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Posted by Alan Boehmer Oct 13, 2007 |
You're supposed to drink beer with pizza, right? Well, no argument here, but there are other options. Italians probably drink a lot less beer with their pizza than the rest of us. They may have invented the notion that the ideal accompaniment for any food is wine.
Wines that marry well with food are often very different from wines that receive high marks from reviewers. Wines intended to stand alone must be complete, having no flaws or deficits. Such "perfected" wines are necessarily costly, since they must be shepherded through every phase of their development, or elevage, as the French like to put it.
Wines that make food sing on your palate are different. They need not be expensive and often are very affordable. What they lack is completeness. They are rarely high in alcohol or concentration. There is rarely any perceptual degree of residual sweetness. Taken with food, they shine and often outperform expensive alternatives.
There are countless exceptions to this notion. The right wine with the most appropriate food is always a delight. A great Pinot Noir with a perfectly roasted duck breast would be hard to beat. But we're talking pizza here.
We think Italian wines are best suited to a wide variety of ordinary meals. Pizza, especially. Pasta dishes with tomato sauce can't be better complemented than with a Barbera. But for those of us who enjoy simple fare, we like to stock up on wines like Puglia's famous and inexpensive Salice Salentino, the best of which comes from Taurino.
Salice Salentino is a very dry, slightly acidic, fullly flavored red wine made from Negroamara and Malvasia grapes that marries perfectly with dishes like pizza and pasta with tomato sauce. It's usually priced under $10 and fine examples can be found for around $5.