Top 10s Top 10 perfect wines for Italian food

Date Published:

26/08/2009

Matching wines to the flavours of classic Italian dishes shouldn’t cause tears before bedtime. And you don’t necessarily have to reach for Italian wines, though they are often the first port of call

Stuart Walton picks special bottles from the Channel 4 Wine Club to make some invigorating, summery matches. La dolce vita indeed!

Sartori Soave 2008 (£5.10, 11.5%)
Probably Italy’s most famous dry white, Soave comes from the Veneto region of the north-east. Its gentle, almondy flavours and light acidity make it perfect with the fattiness and salty savour of Parma ham and fig salad, and Sartori's Soave is made entirely from organically grown grapes.

Palazzo Pisano Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2007 (£6.31, 12.5%)
From Italy’s Adriatic coast, here's a red to match the spicy bite of a good arrabbiata sauce. There’s a wealth of ripe red fruit in there, as well as a finishing salty tang that’s great with tomato-based pasta dishes.

Villa Sandi del Piave Chardonnay 2008 (£7.56, 12.5%)
The luxurious richness of a dish like spaghetti carbonara needs a correspondingly big wine. With its honeyed roundness of texture and silky-smooth feel in the mouth, this northern Italian Chardonnay will stand up well to the egg-rich sauce.

Palazzo Pavone Verdicchio Classico 2008 (£7.57, 12%)
A bowl of pasta dressed with pesto. What could be easier? Choose a wine that has plenty of crisp acidity to cut the oiliness of the dressing, and also some snappy green fruit to match the basil. Verdicchio is a classic Italian grape that fits the bill, and get that bottle shape! Sexy or what?

Cardeto Matile Pinot Grigio 2008 (£6.33, 13%)
Is there any Italian grape more fashionable than Pinot Grigio right now? Too many of them can be a shade dull, but here's one with plenty of personality. It's from the central Umbria region, and has light apple fruit with a hint of something more exotic like guava. Match it with the vegetarian combination of spinach and ricotta pasta, in cannelloni perhaps.

Zenato Valpolicella Superiore 2007 (£8.07, 13.5%)
The traditional Venetian calf's liver main course is rich and substantial, especially if sauced with sage butter too. It needs a big strapping red, and this north eastern wine, made from a trio of traditional Italian grapes, answers the call. It's crammed with plum and damson fruit, with a slight smokiness from its ageing in oak.

Callia Alta Shiraz/Malbec 2008 (£6.34, 14%)
And what’s the most widely eaten Italian-influenced dish of all? Where's that takeaway menu? A tomato and mozzarella pizza piled with pepperoni and jalapeños is best with a muscled-up, unsubtle red with bags of attitude. This one, made without the complicating factor of oak, comes from Argentina and is all thunderous, fruit-driven power.

Domaine Fontarèche Viognier 2007 (£7.72, 13%)
We're straying outside Italy for a minute to pick up a bottle of this ripely juicy Viognier from the south of France. Its rich, creamy texture, and combination of peach and lemon fruit, would be excellent with a push-the-boat-out seafood risotto made with prawns, crab or even lobster.

Ermenegildo Leporati Barbera del Monteferrato Vigna Granda 2007 (£7.82, 13%)
A traditional dish of linguine or spaghetti with pork and veal meatballs needs a good, gutsy red. Barbera from Piedmont in northwest Italy is incomparable at this job. Its midweight structure and well-defined cherry fruit are great with the tomato-based sauce. Ermenegildo Leporati Barbera del Monteferrato Vigna Granda 2007 comes from one of the best recent vintages.

Stanton & Killeen Classic Rutherglen Muscat (£19.10/ 50cl, 18%)
No, I haven’t taken leave of my senses. It may sound like a silly price, but this fortified Australian Muscat is so unbearably gorgeous, you’ll be glad you did. A little goes a long way, it’s so hugely intense (think Christmas tangerines dipped in toffee sauce), and would be a cinch with the boozy, creamy opulence of tiramisu.

Fancy a glass with your dinner? Visit 4Food's Wine Club

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