The best wine pairings for lasagna

A traditional lasagna or lasagne, however you like to spell it, is the ultimate comfort food, a multi-layered pasta dish that traditionally combines silky pasta, savoury meats, creamy sauces, and bubbling cheese into one irresistible dish.

It’s generally a dish with which I like a glass of red wine but with so many variations on the basic recipe these days, there’s no single one-size-fits-all pairing.

In this brief guide, I’ll explore the best wines to pair with different styles of lasagna, some of which may surprise you!

Top wine pairings for lasagna

Classic meat lasagna

Basically you can go for the same type of wines as you would for a spaghetti bolognese though as the cheese sauce tends to make the dish a bit richer you might want to go for slightly more full-bodied reds. Maybe a modern style Tuscan red rather than a classic Chianti or a southern Italian or Sicilian red like Nero d’Avola or Primitivo. Barbera is a good pairing too as are Italian grape varieties such as sangiovese from elsewhere.

Outside Italy, I found this saperavi to be a great match with lasagna. A rioja crianza, a medium-bodied cabernet sauvignon or a zinfandel would be a great pairing too as with this ox cheek lasagna.

Vegetable lasagna

It makes sense to choose a wine pairing for vegetable lasagna that suits the vegetables that are in it. If it includes roasted Mediterranean vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and courgettes a gutsy Languedoc or Roussillon red would be a good match.

 If it includes spinach or chard, a dry Italian white like a Gavi might be a better pairing while a pumpkin or butternut squash lasagna would suit a richer white such as a viognier or oak-aged chardonnay.

Mushroom lasagna works well with either white or red wines such as pinot noir. With a lasagne vincigrassi, a particularly opulent recipe made with porcini and cream (yes, it is as delicious as it sounds!) I’d drink a creamy white burgundy or other chardonnay (see for example my Match of the Week: Vincigrassi and Saint-Aubin).

Wines to match different pasta sauces

What wine should you pair with your favourite pasta?

As you might guess it depends on the sauce rather than the pasta shape. From rich and meaty ragùs to zesty herby pesto, each sauce has its own unique character that suggests a different wine pairing. That said I like to pair Italian wine with pasta wherever possible as it suits it so well and isn’t too full-bodied or alcoholic.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best wine pairings for six popular styles of pasta sauce, from the classic tomato-based marinara to creamy Alfredo and beyond. Each sauce calls for a different approach: think crisp whites to cut through the richness of a carbonara, or a bold red to stand up to a hearty Bolognese. 

What Wine to Match with Different Pasta Sauces

Creamy pasta sauces

To offset creamy sauces (eg carbonara or fettucine alfredo) think Soave, Bianco di Custoza, Pinot Bianco, Sicilian whites and lighter Chardonnay or Chardonnay blends.

Spaghetti Carbonara. Image source: Engin Akyurt

See also six of the best wine matches for spaghetti carbonara

With baby vegetables (primavera) or herbs (verdura): try a crisper Italian whites such as Falanghina, Vermentino or Arneis. Or a Loire Sauvignon Blanc.

With mushroom pastas serve Soave, Bianco di Custoza, Lugana or Chardonnay, or a light Merlot or Pinot Noir.

Seafood pasta sauces

Seafood (spaghetti alle vongole, spaghetti with mussels, linguine with crab) need crisp dry whites such as Frascati, Verdicchio, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Muscadet or Picpoul de Pinet. Crab or lobster sauces can take a fuller white such as a good quality Soave or Chardonnay.

The best wine pairings for spaghetti alle vongole

Photo by tofuprod licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Red or tomato-based pasta sauces

Tomato-based sauces include fresh tomato with basil: crisp dry whites such as Pinot Grigio or Verdicchio.

Cooked tomato sauces such as napoletana or marinara): Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a light Sicilian red.

Meat-based sauces e.g. bolognese, spaghetti with meatballs, sausage-based sauces are a logical partner for Sicilian and Puglian reds (especially Primitivo), Sangiovese, Rosso di Montalcino and inexpensive Barberas. Zinfandel is good too.

Six of the best matches for spaghetti bolognese

Pesto and other cheese-based sauces

Dry whites such as Gavi, Soave or Verdicchio are best with green pesto - you could also try Sicilian whites and lighter Chardonnays).

With red pesto I’d go for a medium bodied red such as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sangiovese or Merlot. It’s a colour thing as much as anything

With cheese-based sauces such as four cheese and Gorgonzola): try crisp dry whites such as Verdicchio, light Chardonnays or light reds such as Teroldego or Merlot.

Spicy pasta sauces

With hot spicy sauces such as arrabbiatta, aglio olio e peperoncino (garlic, oil and chilli) and puttanesca (anchovies, capers and olives) try either a sharply flavoured dry white wine or a rustic Italian red: a Primitivo or Sicilian red or a Zinfandel

The best wine pairings for spaghetti puttanesca

Photo by being0828 licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

With fashionable cacio e pepe (pecorino cheese and black pepper sauce) I prefer a light red like a frappato as you can see from one of my matches of the week.

Pasta sauces with pulses

Tuscan reds such as Chianti work well with pasta with beans or lentils (Pasta e Fagioli) or try an earthy, neutral white such as Orvieto or Vernaccia di San Gimignano)

Top image by Brent Hofacker at shutterstock.com

6 of the best pairings for spaghetti bolognese

Given the arguments about how to make a bolognese sauce it’s hardly surprising there should be a difference of opinion about what wine to serve with spaghetti bolognese but here’s what I would go for:

Best red wines with spaghetti bolognese

* a medium-bodied Italian red such as an inexpensive Chianti, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a simple Sicilian red. It’s the acidity in Italian reds that makes them so refreshing

* Italian grape varieties such as barbera and sangiovese made elsewhere

* inexpensive Languedoc or Roussillon reds

* Zinfandel. Always good with tomato-based pasta sauces

Can you drink white wine with a bolognese sauce?

Absolutely especially if the sauce is made with white wine or includes milk like Anna del Conte's ragu then you’ll find it will work really well. I suggest a dry Italian white such as Verdicchio.

What about beer with bolognese?

Maybe another surprise but if you use beer rather than wine to make your bolognese sauce and include bacon and a little smoked pimenton for a smoky note you’ll find it’s a terrific pairing. Try a Belgian-style blonde ale or an amber ale.

Note: these drinks will work with other pasta dishes served with a bolognese sauce. It’s the sauce you match not the pasta shape.

For wine pairings with other pasta sauces see

Wines to match different pasta sauces