vinhozinho

← No-Fuss Guide

No-Fuss Guide · At the table

Wine for pasta: the sauce does the choosing

The sauce picks the wine, not the shape of the pasta. Tomato and Bolognese call for a red with acidity, like Chianti's Sangiovese and Montepulciano; white sauce and carbonara, a white with texture; pesto, an herbaceous white, like Sauvignon Blanc and Vermentino; seafood, a light, fresh white.

Sauce by sauce

  • Tomato: tomato is very acidic, so the red needs acidity and medium body: Sangiovese (Chianti), Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Primitivo, Nero d’Avola.
  • Bolognese and ragù: the richer the sauce, the more body the wine can have, without losing its acidity. Young Chianti Classico goes with ragù and with lasagna, says Fiona Beckett; the government of Mendoza suggests young Malbec with pasta in a meat sauce.
  • White sauce, cheese and cream: whites with texture, like a Chardonnay, or light reds, like Pinot Noir, especially if there are mushrooms. With carbonara and Alfredo, ViniPortugal points out that egg yolk, cream and melted cheese bring out the grip of a tannic red: white or rosé go wrong less often.
  • Pesto: basil is the boss, and herbaceous whites keep up with it: Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, Fiano, Gavi.
  • Seafood: light whites with marked acidity, like Pinot Grigio, Verdicchio and Muscadet; with tomato sauce, a rosé. And red with seafood can work too, if it's a red low in iron: a 2009 study showed that it's the iron in the wine that brings out that fishy aftertaste (the test was with scallops).
  • Lemon, capers, vinegar: by the same acid-with-acid rule, a tart sauce calls for a white with marked acidity.

The rule behind it

It's the WSET's acid with acid: acidic food makes wine seem less acidic, and a wine with more acidity than the dish doesn't taste flat. Fat and cream go well with acidity, which cleans the palate. And a rich sauce calls for a wine with body so the wine doesn't disappear.

To start with: the house's wines by price range

The price range the house saw at big stores in Brazil, in the month shown. The price changes; the range tends to stay.

Red sauce and ragù: reds the database marks for pasta

See the reds for pasta in the search →

White sauce, pesto and seafood: whites

See the whites for pasta in the search →

Everything here is a suggestion, not a law: pairing is a suggestion. Liked it another way? Then you can, and it's great that you found out what you like.

In the search: “pasta with red sauce”, “carbonara” or “lasagna”. And pizza, pizza by pizza.

Spotted something wrong on this page?

Sources for this page

  • Wine Folly, On pairing wine with pasta: the sauce decides; tomato, ragù, cream, pesto and seafood — winefolly.com
  • Matching Food & Wine (Fiona Beckett): the wine for each pasta sauce — matchingfoodandwine.com
  • Matching Food & Wine (Fiona Beckett): Chianti and Sangiovese, with tomato, pizza, ragù and lasagna — matchingfoodandwine.com
  • Government of Mendoza, 365 Tentaciones program: Malbec with asado and with pasta in ragù — mendoza.gov.ar
  • Wines of Portugal (ViniPortugal), Gastronomy (food and wine) — winesofportugal.com
  • ScienceDaily, on Tamura et al., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2009): the fishy taste with red wine comes from the iron in the wine — sciencedaily.com
  • WSET, Winter wine and food matching (2020): acid with acid, sweet with sweet, fat with acid — wsetglobal.com

✓ House standard: no source, no publishing.

The house is open. Leave your e-mail and savour get the first taste: the Garimpo before Instagram, the Contrarrótulo with every issue and the grape of the week every Monday. No spam.

The first sip of news is yours.

SEE ALSO ↓