rouged wines, but he does make fantastic Valcamonica frescoes. We are on the verge of becoming a shaman, a traveling poet of the vines, and a winegrower. This Cavalier Enrico is a magnificent Merlot, meaty and pulpy, spicy yet with grace and endowed with ripe fruit, but never muscular, always measured. The total of the parts is ecstasy, structure, and excellent drinkability. Those who say Merlot is a pimp wine should try it.
Rossese di Dolceacqua 2016 azienda agricola Rosmarinus
A little company in the Perinaldo hills makes excellent biodynamic wines. There are only a few bottles, but there is a lot of content: a pedigree Rossese di Dolceacqua with austere fruit, terrifying oceanic sapidity, well-defined tannins, and a lot of pulp. The finish is lengthy and salty, with evolving withering floral returns. A fantastic wine to go with your lasagna.
Reitemp, Rocco di Carpeneto Barbera del Monferrato Superiore docg 2016
Let’s switch gears to a traditional Barberona del Monferrato: noticeable acidity, not-too-aggressive tannins, and well-designed fruit. It’s fairly sharp overall, but it complements the richness and succulence of the lasagna well.
2013 Brovia Barolo
Barolo is unavoidable in a list of the best wines for lasagna, especially a very structured and tannic classic like Barolo Brovia, which is born in Castiglione Falletto, the place that produces the most stunning Barolos. And the 2013 vintage does not disappoint: it is a spartan wine with the proper tannic edge, a wonderful and very typical earthiness, but most importantly, remarkable elegance.