Blog VI, Wine and Pizza

One of the first rules you learn, in the final course of the sommelier studies, is that regional dishes go with regional wine.
So, the most internationally famous Italian dish, pizza, from Naples, would go with a local wine from its region Campania.
But which one you ask? And why wine, when the majority of people always order beer. Well actually in the sommelier course we learned that beer isn’t the best match. The classic pizza margarita, or any pizza rossa, (with tomato sauce), is quite high in acidity. Acidity doesn’t need to be paired with beer. It’s refreshing, but it has never been my favorite beverage with a meal.
We went to the pizzeria Nuovi Sapori, (New Tastes) in Rivotorto near Assisi, which is run by a group from Naples, last week for the first time.
On their wine menu, they have only white wine. I guess because they also specialize in fish, or because it’s easier to store, or maybe because they think it goes best with their cuisine. I’ll ask next time.
So we ordered our pizzas, Graziano ordered a Napoli, which is the pizza margarita with anchovies and olives added. I ordered the Dada, which was a pizza bianca (no tomato sauce), mozzarella, grana (chunks of parmesan cheese) speck and arugula. They were both excellent by the way, almost as good as my favorite pizza in Perugia, The Mediterranean.
We drank a really nice Falanghina, from the noteworthy winery, Di Majo Norante. I love saying Falanghina.
The Falanghina grape is an indigenous grape and white wine of Southern Italy. This winery is actually in the region of Molise, which is one of the smallest regions in Italy, next to Campania.
I usually prefer indigenous wines, because Italy has so many to offer. You could almost taste a different wine, each time, to become familiar with all of them. Just think, if you had the resources, you could drink a different varietal every week, for a year, and still not have tasted, all of Italy’s over 300 indigenous varietals! That’s one of the luxuries of living is Italy.
Back to the piazza, I found the Falanghina to be an excellent paring. The best part, no headache the morning after! White wines, drunk in abundance, tend to give me headaches.
I can’t wait till the next time we go, in which I would like to try the Greco di Tufo.