Pasta and Wine – perfect pairings
When the winds of winter blow and flakes of white snow turn to drifts, we often turn to comfort foods to ward off the winter doldrums. Here are some suggestions to match some great wines with those pasta dishes.
On nights when you are tired and need something to soothe your spirits, try a big bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce that is quick and easy. If you sip a glass of Chambourcin or Pinot Noir as the water is boiling, think how you are raising your 'good' cholesterol levels. However, on evenings when you have little more time to explore some new recipes, remember that while most think of ‘pasta’ and ‘Italian’ are synonymous, there are a host of other ethnic choices.
The composition of the pasta itself is pretty basic: flour, salt, and some kind of liquid - olive oil, eggs or water - are combined to make a dough, which is then cut into noodles, dried, eventually to cooked in some form. However, the great thing about pasta is the variety of its shapes and sizes that come from the initial simple ingredients. We wind thin pasta, such as spaghetti, angel hair, vermicelli, and linguini around our forks with bits of vegetables, seafood, and red meat in the sauce. Then there are the penne, cannelloni, rigatoni, manicotti, bowties, and elbow macaroni that are stuffed, tossed, boiled, and baked. Beyond the Italian heritage varieties, Germans, Chinese, Japanese and Thai cooks all use their own versions of the flour/salt/liquid foodstuffs. And one of the joys of food and wine pairing is to find those wines that perfectly complement each of those unique cuisine styles.
If your entrée is light, and the sauce is white, consider a crisp off-dry white such as Pinot Grigio. If you serve a simple pasta tossed simply with olive oil, perhaps a blush made from Cabernet Franc should be the choice If your pasta is smothered in a rich tomato sauce you will need to find a wine that can balance the sharp acidity contributed by the tomatoes. That acidity will make the wine taste ‘flat’ if its ‘acid backbone’ is itself weak. Hence, a rich, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon might be the correct choice for that meal. If your pasta contains mushroom and or cheese sauces, the ‘Queen of Classic Whites,’ i. e., Chardonnay or even a slightly off-dry Riesling might be one variety to consider.
Chinese and Thai foods are often regarded as the most difficult to pair with wine. The amazing, fruity Vidal Blancs, so easy to grow in our climate solve the dilemma. Their slightly sweet finish, rich fruit flavors, and intense aromas work wonderfully with most Chinese dishes as well as the spicy and sometimes ‘fiery’ Thai offerings. Jane Moulton [once the food and wine writer at the Plain Dealer, now long retired] used to tout the fruitiness of our sweet Catawbas as a counterpoint to those spicy dishes.
For the ‘pocket pasta’ filled with various white meats, veggies, cheese, or seafood, such as Italian ravioli and Asian wontons, that have richer flavors would go well with Chardonnay and Merlot. By contrast, unfilled dumplings like Italian gnocchi and German spaetzle are more neutral in flavor and respond will on the palate with our Germanic style Rieslings. If the fillings are red meats, or the pasta is tossed with chunks of steak or ground meat light reds like Merlot, Chambourcin and some proprietary red blends might be a good choice.
With the ever-popular rigatoni, complemented with broccoli, white cannellini beans, garlic, and virgin olive oils, those earthy flavors work well with both traditional vinifera reds, and for those who enjoy their grapey characteristics, the native American reds and blushes like Concords and Catawbas.
Regardless of your initial preferences in wine or pasta, consider exploring options beyond those pairings – the journey will be an interesting and rewarding one.
For additional information: dwinchell@ohiowines.org