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the perfect wine for each dish Heaven-made Matches
[Anna Rebecca DiBenedetto]
Want to impress family and friends with everything you’ve learned about Italian cuisine but you don’t know how to cook? Are you still throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it’s ready? (You know the trick, if it sticks it's done, if it peels off give it another couple of minutes... By the way, the trick doesn't work so don’t try it at home folks!)Well, if you want to pass for a better cook than you actually are, one good way is to stick to traditional combinations of food and wine. Even a plate of raw vegetables with dressing tastes much better if you couple it with a soft slightly fragrant white wine. If you are just setting out into the culinary world, Italy is a fantastic place to be because Italians think eating is a science - and in some respects it is. So, while you may want to break the rules and drink that coke with your carbonara (but please avoid doing this in front of Florentines because you may spoil their appetite), Italian cooking has lots of rules about what to eat, when, how and where. The plus is that, unlike French cuisine you don’t have to start with complicated ingredients that you don’t know how to pronounce.
A good rule of thumb is that if you are making a dish from a certain region, you can play it safe by pairing it with a wine from that same region. And like your elementary school teacher used to say don’t mix up your colors, red wine goes with red meats and white with white meats like chicken. After these two general rules, things become more complicated. Here are some basic pointers, but if you ever get confused, do go back to rules one and two and you’ll do just fine - unless you’ve invited over the weekly meeting of local sommeliers for a party.
The wine you serve with each course of a meal is generally different so if you are having three courses you will probably end up with three wines unless you have a matching first and second and the third course is dessert which does not necessarily require a glass of wine although it would be nice. If you aren't very experienced in wine tasting the adjectives used to describe wines may seem kind of scary but don’t worry, the more different types of wine you try, the clearer it will become. In the meanwhile, don’t buy your wine in a supermarket. Go to a wine store and tell the clerk what you want and the price range you’re looking for and they will suggest something without ever realizing that you don’t know what you are talking about.
If you are starting out with antipasto, your safest bet is to match it with white wine. If pâté is being served (crostini are a classic Italian version of a pâté) a slightly sweet white wine would be best. Remember that lighter wines are generally served first for two reasons: your guests won’t be falling down drunk when you bring out the second course, and if you drink the stronger wines first the lighter wines will seem kind of watery and tasteless.
The first course is sometimes rough but you can make it. Pasta is tricky because there are lots of possible combinations depending on the seasonings you used in the sauce. Take heart and practice, trusting that probably none of your average guests will ever notice if you completely mess it up. When serving a tomato based sauce, a fresh dry white wine is a good choice unless there are also porcini mushrooms, in which case you should pick a light but vivacious red wine. This type of wine would also be good for a meat-based sauce. But if it's a vegetarian meal and you are making a vegetable based sauce, then pull out a soft dry white wine. The same rules of pasta also apply to risotto: what could be easier?
Now that we've gotten through the tricky first course, the second course is a breeze because it has a lot of set rules that spell out success. If you are serving grilled or fried fish a dry white wine is a good choice. For most poultry uncork a characteristic dry white wine that is one to two years old. If you are really adventurous you can couple a young medium-bodied red wine with rabbit meat. Veal calls for a light red and lamb and pork both are good with medium reds. If you are serving red meat pick a vigorous medium vintage red (2-5 years old).
For the dessert look for a liqueur-like white wine if it is very sweet or has chocolate in it, or try a fruit tart with spumante.
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