If red pizza I’m usually leaning towards a Zin which for me is a Bedrock or Ridge. White pizza I’ll usually pull out a Pinot. If I convince myself pizza is Italian I’ll break out a Chianti or .
If she knew you Ray, my wife would blame you for me always pairing Champagne with pizza. I hadn’t thought of it until reading some of your posts a long time ago on the Parker board. It’s my favorite, though I agree with minimally oaked Tuscan Sangiovese. I haven’t tried Red Burg.
I also enjoy pairing dry rosé and am completely intrigued by the Lambrusco suggestion, especially with any pizza with pepperoni and/or Italian sausage…
Not quite pizza (many recipes are more an onion tart) but can be made like one; the southern French pissaladiere.
Lots of slow cooked onions, anchovies, olives, sun dried tomatoes (and you could probably add capers).
I find this goes really well with a more earthy style of Côtes du Rhône.
We gave a Lambruso di Sorbara a try last night with this week’s pizza. Cleto Chiarli Vecchia Modena, 11% ABV. We were eating “al fresco” on the back porch, but it was more like “al humido” as the dewpoint and temp were high. My solution was to ice bucket the wine, which had already been refrigerator-chilled. Bad move! Tom Keim had already given me the clue “slightly chilled of course” in his post above (which I ignored of course). Very dry, approaching austere, with a tartly fruit/acid/ almost vinegary taste (but it was very cold at least!). The evening’s warmth fortunately knocked the chill off the poured glasses quickly enough for a not atypical duh/aha moment “Hey, wait a minute, this wine tastes a lot better when it is not so cold”.
The wine is almost rosé in color; watermelon might a better color descriptor. Very slightly fizzy, so much so that you could almost count the individual bubbles surfacing in the glass . . . there’s one, there’s another one, etc. It’s a pretty wine in the glass. Once “de-iced”, the wine became smoother and more balanced. Still dry, and with a pleasant tart fruit flavor taking prominence. Very good match for our tomato sauced cheese and pepperoni pizzas. Less successful with the garlic pizza.
Tasty. Enjoyable. Recommended. Slightly chilled of course.
Almost every week we make dough on Sunday to make pizza on Monday. My 4 and 6 year olds are now into it and they help prep and put toppings on. I’m not much of a beer guy anymore so it’s always wine with pizza in our house. Some of our favorites:
We don’t make it often, but when we go basic red sauce with salami or sausage we tend to go with Etna Rosso (Tenuta delle Terre Nere, or Benanti does the trick). Of course Barbera, Dolcetto, Rosso di Montalcino all work well. A few weeks ago I went off the board and opened a 2018 Jolie-Laide Gamay Barsotti Vineyard that was fun with a red sauce pie.
White pizza with prosciutto and arugula is one of our go to pies and we like Lambrusco or a good dry rose with this. Great pairing.
White pizza with potato, leeks and goat cheese is another favorite and I haven’t found a better pairing than a crisp Sancerre.
When I can get interesting mushrooms we make a white pizza with roasted garlic, mushrooms and herbs. We really like this with Trousseau and usually have a Sandlands or Arnot Roberts around to pair. A lighter burgundy also has worked well.
This time of year when our garden is producing we make a lot of veggie pizza’s with a white base, fresh cherry tomatoes, summer squash, roasted onions, roasted garlic and herbs. This we have found to be friendly with most whites and rose. Last week we opened a Alzinger Grüner with it that was perfect.
With pizza (actually with most foods), I like wines with higher acidity. Chianti and Brunello usually. I also like Nebbiolo. Sometimes a higher acid white like Sancerre, Verdicchio, Soave and an occasional crisp rose of Canaiuolo or Pinot, depending on what’s on the pizza.
Finished up the Lambrusco di Sorbara tonight and I’ll add one observation to my previous note. There was something in the taste that I noticed before but could not put words to when I first tasted it. I think it has a little bit of subdued lambic beer taste, where the tart is approaching sour and cidery. For those who know the wine, does this ring true to you?
Opened the “more than once” recommended 2017 Idlewild “The Bird” Red last week with pizza. Seemed a little harsh and acidic to me although ample fruit seemed to be there also. Kept it re-corked in the fridge and finished the last big glass today with leftover pizza. This wine was now absolutely “on point” for the pizza. Bright tasty fruit, subdued acid, smooth, balanced. Delicious. The wine stepped up and shook hands with the pepperoni the cheese and the garlic! Gonna buy a few more bottles. About $20.
For your bonus question I don’t know if the garlic pizza is a red sauce pizza, or, as I assume, an olive oil base with no tomatoes. I’d probably go with something entirely different for that, if no tomatoes are involved, but that’s just me. I really like champagne with white pizza.
Years ago I came home on a night when my wife was making pizza, and a bottle of 1982 Mouton Rothschild was open on the counter. That was back when I was still drinking Bordeaux, before selling it off and converting the currency to Burgundy. Also one day before setting aside a portion of my cellar for my wife to safely grab bottles to open.
After recovering from the shock, it seemed to be a good pairing at the time.
EPIC pairing. Didn’t hurt that we were in the South of France. If I’m forced to go more pedestrian, Champagne, Lambrusco or Barbera are my go-to pairings with pizza. Luckily, Ops and Roberta’s have plenty of choices in NYC.