Bagna Cauda and Arneis

I could have chosen any one of the pairings at the ‘An A to Z di Vini Divini’ wine dinner at Bocca di Lupo last week as my match of the week but this is one of the most useful ones as bagna cauda, an anchovy, garlic and olive oil dip with raw vegetables isn’t the easiest dish to pair.

The dinner was a collaboration between one of my favourite food writers, Rachel Roddy and chef Jacob Kenedy - a six course menu with really interesting wines chosen by Bocca di Lupo’s sommelier Phill Morgan.

Bagna cauda is a speciality of Piedmont so it was appropriate to drink a white wine from the region with a 2022 Arneis Le Tre from Malabaila di Canale. You can buy it from the St Andrews Wine Company for £15.95 and $21.99 at Perrine Wine Shop in Atlanta.

Sometimes the dish can be quite punchy* but Rachel’s version contained milk butter and cream which really showed off the wine’s delicate aromatic character.

You can find the recipe in the charmingly illustrated booklet they’ve produced to go with the promotion which you can buy from their website for £6.99 with £1 of the cover price going to the children’s charity Magic Breakfast. You can try the pairings individually or as a tasting menu until the end of January.

*In which case you might want to drink a fruity young Dolcetto with it as Marc Millon recounts in this lovely post 

For other anchovy pairings see The best wine pairings for Anchovies.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Bocca di Lupo.