Most people, even logtime wine drinkers, reach for a beer if they want an alcoholic beverage with their pizza. But armed with a few simple tips, you can find plenty of wines that match well also.
The trick is to consider the topping. The pizza itself is just bread, which wine tasters can use to clear their palates. So it's not the dough, it's what's on top that will affect a beverage. Most upscale pizzerias say that their most popular pizza is the Margherita, traditionally made with a thin layer of crushed or pureed tomatoes, a few slices of fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and olive oil. The acidity of the tomatoes and the creamy tang of the mozzarella can rob the granduer from big complex wines, so save the aged Cabernets and Barolos for other occassions. Simple, fruit driven, soft textured reds ans whites do the best.
Those kinds of wines dominate the wine lists at many pizzerias. Their focused offerings, chosen especially for pizza, center on southern Italian reds such as Aglianico, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Nero d'Avola. The soft textures get a lift from the acidity of the tomatoes and cheese, and they wash down the food with elan.
Acidity is the key in most wines,something to cut through the richness of baked dough and cheese. Add sausage, salami or other cold cuts to a pizza ans the scales tip even more toward simple and fruity wines, which are exactly what you might choose with a salami plate. Non-complexity in wine becomes even more of an issue with sharper-flavored pizzas, such as Napoletana or Romana with garlic, olives ans pepperoncini. With them, a white wine actually tastes better than a dry red, and a bit of sweetness in a red can balance the flavors nicely. Think Lambrusco, the lightly fizzy wine from Emilia-Romagna, or a soft, plush Zinfandel from California.
Posted by: Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment