Match of the week
Pizza and Franciacorta
Expensive Franciacorta might not be the first wine you’d think of drinking with a pizza but bear with, as they say … And not just because it’s Italian.
If you think how well a light gassy lager goes with pizza it doesn’t take a massive leap of imagination to realise that sparkling wine would work too.
But a sparkling wine as posh as Franciacorta (which, if you're not aware comes from Italy, just north of Milan)? OK, it is a bit of an extravagance but if you happened to have one open and felt a bit peckish and that pizza would hit the spot you wouldn’t be disappointed.
How do I know? Cos I had a couple of tasting samples over after a Franciacorta tasting and suddenly had the urge for a takeaway pizza (an aubergine parmigiana from one of Bristol’s best pizza restaurants Flour & Ash) and it worked amazingly well.
The Franciacorta was an organic zero dosage Barone Pizzini Bagnadole Riserva 2011 so vintage quality but remarkably good value (for Franciacorta) at around £35 though I haven’t been able to find a UK stockist.
I’m not sure I’d drink prosecco with pizza - for my taste it would be a bitt too sweet but cava and crémant, for sure. And champagne? Yeah, sure, why not? Champagne goes with (practically) anything!
For other pizza pairing suggestions see The Best Wine and Beer Pairings for Pizza
If you’d like be able to check out all the food and wine pairings on the site you can buy a bundle of credits here to access my premium content.
And/or for regular updates on what and where I’ve been eating, drinking and travelling sign up for my weekly newsletter Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.