6 of the best wine pairings for spaghetti carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara - spaghetti with a creamy bacon and egg sauce - is one of my all-time favourite pasta dishes but what’s the best wine pairing for it?

Remember, as usual with pasta, it’s the sauce you’re matching not the pasta shape so these suggestions would go equally well with fettucine or tagliatelle treated the same way.

Personally I’d go for a white wine rather than a red or rosé - a crisp dry Italian white at that though I’ve suggested a couple of French wines that I think work well too. Choose from one of these.

* Pinot grigio - there’s so much ropey Pinot Grigio around it’s easy to forget its virtues as a crisp, clean, immensely food-friendly white. Look out for ones from the Alto Adige region. Pinot Bianco (aka Pinot Blanc) would be good too

* Gavi di Gavi - another very popular Italian white for those who like a fuller, slightly smoother white

* Soave - same reasoning. Smooth, dry, brilliantly food-friendly.

* Picpoul de Pinet - a crisp white from the Languedoc coast that would work really well too

* Chablis - also works well with creamy sauces, and with ham

* Teroldego - a light Italian red that would rub along well if you fancied a red.

The best wine pairings for ravioli and other filled pasta

Just as pasta pairings are all about the sauce, stuffed pasta such as ravioli are all about the filling so you need to take account of what that’s based on and any accompanying sauce. 

Seafood is obviously going to need a different style of wine from a meaty filling like ox cheek.

That said Italian wines are generally pretty flexible - and well priced so they’re always a safe bet to fall back on.

Seafood-based ravioli

Ravioli are often filled with delicate seafood like lobster and crab in fine dining restaurants - and paired with white burgundy or other cool climate chardonnay like this match of langoustine ravioli with a top Chilean chardonnay

Oaked white Bordeaux would be a good choice too as it was with this prawn raviolo

Another good option would be blanc de blancs champagne or champagne-style sparkling wine

Meat-based ravioli

There’s quite a range of fillings here from mild savoury-tasting ham and cheese to robust wintry ox cheek. With the sort of ready-made cheese and ham tortelloni you find at the supermarket I’d drink a glass of Italian white wine like a Soave or a Gavi. If it was a more sophisticated restaurant dish like this veal ravioli you could go for a serious red like a barolo

Again, the kind of beef ravioli with red wine you find in the supermarket isn’t that intense. I’d probably go for a medium-bodied Italian red with that - Chianti would work or even a merlot or malbec. But if it’s a rich ox cheek filling think something more robust - a barbera, a modern Tuscan red, a nero d’avola or a zinfandel.

And if it’s the good old fashioned tinned ravioli with tomato sauce? A cheap and cheerful Sicilian red or a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo!

Veg-based ravioli

Butternut squash and pumpkin are really popular as a filling for ravioli, often served with brown butter and sage. There’s a sweetness and richness in both which calls for a rich white like a chardonnay, old vine chenin blanc or, as I discovered a while back, an oak-aged Douro white. I also really like a good Soave especially with a bit of bottle age.

Spinach and ricotta is another popular filling with which I’d pair a white wine but a lighter, crisper style than for pumpkin. Italian gavi or verdicchio for example or, outside Italy, an albarino would work well.

And with mushroom ravioli - as with everything else mushroomy - pinot noir goes really well. Or a creamy chardonnay

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White or red wine? What’s the best pairing for risotto?

Talking about wine matches for risotto is a bit like talking about wine with pasta - it’s depends on the other ingredients you use, not the rice.

That said, risotto is usually a delicate, creamy sort of dish which is served among the primi (the first main dish) on an Italian menu and generally suits a white better than a red.

It’s also typical of the northern half of Italy rather than the south, particularly the Piedmont area which points to an Italian white from that region.

In this post you’ll find my top wine pairings for popular types of risotto, including spring vegetable risottos (e.g. asparagus risotto), seafood risotto (e.g. Risotto ai Frutti di Mare), mushroom risotto, beetroot risotto and pumpkin risotto. Read on to learn which types of risotto best suit a white wine and which are better with red.

Spring vegetable risotto

With a light risotto made with spring vegetables like asparagus or courgette (zucchini) flowers or with seafood like shrimp or prawns I’d drink a Gavi, Soave or a Roero Arneis or - and this might surprise you - a glass of dryish* prosecco.

Seafood risotto

If the risotto was a bit richer - made with crab or scallops for example - I’d go for a richer white wine but still one with some acidity - a light creamy chardonnay for example or a pinot bianco. Premier cru Chablis, although not local, would be a good match and I have enjoyed a crisp fresh-tasting sauvignon with this style of risotto

Mushroom risotto

Chardonnay, especially white burgundy, is also a good pairing for a chicken or a mushroom risotto which tend to be richer and more savoury but you could also drink a pinot noir or a Barolo, even though this is not traditional in the region. (They generally save it for the meat course and drink a Barbera.). If truffles are involved, I would go for the Barolo though!

Beetroot risotto

I’d also drink a red wine with any risotto that was made with red wine, served with meat or one that was based on beetroot. Barbera would probably be my top choice but again pinot noir would work very well especially if that’s the wine you use in the recipe.

Beetroot and pinot noir risotto

I also prefer an earthy red like Barbera with a risotto made with saffron like the classic risotto all Milanese but again you could go for a crisp white like a Gavi.

Pumpkin risotto

And for rich pumpkin or butternut squash I might go for a richer style of chardonnay or viognier.

Wines that don’t go quite as well

Enjoying a risotto is all about the creaminess of the dish and the texture of the rice so you don’t want a wine that’s too intrusive either in terms of fruit character or tannin. So I personally wouldn’t go for a pungent New Zealand style of sauvignon blanc or a full-bodied red like a cabernet sauvignon or shiraz. Feel free though if it works for you!

* I deliberately use the word ‘dry-ish’ rather than ‘dry’ because that’s a classification in the prosecco region that actually means medium-sweet’. You want to look for ‘brut’ style proseccos.

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Eight great drink pairings for sushi

You might think sushi would be tricky to pair with wine but surprisingly that’s not the case. And there are other drinks that work too.

There are of course different toppings and fillings for sushi, some mild, some, like eel, quite strongly flavoured but I don’t think you can be chopping and changing with each bite you eat.

What you do have to bear in mind is that you’re not only dealing with raw fish: sushi has a touch of sweetness to take account of too. And it also depends how much soy and wasabi you add.

Here are eight drinks I think make good pairings:

Koshu and other crisp whites. If you haven’t come across koshu you will soon. It’s a crisp clean white wine that’s made in Japan from the koshu grape. Marks & Spencer even stocks one. Other crisp whites like Muscadet, Chablis, Gruner Veltliner, Gavi and even Pinot Grigio work well too.

Low dosage champagne and other dry sparkling wines such as drier styles of prosecco and Crémant d’Alsace. Delicious.

Sake Not traditional in Japan (you don’t drink sake with rice) but it’s a brilliant combo, as is fino sherry. Chilled rather than warm.

Dry riesling - very dry - so think Alsace, Austria and southern Germany rather than the Mosel or more fruity rieslings from Australia or New Zealand.

Oaked Portuguese white - can’t explain exactly why but it works especially with the more full-on flavours of modern sushi (especially if it involves sesame) See this post about a meal I had in Foz.

Young red burgundy - now this may come as a surprise. It was recommended to me by a Japanese sommelier. I still prefer a white or sparkling wine with sushi but if you prefer a red this is the type to go for. (And see this very successful pairing with red Sancerre.)

Japanese beer - not the most flavourful but it feels right. Or other light lagers. A big sweet hoppy craft beer would be too overpowering.

Genmaicha (roasted rice) tea - refreshingly nutty. Served warm rather than piping hot. Green tea (though not matcha) is nice too.

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