What Wine Goes Good With Pasta

Want To Pretend You’re Dining Out Tonight A Sommelier Explains Which Everyday Wines Go Best With Your Favorite Italian Dishesfrom Pizza To Penne And From Scampi To Scaloppine

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As a sommelier, I quickly learned a little rule in the wine world: What grows together, goes together. You can look to a dishs region of origin for wine pairing inspiration. But on your next pasta night, you dont need to keep it in Italy to find a great wine to go with dinner! Wines from every corner of the world will work just fine, as long as you follow these simple guidelines for food and drink pairings.

Now on to our favorite wine pairings with some of the most popular ultra-classic Italian dinners.

Wine Pairings For Creamy Sauce Pasta

Most wines do pretty well with creamy-based sauces, whether theyre dairy and cheese driven or cashew-based. Let this forgiving combination embolden you to try some more nuanced pairings. For example, an oak-aged Chardonnay, a full-bodied white wine with some complimentary creaminess to create a congruent pairing with the sauce. Looking for something with a little more contrast to brighten up the meal? Try a lighter, floral red, especially if your pasta contains some richness through root vegetables, mushrooms, or truffles. Here are some tasty options:

• Creamy Avocado Pasta with Chablis, Champagne, or Vinho Verde
• Broccoli Cauliflower Pasta with Tahini Sauce with Pinot Grigio, Chablis, or Pinot Noir
• Vegan Mushroom Risotto with White Burgundy, Pinot Noir, or Barolo

Vegetable Pasta + Light

Spring onions, garlic ramps, artichoke and broccolini often create the backbone of a great primavera, although anything fresh and seasonal will do. The goal of this dish is to really highlight the springy freshness of all the veggies, which is why a light-bodied white wine with floral notes is a great choice. Of course, a well-prepared primavera has major vegetable intensity, so it will need an equally savoury white wine.

This is an edited version of a story that first appeared on WineFolly.

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What Wine Goes With Lemon Pasta

ChardonnayChardonnay

Serving some heavy pouring cream with your lemon tart might also enable you to pair it with lemony dessert wines such as young Sauternes or Sauternes-style wines such as Saussignac or other late harvest Sauvignons or Sauvignon/Semillon blends.

Secondly, what wine goes best with citrus? Some say citrus-flavored food demands a high-acid wine, but others opine that a buttery Chardonnay or an off-dry Riesling can enhance the overall dining experience by lending additional flavors and textures.

Beside above, what wine goes well with pasta?

7 Wines to Pair with Pasta

• Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most sought-after wine in the world, and it is loved for its highly acidic, savory character.
• Pinot Noir. This light red wine variety goes well with tomato-based pastas because of its lighter structure.
• Zinfandel.

What kind of wine goes with Italian food?

The Best Wines to Pair with Italian Dishes

• Pinot Grigio. If you are having a classic pesto dish, then pair it with a classic wine.
• Zinfandel. The richer the red sauce you have in your pasta or pizza dish, the more tangy and bold you want your red wine to be.
• Chianti.

When In California Take It Easy With A Light Touch

In California, where pasta is often served with sautéed fresh vegetables , fresh and light white wines are a must.

We like to look to the white wines of Naples and the Amalfi Coast for pasta dishes served with vegetables like zucchine or asparagus, for example.

For dishes like these, when they are well prepared, the intense flavors of the fresh vegetables should be complemented and not dominated by the flavors of the wine.

Light, youthful Chardonnay from Sonoma is another go-to at our table, like our white wines from Frances Loire Valley and the western coast of France.

Albariño from Spain is another favorite pick. Again, the freshness of the dish needs to be matched by the freshness of the wine. And its important to let the vegetables be the start with the wine playing a supporting role.

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Refined Wines That Go Well With Pasta And Make A Heavenly Meal

Wine is often served with pasta to complement the meal. However, serving the wrong kind of wine can ruin the whole experience. That is why it’s important to be aware of which wines go well with pasta.

Wine is often served with pasta to complement the meal. However, serving the wrong kind of wine can ruin the whole experience. That is why its important to be aware of which wines go well with pasta.

What Wine Goes With Spaghetti Al Nero Di Seppia

Pairing wine with squid ink may seem challenging but its not. A great wine with this dish would be Pinot Nero, or as you likely know it better as Pinot Noir. It really brings out the earthy flavors of the dish. For white, the Sicilian grape Grillo is absolutely perfect with this dish or even a Chardonnay from Chablis would be delicious.

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What Wine Pairs With Orechiette Alla Cime Di Rapa

Puglia is known for 2 red grapes, Negroamaro and Primitivo. Neither is a great match with this dish. Primitivo is essentially the same grape as Zinfandel and Negroamaro is quite big and bold, too. However, Puglia makes amazing roses and this is what I would chose over a red. The whites Fiano and Verdeca are less common in Puglia but delicious. Try a Verdeca. Its got a great green character thatll match with the broccoli rabe, as would a Sauvignon Blanc.

Refined Wines That Go Well With Pasta And Make A Perfect Meal

Tomato-based pastas have high acidity, and need wines with equal or higher acidity levels to match them. If the wine lacks a complementary level of acidity, the acidity in the pasta will overshadow the wine and make it taste bland. Pasta prepared with creamy sauces needs dry, unoaked white wines to cut through the rich flavor, yet not overpower it in any way. Let’s find out how to pair pasta and wine.

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Pizzolato Merlot Nsa And Cavatelli Con Sugo E Cacioricotta

The La Cantina Pizzolato winery, located north of Treviso in Italy, is the countrys number one seller of organic wine. The No Sulfites Added Pizzolato Merlot is made from the dark-blue Merlot grape and is produced using green energy and energy-efficient machinery. This medium- to full-bodied red wine usually has flavors of chocolate, coconut and tart apples. This wine is best-suited to tomato-based pasta dishes such as it responds well to deeply savoury tastes. Couple this Merlot wine with a Penne Arrabbiata or a Cavatelli con Sugo e Cacioricotta for best results.

Read the recipe here: Taste Better from Scratch Penne Arrabbiata

What Is The Best Wine For Lasagna

Pick a ripe, juicy, fresh style of wine like a Barbera from Italy, a Beaujolais , or an Austrian Zwiegelt. Eric Zwiebel MS, sommelier at Summer Lodge Hotel and a Decanter World Wine Awards judge, said, You could try Dolcetto, Barbera, Blaufrankisch or Gamay. You could also try pairing it with a rosé wine.

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What Wine Goes With Pasta Alla Norma

Sicily has so many unique grape varieties. The most famous are Nero dAvola and Nerollo Mascalese for red wine and Grillo and Carricante for white wine. Carricante is usually used in the field blend better known at Etna Bianco. A young Malbec goes beautifully with tomato sauce, as well. Vidiano from Crete is always a safe bet with summer vegetables like eggplant or even zucchini.

Wine Pairing With Linguine Allo Scoglio

Usually red wine and seafood dishes dont pair well together. The saving grace here is the tomato sauce that can take on a red wine. The better pairing is white wine especially Fiano or Greco di Tufo. If you must, the regional red of Campania is Aglianico but Piedirosso is starting to make a name for itself. If you can find either in a rossato or rosé expression, grab it. Pinot Noir is light enough in body to not overpower the seafood as well.

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Les Hauts De Lagarde Blanc

The Les Hauts de Lagarde Blanc-Sec wine is produced on principles of organic agriculture by the Vignobles Raymond winery in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of France near Bordeaux. This wine is made by blending the green Sauvignon Blanc grape and the golden-skinned Sémillon grape.This pale golden wine is dry and crisp with a herbaceous touch and hints of apricot and lemon. The grassy tones of this wine make it an ideal match for vegetable-based pasta dishes such as Pasta Primavera and Casunziei ampezzani. This wine, however, goes well with a variety of foods and can also be paired with seafood pasta.

Read the recipes here: Food Network Pasta Primavera and Donna Moderna Casunziei ampezzani

Wine Pairing With Spaghetti And Meatballs

There’s nothing quite like a homemade bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. But to make this meal even better, serve a hearty glass of Italian Wine along side it! Here are a few of my favorite wines to pair with this dish.

Oh, pasta, how may I proclaim my love for you? So many people try to tell me you are bad for me, but I don’t care.

Homemade pasta and sauce is my ultimate comfort food. I worship my favorite Italian Cookbook . But guess what? A recipe for spaghetti and meatballs isn’t in there! GASP!

It is funny that this dish isn’t Italian at all: I’m pretty positive that spaghetti and meatballs was an invention of Italian-American restaurants. Authentic or not, I’m in love. Sweet sauce and spicy meatballs? What more do we need in life?

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Fantastic Wines That Pair With Pasta Dishes

If you are anything like me, you definitely feel a strong love for wine. Wine just makes every meal taste better, especially when you find the right pairing!When planning a delicious meal to share with friends or family, pasta is a perfect choice, but you do need to be careful to choose the right wine to make that dinner party a wonderful experience.There are two major types of pasta: fresh pasta and dried pasta, but there are actually over 400 variations of those two kinds, and those variations are mainly shape varieties. When it comes down to it though, pasta is pasta. The primary reason that different pasta dishes taste different is because of the sauce, so when you pair your pasta with wine, you’re not really pairing the pasta, but the sauce. When you choose a tomato-based pasta, your wine of choice should be a medium-bodied red wine. Why is this? Well, tomato-based sauces have a very strong flavor, they are powerful, and they are often mixed with red meat. See below for a few of our favorite wine and pasta pairings to get you started!

Fantastic Wines That Pair Best With Pasta Dishes

• 5. Sauvignon Blanc

Choosing wines to complement your meals can be an arduous task requiring much expertise. However, we know one thing for sure it is not always a contest between white wines and red wines. Whether traveling to foodie destinations, dining at your local restaurant, or creating your own dishes at home, it is rather the selection of your meal that determines the kind of wine you choose.

Want to know which wine will go best with your pasta entrée? Weve made a list just for you! From Chardonnay to Chianti, and Alfredo to Pesto, but oh the dilemma! Which wine should you sip with which pasta dishes? And is the secret in the sauce or the grape? Read on for 5 fantastic wines that pair best with pasta dishes.

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Pairing Wine With Creamy Pasta

Cheese and cream sauces are a great wine companion. Full-bodied whites offer a robust creaminess with the slightest hint of tartness thats perfect for pairing with creamy pasta. Look for oak-aged whites, which gives the wine a buttery feel thats delightful with cheese or cream-based sauces!

Light-bodied red wines also pair well with creamy pasta. Theyre floral and fruity, pairing best with more punchy cheeses like pecorino or parmigiana.

• Wine Pairings: Grenache, Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Semillon, Trebbiano, and Viognier
• Tantillo Recipe Favorites: Pasta with Ricotta Cheese

Are There Different Types Of Spaghetti

Technically there are different types of spaghetti, or at least within the same family. The differences are subtle and hard to really notice.

• Spaghetti refers to the classic, thing and cylinder noodles we probably most associate with the dish. This is the favourite pairing with a medium marinara sauce.
• Spaghettoni is very much like spaghetti, only its a bit thicker. The greater width holds up better with rich and dense sauces.
• Capellini is essentially a very thin version of spaghetti. A variation of this kind, and perhaps more popularly known is angel hair pasta, about as delicate of pasta as you can get. This is a great pairing with lighter sauces, especially olive oil-based.

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Wine Pairing With Seafood Pasta

You must try one of the many Vermentino white wines from Sardinia. There are quite a few appellations for it. Island white with seafood, need I say more? Sancerre will complement the shell fish as well and may be easier to find. Carinena, or Carignan, is not a full bodied red so it wont overpower the dish. Theres a ton of acidity in Carinena so its best in rosso versions when tomatoes are used.

Red Vs White Does It Matter

If youre new to wine drinking, you might be wondering what the fuss is about? Surely you can just pair your favorite wine with your pasta dish. Wrong.

Many pasta dishes feature tomatoes as their main ingredient for sauces, it makes the sauce very acidic. Pairing that type of sauce with a wine that doesnt match the acidity, will leave you with a very bland tasting wine.

Since many white wines have a much lower tannic, their acidity levels are also much lower. For this reason, a medium to full-bodied red wine is a much better option for a tomato-based pasta dish.

With so many red wine options, which would be the better choices? Do different pasta dishes taste better with specific wines? Do overtones and the subtility of notes play any part? Lets find out.

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Tortelli Di Zucca From Emilia

What wine goes with pasta from Emilia-Romagna? Tortelli di Zucca is pumpkin stuffed pasta dumpling tossed in sage butter. I mean, yum! How perfect would this dish be for autumn when everyone is already going crazy over pumpkin everything. Emilia-Romagna is home to the famous Balsamic vinegar of Modena so the traditional dish clearly must have a drizzly of it.

The Best Wine Pairings For Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara – spaghetti with a creamy bacon and egg sauce – is one of my all-time favourite pasta dishes but whats the best wine pairing for it?

Id go for a white rather than a red – and a crisp dry Italian white at that.

* Pinot grigio – theres so much ropey Pinot Grigio around its easy to forget its virtues as a crisp, clean, immensely food-friendly white. Look out for ones from the Alto Adige region. Pinot Bianco would be good too

* Gavi di Gavi – another very popular Italian white for those who like a fuller, slightly smoother white

* Soave – same reasoning. Smooth, dry, brilliantly food-friendly.

* Picpoul de Pinet – a crisp white from the Languedoc coast that would work really well too

* Chablis – also works well with creamy sauces, and with ham

* Teroldego – a light Italian red that would rub along well if you wanted a red.

Note: as usual with pasta its the sauce youre matching not the pasta shape so these wines would go equally well with fettucine or tagliatelle treated the same way.

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The Best Wine And Pasta Pairings

For creating the best pasta and wine combinations, follow these simple rules:

• Light pasta dishes go with light-bodied wines. And vice versa, bolder meals go with full-bodied wines.
• As a general rule, red sauces pair well with red wines, while white sauces are better with white wines.
• Fruity sauces are best with fruity wines.
• Acidic wine is an excellent counterplayer for creamy and cheese sauces.
• Sparkling wine helps clean the palate and reduces the heat of very spicy preparations.

Wine Pairing With Spaghetti Alle Vongole

Here I really must insist you have a white or rosé, or rosato in Italian. A red wine would completely overpower the dish and the delicate clam flavors will be lost. Greco di Tufo is another white grape from Campania that pairs great with seafood. A dry roséof Grenache or even of Aglianico would be as close to red as I would go with this.

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