What Wine Goes With Spaghetti? A List To Enhance Your Meals
Pairing the right wine with your food can elevate both the food and the wine. With the right wine, you can transform a simple spaghetti meal into a culinary masterpiece. Spaghetti and wine are one of the best dining experiences that can you put together with minimum hassle.
The right wine will help you make the most of the flavors and textures of the meal. But what wine goes with spaghetti? In this article, we’ll explore some incredible wines that perfectly complement your pasta and sauce!
What Wine Goes With Spaghetti?
More often than not, the best wine to pair with spaghetti is always an Italian red that is medium-bodied. This is because such variants have enough acidity to balance the tomato sauce in your spaghetti.
And if you are serving your pasta with meatballs, red wines also have high tannin levels and lovely herbal notes that bring out the flavor and spices of the meatballs.
You should also never pair spaghetti with a wine with low acidity and high tannins, because the naturally high acidity of the tomato sauce will give your wine an unpleasant metallic taste.
So, here are five of the best wines that can be paired with spaghetti to create exceptional meals.
1. Chianti
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An absolute classic, Chianti is a red wine that is made from the Sangiovese grape that typically come from Tuscany. The wine is known for its high acidity and mid-level tannins. It’s a traditional wine that offers a smooth mouthfeel and has a richness to it that is ideal for a sauce-infused dish like spaghetti.
This wine is often oaked for months, which gives Chianti a rich earthy flavor with a burst of cherry on the tongue and smoky, herby notes. The subtly sweet taste of Chianti pairs wonderfully with the acidity of tomato sauce.
2. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
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This dark red wine comes from the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape, a cousin of the Sangiovese grape. The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is best served if your spaghetti has meatballs on it. You can serve it with chicken, pork, lamb, or beef meatball, just make sure there is less sauce.
This is a dark, rich, and highly intense wine with robust flavors. Each sip will offer a medley of earthy flavors. The spicy notes of black pepper, leather, and licorice and wonderfully balanced with the refreshing fruity flavors of cherry, blackberry, plum, and blueberries. If you find this wine too potent, you can even blend it with other wines like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Malbec.
3. Valpolicella Classico
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Valpolicella Classico is a lighter red wine that is counted among Italy’s most popular wines. It’s an easy-drinking wine that is much more refreshing compared to the typical richness of other red wines. It’s made from three grape varieties — Rondinella, Molinara, and Corvina Veronese.
This red wine has a burst of acidity combined with some sweet fruitness. It has notes of cherry, leather, smoke, and herbs. It’s light, fruity, and fresh and is a perfect summer wine that pairs well with the tomato sauce of your spaghetti.
4. Primitivo
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The earthy Primitivo is similar to the Zinfandel grape but is much lighter and has a softer palate. It has higher acidity and a more rustic flavor profile. You can detect notes of herbs, smoke, earth, and spices.
Its high acidity makes it perfect for pairing with tomato sauce, and while it’s not overly sweet, Primitivo has pronounced fruity flavors of cherries, raspberries, raspberries, and blueberries. It also has low to medium tannin that blends really well with beef as well as even lighter meats such as turkey, making it wonderful for meatballs.
5. Barbera
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Another Italian red wine that makes for an excellent pairing for a spaghetti meal is Barbera. It has a velvety smooth mouthfeel with silky notes of fruity sweetness from cherries, plums, blackberries, and raspberries. There are also hints of spice and herbs along with some peppery smokiness.
This is a versatile wine as it can seamlessly shift from a medium-bodied wine to a light, zesty wine depending on the grapes and where the wine is produced. For example, Barbera D’Alba has low acidity and is ideal for serving with spaghetti and meatballs, whereas Barbera d’Asti has higher acidity and is great for a simple spaghetti meal with tomato sauce.
