Wine and Pizza
Posted on | July 22, 2010 | Written by Tina Benitez | 4 Comments
It’s an Italian classic. Americans love it. You love it. I love it. Brick-oven, thin crust and showing that perfect ratio of tangy tomato sauce to gooey fresh mozzarella: everyone loves pizza.
You can have it anyway you want it, and I’ve tried them all: quattro formaggi, wild mushroom, meat lover’s, white pizza and vegetable. I search out variations of the doughy, crusty delight, but I never stray too far away from my regular slice—or pie—for too long. Thin crust, New York-style pizza remains my first choice—a classic!
Pizza is an American dietary staple, though its roots are in Neapolitan cuisine, and though their regional takes on the dish are part of the pizza excitement. There’s New York Style, sure, but there’s also deep-dish Chicago-style and Hawaiian (topped with pineapple and ham). There’s Cajun pizza and nouvelle pizza. There’s gluten-free pizza, and raw foodie pizza approximations. There seem to be infinite variations to the flat-bread-with-sauce-cheese-and-topping theme.
America boasts more than 69,000 pizzerias, and we consume nearly three billion pizza pies per year, according to research by marketing firm Blumenfeld and Associates. I’ve seen statistics state that we even eat 100 acres of pizza per day, and I could believe it. A “go-to” food, pizza’s easy, affordable and it satiates.
Somehow, in all my years of eating pizza, I never thought of pairing wine with it. Then I read an article by Wine Spectator’s Kim Marcus a few years ago on pairing pizza and wine (the article’s sadly not available online). I was astonished. Why didn’t I ever think of seeking out a wine to complement my pizza? The duo seemed like such a no-brainer that I felt like I’d had a small, but important, epiphany. Since then, I seem to go back to Pinot Noir, preferably an Oregonian one, but I know there’s more.
Once I started to consider the options, I felt stunned by their number. Tomato sauce is usually rich in flavor, and there are plenty of great wines to match. A Chianti Classico, a spicy Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, and most Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux-blends (the herbaceous Cabernet Franc can match up to the oregano and other herbs in most pizza, while Merlot will complement the subtle fruitiness of the tomato) are all contenders. Likewise, a rich, round Dolcetto that’s full of black cherries, earth, basil and supple tannins will make almost any style of pizza sing. If you prefer white, you may want a Trebbiano or crisper white from Veneto or Friuli. The choice is yours—and mine.
I can’t wait to find my next new pizza. I’m always happy with my classic, New York-style, but as with wine, you can’t always just stick to one.
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Grace in the Gravner
Posted on | July 21, 2010 | Written by Josh Rubenstein | No Comments
Listening to music changes the way we perceive things—even, or perhaps especially, wine. I clearly remember last April when I met my friend at his rock studio here in Hong Kong. I got to the studio (equipped with a full stage, premium sound equipment and instruments for seven) and was shown the enormous wine cellar on the other side of the room, insulated from vibration and in perfect condition. I understood the way John Kinsella felt in Field of Dreams when he asked his son, “Is this heaven?” and was told, “No. It’s Iowa.” For one Sunday, I thought heaven was located in the Chai Wan district of Hong Kong.
As the house band started playing its repertoire of mostly Eagles ballads, we sat back and enjoyed a few finer Champagnes. The set list picked up, and the growing bass thrummed in sync with our move into a deeper Bordeaux. A well-timed guitar solo found me taking longer with each sip and blocking out everything but the Fender Stratocaster and Château Lascombes. The evening concluded, I returned to earth, and I filed this epiphany in the back of my mind; however, not long after, another music/wine synergy occurred.
“Lover You Should’ve Come Over,” the seventh track off of Jeff Buckley’s album Grace was playing in my apartment. I had a glass of Josko Gravner’s 2002 Ribolla Anfora in hand and was sipping. It felt as if the wine transformed into Buckley’s voice in amber, liquid form. Gravner’s wine has often struck me as artistic: fully alive, ever-evolving and somehow always striking the right chord. Like Gravner’s wine, Buckley’s voice is unfiltered and pure. I’ve never heard another singer pull off this song like Buckley, and I can’t help but note that there is only one Gravner.
Finding common threads in music and wines is easy if you think about your favorites. But having it occur spontaneously—and being perceptive enough to notice when it does—is an unexpected reward and an infinite pleasure. And if you do have a wine pairing for Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” or Pearl Jam’s “Black,” I’d love to know.
Tags: Bruce Springsteen > Gravner > Hong Kong > Jeff Buckley > Led Zeppelin > Peal Jam > Ribolla Gialla
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Big Bottles
Posted on | July 16, 2010 | Written by Kerry-Jo Rizzo | No Comments
I’ve always been fascinated by those behemoth wine bottles, the Magnum (1.5 L) or the Jeroboam (3 L). Recently, I learned that there are other large format bottles in existence, and each ever-more enormous bottle takes the name of kings and leaders from the Hebrew Bible. The reason for this nomenclature is unknown, but it’s an exciting bit of information for wine geeks and history aficionados alike. Here’s a brief run-down of the most popular large format bottles, their sizes and their names:
Magnum (1.5 L) comes from the Latin “magnum” or “magnus” in neutral form, meaning “great.” It is definitely always great to have a Magnum of wine around for opening!
Jeroboam (3L) was appointed king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after ten Israelite tribes revolted against their former king Rehoboam for raising taxes. (Isn’t that always the reason for revolts?)
Rehoboam (4.5 L), named above, the son of Solomon and the king whose people revolted when he raised their taxes. His successor, Jeroboam, founded a separate kingdom known as Israel, and Rehoboam continued as ruler of a realm known as Judah. Rehoboam and Jeroboam’s kingdoms were in a state of war during Rehoboam’s entire seventeen-year reign.
Methuselah (6 L) is commonly known as the oldest person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and he supposedly lived 969 years, dying on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656, aka seven days before the Great Flood. The Bible states that God delayed his famous flood in honor of Methuselah and to give his people adequate mourning time before they were all washed away.
Salmanazar (9 L) is also known as Shalmaneser, a King of Assyria mentioned in the second Book of Kings.
Balthazar (12 L), a figure from the New Testament, is widely considered to be one of the three wise men who attended the birth of Jesus.
Nebuchadnezzar (15 L) was a ruler of Babylon mentioned in several different books of the Bible; he is most famous for conquering Judah and Jerusalem and is credited for the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He was an egotistical leader who sent the Jews into exile and was cursed by God for seven years for his pompous ways. Interestingly enough, Saddam Hussein considered himself the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. He spent millions of dollars reconstructing ancient Babylon, ordered images of Nebuchadnezzar and himself to be beamed side by side during a laser light show in Baghdad, and even had a replica of Nebuchadnezzar’s war chariot built.
More than just their names and their ever-increasing sizes, large format bottles also depend on the wine region and the type of wine. For instance, there is the Piccolo, the name for a 187.5 ml bottle for Champagne; however, when this size bottle contains wines other than Champagne, it’s known as a “Pony.” Another exclusive bottle is called the Marie-Jeanne, which is used only in Bordeaux and holds 2.25 L of wine. One of the most unusual and intense bottling would be the largest bottle in existence, called the Melchizedek. It is a massive bottling used only for Champagne and carries a whopping 30 L of bubbly!
Radikon, from Friuli, has designed their own delicate necked bottles to hold their biodynamic wines. They also decided to use .5 L bottles to replace .750’s and 1 L bottles to replace a magnum. Radikon believes that one liter of wine is the perfect amount for two people to enjoy, and half liters are perfect for couples who want to enjoy both a red and a white with lunch or dinner. These bottle sizes aren’t new, but they are unique to still whites and reds.
Large formats are great for collectors because these wines are rare, collectable and exciting to open. These bottles also help wine to age really well because there is a relatively smaller air-to-wine ratio, slowing the aging and helping to preserve older vintages that would have passed their peak in regular sized bottles. Big, really big, and super-gigantic-enormous bottles of wine really won’t keep well unless stored in proper temperature controlled space, so our IWM large format offerings are best for serious wine collectors or wine lovers who are immediately celebrating special events.
One more thing, if you need help remembering the order of the large format bottles, just use this handy mnemonic device: My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises.
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July 22nd, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
Italians tend towards fizzy drinks w/their pizza…for vino, it’s Lambrusco or another frizzante red (like Gragano Grotta del Sole for example), beer, Coca Cola.
July 22nd, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
Believe it or not Tina, pizza and wine is kinda frowned upon in Italy. Italians usually like to pair their pizza with a crisp Italian lager like Peroni or Nastro Azurro. As there endless amounts of wine and pizza I am huge fan of pairing both. Cab franc is one of my favorites and so is Montepulciano and Negroamaro.
One night I actually drank a Sassicaia with some mediocre pizza from NJ, and let me tell you, it turned into the best pizza I ever had, lol.
July 23rd, 2010 @ 9:46 am
Have you considered Lambrusco (red, not rosé)? The medium-dry version goes well with “normal” pizzas and a sweeter one is great with a spicy pizza.
July 23rd, 2010 @ 3:19 pm
Sassicaia with pizza? I will have to try this! I also like the fizzier options. I don’t think I’ve ever had a sparkling with pizza yet–so many combinations to try!