Get our newsletters

On Wine: Italian wine, Italian restaurants

Posted

According to market research firm YouGov and its 2018 study of 25,000 people in 24 nations around the world, Italian cuisine is the most popular cuisine on Earth, with Chinese second and Japanese third. American food ranked seventh.

Here in the U.S., Italian cuisine finished second behind only our own American food. Interestingly, people surveyed in the Philippines ranked American cuisine even higher than Americans do. Of course, Italy gave Italian food its highest rating.

Italian food is great (one writer’s opinion). You’ve likely noticed that Italian restaurants seem to be found nearly everywhere in the U.S. Do you feel obligated to bring an Italian wine to an Italian BYOB restaurant? Or to order an Italian wine from the wine list if it’s not a BYOB?

I don’t. Sure, I often choose an Italian wine for Italian food, but I very much dislike the idea that it’s somehow obligatory. Consider this; in 1992 the new “IGT” designation (“Indicazione Geografica Tipica”) was created so Italian winemakers could use non-indigenous grapes in their wines. Most famously, this led to Super Tuscans; wines made in Tuscany with traditionally French Bordeaux grapes.

With their new IGT status, Italians could now drink local wines with their local food, even though that wine is not made with traditionally Italian grapes. Why? Because it’s great wine, and it goes terrifically with Italian cuisine. Accordingly, whatever wine you’d like to have at your local ristorante, trattoria, cucina, osteria or enoteca, is entirely OK, tradition notwithstanding.

After all that, my usual first choice for wine at an Italian restaurant is Italian. Chianti, Barolo, Barbera, Vermentino, Nero D’Avola, etc. (There are over 2,000 grapes native to Italy. Make your choice!) However, I often turn to decidedly foreign grapes like Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

There’s a freedom to this reasoning that appeals to me, and perhaps to anyone that likes to venture outside the box. It also allows you to greatly expand your thinking when it comes to wine and food pairing. And this logic certainly applies to any restaurant regardless of cuisine. Yes, you can have a Barbaresco at your favorite local French établissement.

Ernest Valtri of Buckingham is a sculptor, painter, graphic designer, and a former member of the PLCB’s Wine Advisory Council. Please contact Erno at ObjectDesign@verizon.net.


Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.


X