Pairings | Primitivo

The best wine pairings with meatballs

The best wine pairings with meatballs

Meatballs are essentially comfort food so you don’t want to drink anything too fancy with them. That said, wine is a great pairing with mealballs, especially a hearty red. 

Spaghetti and meatballs

This much loved Italian-American classic needs no more than a simple carafe of rosso - Sicilian I suggest as in this pairing of spaghetti and meatballs with nerello mascalese. I had a similar combination at the Francis Ford Coppola winery a few years ago and they had exactly the right idea. A young gulpable Chianti would also hit the spot as would a Rosso di Montepulciano or Rosso Conero.

Baked meatballs with cheese

A similar type of recipe to the above just slightly richer so it might need a gutsier red - the sort you’d serve with a lasagne. Try a zinfandel, a southern Italian red like a primitivo or nero d’avola or a barbera.

Middle-eastern meatballs

Here you have spice (usually cumin and coriander), garlic, loads of herbs (coriander, mint and parsley) and yoghurt to contend with. I’d pick a medium-bodied red wine from Greece, the Lebanon or even the Languedoc (see this match ) but a dry rosé would also be delicious. Or even a crisp white . . .

Swedish (or other Scandi) meatballs

More savoury than the other three and generally served with a creamy gravy. Take the cue from the lingonberry jam by which they’re often accompanied. A bright fruity red like a pinot noir would work or - and you may be surprised by this - an inexpensive red Bordeaux or Bergerac.

Image © Joshua Resnick at shutterstock.com

The best food pairings for Zinfandel

The best food pairings for Zinfandel

Like most wines made from red grapes Zinfandel comes in a number of styles from light and juicy to blockbuster ‘killer’ zins but they have a common thread of ripe brambly fruit and in most cases a richness that makes them a good match for red meat and other hearty dishes, especially those with a hit of smoked chilli.

(It’s also used to make an off-dry style of rosé called white zinfandel - check out my post on rosé for that.

Here are my favourite pairings which also apply to Zin’s brother from another mother primitivo which comes from Southern Italy (though I’d probably go more for the Italian dishes with that)

What goes with Zinfandel

Barbecue, especially American barbecue

If it’s charred, sweet or spicy, most zins will work so think back ribs, brisket, spicy sausages - anything smoked or treated to a sweet or spicy marinade or rub. Recipes like this Texas-style BBQ beef brisket.

Turkey, especially Thanksgiving turkey

As you will know Thanksgiving and Christmas is not so much about the bird as the stuffing and the sides and a good zinfandel can take them all in its stride as I discovered a couple of years ago

Braises and stews

If it’s big and beefy and cooked long and slow - it’s one for zin. Think shortribs and ox cheek, even Mexican mole

Dirty’ burgers

Y’know, the kind piled up with cheese, bacon, onions, pickles, whatever. Zin can cope

Meaty pasta sauces and pasta bakes

I’m thinking particularly spaghetti (or tagliatelle) and meatballs or a beef shin ragu. Or anything with sausage in the sauce like this recipe for rigatoni with aubergine, sausage and zinfandel sauce (which needs a new picture, yes I know!). And a classic lasagna, obviously. Basically meat sauces with cooked tomato,

Meat-topped pizzas.

Maybe go for a slightly lighter style with these as it’s as much about the crust and the cheese. A bright gluggable zinfandel or primitivo

Baked, roast or stuffed aubergine/eggplant

Loves zin especially with baked dishes like a parmigiana

Portobello mushrooms

A good veggie option for zin (especially baked with garlic butter)

Black beans

Black bean soup, black bean chillis - actually any chilli con - or sin - carne

Cheese, especially blue cheese

Delicate goat cheeses apart zin is a brilliant all-rounder for a cheeseboard, especially with stronger cheeses, smoked cheese and blues. I particularly like it with Gorgonzola

Picture credits: shortribs by Andrei Iakhniuk, tagliatelle and meatballs by Gaus Alex at shutterstock.com

The best wine pairings for spaghetti puttanesca

The best wine pairings for spaghetti puttanesca

Spaghetti puttanesca - or 'whore’s spaghetti' to translate it literally - is a full-flavoured pasta dish with strong, punchy flavours but which wine should you pair with it?

There are various theories about how the dish - a comparatively recent invention - got its name, the most plausible being that it was a simple storecupboard dish that could be slung together between clients’ visits.

The sauce which contains garlic, anchovies, capers, chillies and olives is quite a lot for any wine to handle. My preference, given the base is cooked tomatoes, would be for a southern Italian red - even a basic carafe wine would do.

  • Sicilian and southern Italian reds such as nero d’avola, negroamara and primitivo
  • Inexpensive zinfandel (you don’t want one that’s too extracted or high in alcohol with this punchy pasta sauce)
  • Barbera - from Northern Italy or elsewhere - always a good wine with a rustic dish
  • Inexpensive Portuguese reds from the Alentejo - ripe and supple, they make a good stand-in for an Italian red
  • and if you fancy a white try a crisp southern Italian white such as Falanghina or Greco

Needless to say if you’re making the dish with another type of pasta like penne the recommendations would be the same. You match the sauce not the pasta shape.

See also Wines to match different pasta sauces

Photo by being0828 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

6 good wine pairings for aubergine/eggplant

6 good wine pairings for aubergine/eggplant

Aubergine - or eggplant as it’s known in the US - doesn’t have a strong flavour of its own but tends to enrich any dish in which it’s included especially when baked with tomatoes and cheese. So if you're looking for a wine pairing for aubergine parmigiana or eggplant parmesan read on!

In general I find the best wine match for aubergine or eggplant is a hearty red unless you’re serving it cold as in a baba ganoush or spicy aubergine salad. Good examples are:

* Italian reds - especially southern Italian and Sicilian reds with their dark slightly bitter hedgerow fruit which seem made for aubergines. Try a Negroamaro or Primitivo (see also Zinfandel below)

* Greek, Turkish and Lebanese reds with their wild briary flavours. Unsurprisingly since aubergine is such an important ingredient in that part of the world. 

* Provençal reds especially those that are made from or include Mourvèdre in the blend - like Bandol

*Zinfandel is always good with rich aubergine bakes like moussaka but stick to the younger fresher styles. Killer Zins of 15% can be a bit overwhelming with this kind of dish 

Which wine to pair with moussaka

*For cold aubergine dishes such as baba ganoush or aubergine salads or try a crisp dry Provençal or southern French rosé or Spanish rosado.

*I'm also really into amber/orange wines with aubergines as in this pairing with grilled aubergines and walnut sauce. If you're looking for an alcohol-free pairing pomegranate juice is a delicious match.

*For lighter aubergine dishes such as a tian of aubergine try a medium-bodied Italian red such as a Chianti or other Sangiovese-based red.

Image ©Anna Shepulova at shutterstock.com

 

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