I am pairing "challenged": basil pesto over pasta ?

The first of the season basil harvest from my garden has just been turned into home-made pesto. My pesto recipe is heavy on the basil and garlic, with toasted pine nuts, parmesan, and EVOO. First choice for wine would be something that I already have on hand. I did a little googling and came up with a few possibilities from the cellar: Albarino, Assyrtiko, Sancerre, Gruner Veltliner. Second choice would be any other wine, since there will be lots of pesto over pasta served during the next few months giving me many opportunities to check out other possible pairings. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Of those, I’ve had good luck with Grüner.

I’d go with something with a bit of sweetness. Riesling, muscato, or grüner. Maybe a sparkling muscato if you want to keep it Italian.

We really like Vermentino with basil pesto.

I was going to suggest that too.

Or Soave. But yeah, of the wines you list - the grüner probably. Maybe a lighter, fresh but not super acidic Sancerre would be good too.

Nothing is brilliant with pesto, which is why you’ll get so many different answers without any of them coming out on top. But that’s okay!
Drink something white without a ton of oak and you’ll be fine. Or even a lighter bodied red, also without a lot of oak, though it’s not my first choice. If it’s a great garden fresh pesto, let the wine be secondary and fade a little into the background.

I am late to the party but Vermentino would be my choice too.

I drink Bordeaux with pesto/pasta. But I drink Bordeaux with nearly everything.

100% agree. I like that you said let the wine be secondary. I think to often people try to make the wine the focus 100% of the time and sometimes it’s ok to be a backup singer.

100% this.

Sometimes our house even takes the approach of a bottle before dinner and a bottle after dinner, but just water when we eat. I never like to be forced to drink a wine I don’t want, just because its a traditional pairing.

TW

Thanks for the wine suggestions and also for the reminder to not forget to enjoy the pesto while looking for a wine that goes well with it. I’ll try to do both. Unless the wild critters get at our basil plants, we will be having a lot of pesto this summer and having a lot of different wines with it in a playful way, served with only a small dose of expectations.
[cheers.gif]

I’ve found Sparkling Vouvray from Huet to be a surprisingly good match. Their petillant is fairly unique, so I wouldn’t expect to have the same success with other Loire sparklers. I’d try a semi dry still Vouvray in preference, something with a lot of acidity.

Me too

A good practice for selecting pairings is to consider where the dish originates. In this case, pesto is considered Genovese, so Vermentino is the natural choice. Not sure if your area hois this, but I like La Ginestraia’s Vermentino. You can also look to Corsica for great Vermentinos. Any of the wines in your OP would work well.

Gregg, you make a good point and Vermentino seems to be a consensus choice for Pesto alla Genovese. FYI, this original query thread has spawned an additional thread that will explore wine pairings with pesto and more importantly will give me a diversion for the summer. Cheers.