Wine With…Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wine With. . . Spaghetti and Meatballs

by Paul Lukacs and Marguerite Thomas

We’ve learned several valuable lessons in the almost two years since Wine With. . . first appeared.  The most important one (and perhaps the least surprising) is that most wine goes wonderfully well with most food, as long as a modicum of common sense is adhered to (big red wines are ideal with grilled steak, refined whites are the best partners for delicate fish-that kind of thing).  Something else we’ve learned is that, overall, there is consensus in our opinions.  This has generally been as true when it’s just the two of us involved in a tasting as when we’ve brought one or two other people into the project.  Oh sure, one or another person may argue for or against a particular wine, but for the most part the results of the juxtaposition of this wine with that dish seem palpably clear. 

Well, that is not the way things went on a recent evening when we selected twelve wines to evaluate with that good old Italian-American classic: Spaghetti and Meatballs.  There were three of us assessing the matches on this particular evening, wine writers all, and consensus was nowhere in sight.  While we agreed that many of the wines paired successfully with the dish, only one wine out of the twelve we tried got a thumbs-up from all three of us.  It was a Tempranillo that tasted both fruity and earthy (but then none of us ranked it first overall).  After that it was sheer bedlam, with remarks flying around the table that ranged from: ‘You liked that Carmenère with the spaghetti?!  It was like a bazooka in a phone booth!’ to, simply, ‘Whatever happened to your palate?’

We emerged from the verbal carnage at the end of the evening miraculously in agreement on several points.  In the end, we all concurred that, while there may have been other reasons Italian wines dominated our winners’ circle, the overriding one is that their good acidic structure forms a gustatory bridge between the wine and the acidity in the tomato sauce (wines that lacked this trait seemed flat and dull with the spaghetti).  And we also were of the same mind that it is possible to overwhelm spaghetti and meatballs with a fatal combination of too much oak and too much extracted fruit (erring at the opposite spectrum were a couple of wines that were much too delicate for the dish).

One final thing we all agreed on is that spaghetti and meatballs makes a thoroughly delicious meal, best enjoyed in the company of friends.   So get that water boiling for the pasta, open up a bottle of hearty red wine, and remember what Sophia Loren said: ‘Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.’

Selection

Approx. Price

Comments

Abbazia Santa Anastasia, Sicily (Italy) Nero D’Avola ‘Contempo‘ 2004

(Imported by Empson USA)

  $12

Deeply flavored (and colored), this wine offers plenty of muscle.  It also has a seductive sweet note that married especially well with the tomato sauce.

Dessilani, Piedmont (Italy) Spanna ‘Riserva‘ 2003

(Imported by Bedford International)

 $18

Though quite tannic when tasted on its own, this Nebiollo-based wine softened

considerably when sipped with the spaghetti.  It has an intriguing spicy undertone that enhanced the dish, just as the food helped it.

Lodali, Barbera d’Alba (Piedmont, Italy) Vigneto Bric Sant ‘Ambrogio 2003

(Imported by Siema LLC)

 $12

A classy Barbera for the price, this wine showed just enough depth of flavor to stand up to the spaghetti and meatballs.  Some of the nuances and subtleties that impressed us when we tried it on its own did get lost, but there was enough stuffing to make it a satisfying match.

Promessa, Rosso Salento (Puglia, Italy) 2005

(Imported by Empson USA)

  $10

A spicy, briary wine (made with 70 percent Negroamaro and 30 percent Primitivo), this wine was simply fun to drink with the meal.  Uncomplicated but very tasty, it didn’t ask to be contemplated, just enjoyed.  

Tapena, Vino de la Tierra de Castilla (Spain) Tempranillo 2005

(Imported by Freixenet USA)

$9

The one non-Italian to make our top five with the spaghetti and meatballs, this value-priced Tempranillo impressed us because of its bright fruit flavors and admirable structure.  Unlike a couple of other wines we tried, excessive oak didn’t get in the way.