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Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional Ita... - 2/22/2021 2:56:05 PM   
WineJ2019

 

Posts: 88
Joined: 12/31/2019
From: Ventura County, CA
Status: offline 		A regular meal for us on Monday nights is homemade slow cooked pasta bolognese, which I typically pair with an Italian wine like Barolo/Barbaresco or Chianti. (And I must confess it feels sacrilegious to reach for a non-Italian wine!). Just curious what others have tried in such a scenario? Thx!

< Message edited by WineJ2019 -- 2/22/2021 2:58:03 PM >
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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 3:00:34 PM   
racerchris

 

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From: Bolton, CT
Status: offline 		I drink Bordeaux with just about anything.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 3:29:09 PM   
DoubleD1969

 

Posts: 3599
Joined: 8/19/2008
From: New Jersey
Status: offline 		The other day I opened a Finger Lakes Pinot Gris with cacio e pepe because I didn’t have any Italian whites.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 3:50:17 PM   
jayrod

 

Posts: 88
Joined: 6/7/2013
From: Lafayette, LA
Status: offline 		I think a Seghesio Zin goes well with tomato sauce,

Also had a Mondavi Napa Cab years ago with lasagna and it was great.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 4:19:56 PM   
grizzlymarmot

 

Posts: 342
Status: offline 		There is a nice tradition of Italian food in Argentina - so an Argentinian Malbec could be a good choice. Chile provides a lot of choices for 'old world' food.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 4:33:13 PM   
khmark7

 

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Status: offline 		No

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 4:37:03 PM   
Ibetian

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: racerchris

I drink Bordeaux with just about anything.


+1, though I do tend to pair Italian food with Italian wine most of the time.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 5:40:59 PM   
Paul852

 

Posts: 2652
Joined: 6/27/2018
From: Hong Kong
Status: offline 		Yes. I consider the style of the wine as much as its origin when pairing. And pasta bolognese (or pizza for that matter) for me is pretty forgiving in wine pairing - I'd be fine with Bordeaux, or Rioja or even a Cotes du Rhone, just depending on my feeling at the time.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 6:29:49 PM   
jmcmchi

 

Posts: 3215
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Status: offline 		Rioja,CdR, local sangiovese or nebbiolo

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 6:36:58 PM   
WineGuyCO

 

Posts: 3802
Joined: 9/5/2017
From: Living at 7200 ft. in Monument CO
Status: offline 		Cibo Italiano sempre con vini Italiani. Nessuno eccezione.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 6:55:50 PM   
ShawnM789

 

Posts: 828
Joined: 2/8/2010
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline 		Yup, sure do.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 7:00:49 PM   
CranBurgundy

 

Posts: 8272
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From: Philly / South Joizey
Status: offline 		Burgundy goes great with some veal dishes.

On the flip side, BdM can be an awesome pairing with some Chinese dishes. Orange beef comes to mind.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 7:56:39 PM   
eyewino

 

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Joined: 8/29/2018
From: Northern Iowa
Status: online 		Italian wine with Italian food. I believe it has been passed as a NATO resolution. This applies to no other country's cuisine...

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/22/2021 9:19:01 PM   
Paul852

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
On the flip side, BdM can be an awesome pairing with some Chinese dishes. Orange beef comes to mind.

"Orange beef" is an American pseudo-Chinese dish, like chop suey; you won't find it in China.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 4:41:21 AM   
Echinosum

 

Posts: 602
Joined: 1/28/2021
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
Status: offline 		Few countries have such diverse wine as Italy. We think of certain distinctive wines as being typically Italian. But the export market is focused on certain special things that are a small proportion of the production, and not so representative of the bulk. If, in Italy, you are drinking "an Italian red" with your pizza, that really could really be practically anything in style. It is a good thing that pizza is very forgiving of what you drink with it. Maybe that's part of why its so popular even in Italy.

Having a pizza might be an excuse to open an Italian bottle, but it really doesn't bother me if it is something else entirely.

Zinfandel? It's like primitivo. Merlot? They drink a lot of that in Italy. Etc.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 7:28:10 AM   
WineJ2019

 

Posts: 88
Joined: 12/31/2019
From: Ventura County, CA
Status: offline 		Thanks all for the feedback / suggestions (and the warnings WineGuyCO and eyewino ! Those were well put). I went with the Bordeaux, specifically 2016 Ch Laroque which per the label is 95% merlot, 4.5% Cab Franc and 0.5% Cab Sauv (I don’t recall ever seeing fractional varietal %’s on a label before!). The match worked well for me, as the wine had a good dose of fruit and acid to pair with the dish. Also being young it was pretty lively.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 8:51:31 AM   
thesternowl

 

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Joined: 2/5/2011
From: Omaha, NE
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: WineJ2019

A regular meal for us on Monday nights is homemade slow cooked pasta bolognese, which I typically pair with an Italian wine like Barolo/Barbaresco or Chianti. (And I must confess it feels sacrilegious to reach for a non-Italian wine!). Just curious what others have tried in such a scenario? Thx!


I'll frequently drink Italian wine with non-Italian food but rarely eat Italian food without Italian wine.

However, I have found that Grenache-based wines from the Southern Rhone tend to work quite well in a pinch.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 9:35:52 AM   
Echinosum

 

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From: Buckinghamshire, UK
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quote:

ORIGINAL: thesternowl
I'll frequently drink Italian wine with non-Italian food but rarely eat Italian food without Italian wine.

However, I have found that Grenache-based wines from the Southern Rhone tend to work quite well in a pinch.

Not so surprising as grenache has long been grown in many parts of Italy. Originally from NE Spain, it was spread when various bits of Italy were run by the Kingdom of Aragon. Best known is Cannonau di Sardegna.

More generally I would suggest grenache has some broad similarities in character to various north Italian "workhorse grapes" like barbera and croatina. We rarely pay much attention to them, but are grown in quite large quantity and mainly go into more basic wines.

Southern Rhones often have a fair slug of mourvedre in them, which gives a touch of bitterness like we expect of some Italian wines such as sangiovese, Valpolicella, etc. I was drinking a Bandol (grenache/mourvedre blend) the other day and thinking how Italianate it was.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 11:02:59 AM   
Jenise

 

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Joined: 3/20/2013
From: The Pacific Northest Westest
Status: offline 		Loved walking into this thread this morning, as I am contemplating dinner tonight at the home of friends in our bubble. They're serving spaghetti. I have pretty much never had anything but red meat at their house, so this is new, and I know they pretty much buy/drink only Washington state wines. What do they usually drink with spaghetti? Surprising answer: syrah. Why syrah? Because it's not cab or cab franc, and those are pretty much the only other reds they seek out.

Some thoughts: respecting origins is nice and even important, and those of us with well-stocked cellars can go virtually anywhere. But the world's our oyster here because Italian food is so easy to pair food with! From the red sauces of Rome to the rosemary-scented roast lamb legs of Tuscany, the variables are great. And so are the grapes grown in Italy for wine. It's not monochromatic. Most pinot noir and tempranillo, for instance, respond well to tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms. And body, to my cook's mind, is as important as tannins and acidity (or the lack of) to getting the details right, in some cases more in fact than the individual grape itself.

So what am I taking to dinner tonight? Not sure, but it will be medium-bodied. :)

< Message edited by Jenise -- 2/26/2021 11:14:40 AM >

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/23/2021 2:52:37 PM   
Tricky99

 

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Joined: 12/21/2011
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quote:

ORIGINAL: WineJ2019

A regular meal for us on Monday nights is homemade slow cooked pasta bolognese, which I typically pair with an Italian wine like Barolo/Barbaresco or Chianti. (And I must confess it feels sacrilegious to reach for a non-Italian wine!). Just curious what others have tried in such a scenario? Thx!


Nothing like a slow cooked ragu sauce. Always make ours with finely chopped celery, onion, carrots, touch of tomato purée and/or or blitzed tomatoes and finally quality mince beef. 3-4 hours on the stove simmering gently. If you can resist, even better devoured when it’s had overnight to seep and mature!

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/24/2021 3:46:45 AM   
pclin

 

Posts: 1911
Joined: 5/29/2012
From: Exile in my own country
Status: offline 		French wines with Italian foods, my fav combo.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/24/2021 6:42:20 PM   
sastewart

 

Posts: 595
Joined: 8/16/2012
From: Greater Nashville
Status: offline 		Mostly Italian wines with Italian Food but have found nice matches with Rhones, Bordeaux, and Spanish Rioja or Garnacha.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/25/2021 11:20:21 PM   
jonathanknowles

 

Posts: 339
Joined: 7/10/2017
From: Vienna, Austria (but from England)
Status: offline 		We usually do drink Italian wines with Italian food, just because we have a lot of Italian wines. We often drink Italian wines with any food really and rarely the other way round.

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/26/2021 3:15:53 AM   
S1

 

Posts: 14826
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From: Wandering between Coastal SC and South FL
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quote:

ORIGINAL: pclin

French wines with Italian foods, my fav combo.

Pretty common at Chez S1

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RE: Do you ever pair non-Italian wines with traditional... - 2/26/2021 5:04:59 AM   
daviladc

 

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From: Myrtle Beach SC
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quote:

ORIGINAL: jonathanknowles

We usually do drink Italian wines with Italian food, just because we have a lot of Italian wines. We often drink Italian wines with any food really and rarely the other way round.


This is our experience exactly. Steak and a super Tuscan, yes. A Cali Syrah and lasagna, not so much.

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