Penne with gorgonzola and broccoli and malbec

Now here’s a wine pairing with pasta I didn’t wholly expect. The sauce - a gift from a neighbour - was a creamy gorgonzola one to which I added (just to make it fractionally more healthy ;-)) some steamed broccoli I had left in the fridge. (Well, it was raw but I steamed it!)

In general I go for white wines with creamy pasta sauces - and off-dry wines with blue cheese - but happened to have a bottle of young fruity Argentinian malbec open (the Punta de Vacas I made my wine of the week) and it really went brilliantly.

The cheese wasn’t that strong, mind you, and the broccoli added a slightly vegetal edge that kicked the wine into touch but it was interesting how well it worked. My only cautionary note would be that the wine was only 13.5%. A more full-bodied malbec might have overwhelmed the dish.

My neighbour says she enjoys a Gavi di Gavi with it too.

For other pasta and wine pairings see Wines to match different pasta sauces

Alta Langa spumante and pizza

Last week I was in Piemonte exploring the world of vermouth with Roberto Bava of Cocchi. I discovered many startlingly good pairings about which more about in due course but the one I was most intrigued by was their Alta Langa sparkling wine with pizza, not a combination I would have expected at all.

The pizzas, which we sampled at a pizza restaurant in Asti called cRust (no I wouldn’t have been encouraged to go there either by that name), weren’t your average pizza by any means though. The toppings were mostly fresh or very lightly cooked but what made them so especially good with sparkling wine was the incredibly light, airy crisp base, the result, apparently of a triple-fermented dough.

We tried several different toppings of which the standout combinations were the Toto Corde which is made from pinot noir and chardonnay with a napoletana-style pizza with two different kinds of tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and a basil sauce and the gloriously fruity Rosa (made 100% from pinot noir) with a topping of gorgonzola, treviso and honey.

Frustratingly the wines, which are interestingly fermented in tank rather than in the bottle, aren’t available in the UK. I suggest someone contacts Cocchi and offers to import them ;-)

You can read more about the Alta Langa denomination here.

Other good pairings with pizza

Gorgonzola dolce and La Stoppa Ageno 2005

I’m a bit obsessed with orange wine* at the moment. It seems to go with so many things not least blue cheese as this match with gorgonzola at Le Baratin in Paris underlined.

It may of course have been the age of the wine which was nearly 10 years old and from an unusually warm vintage that gave it an extra richness. It’s made from Malvasia, Ortrugo and Trebbiano and comes from the La Stoppa estate in Emilia Romagna (You can read US importer Louis Dressner’s interview with the owner Elena Pantaleoni here. As you can see (right) it was an incredibly deep colour and tasted (most deliciously) of dried apricots and quince.

The Gorgonzola was creamy and not too strong - a surprising cheese, admittedly for a French restaurant to be serving but Le Baratin - one of my favourite Parisian restaurants - is quite unconventional despite describing itself as 'traditionnell'.

The Solent Cellar has the 2007 vintage of the Ageno for £24 and Wine Bear for £25.33. The more recent 2009 vintage is stocked by Ottolenghi at £26.50 with 10% off if you buy a case of six

You can see my review of Le Baratin here.

* for those of you who aren't familiar with the term an orange wine is a white wine that is made by leaving the juice in contact with the skins as you would a red which give the wine its deep orange (or sometimes lighter than orange) colour.

Wine with cheese: Gorgonzola and Vin Santo

You know that port goes with Stilton, right? Well, here’s another good variation on the pair-sweet-wines-with-blue-cheese rule: a glass of Vin Santo and a creamy Gorgonzola.

I tried it out at a Waitrose tasting the other day when I came across a Vin Santo from their range - the Antinori Santa Cristina 2008* - which was quite woody and complex and crying out for food of some sort. Conveniently there was a cheese board in the lunch room next door so I tried it out with a couple.

It didn’t match with the Epoisses but was really good with the gooey Gorgonzola - a pairing you could easily repeat at home. Late harvest Muscats also work well.

If you were serving the Gorgonzola with figs as a cheese course you could also try a sweet red wine like a Recioto della Valpolicella or a Maury from southern France. A dry white or rosé with a touch of sweetness would work if it was the starter or entrée. Try a Malvasia.

Some favour Barolo with Gorgonzola but I’m never totally convinced about the combination of blue cheese and dry red wine except when the cheese is used on a pizza, flatbread or in a baked pasta dish.

* A new addition which doesn't seem to have hit the shelves yet but which will be priced at £11.99 a half bottle. You could obviously try the combination with other vin santos.