Food and wine pairing: Which wine to drink with a pizza ?

Ah the pizza, the typical meal of my school years. And I must not be the only one, since France is the second largest consumer in the world. It's simple, this is 26 pizzas eaten every second in France. A simple dish, tasty and friendly, easily appreciated with a fine wine !

The Margherita, the Regina, or the Neapolitan, the Four Seasons or the Hawaiian, with cream or tomato sauce ; the possibilities for toppings are almost limitless and this is certainly what makes it one of the most popular dishes. Yet, when we go to pick up our meal at the pizzaïolo the observation is often the same : there is only rosé wine available to pair with our pizza. Is it really the wine that goes best with pizza ? Not so sure…

Pizza goes very well with red wines, but you should not choose just any. The red wine should be light and fruity to highlight the ingredients that make up the pizza while balancing its fatty side. Too powerful, a wine will completely crush the taste of your pizza — and that's not what we want —.

You will certainly end up thinking that I own shares for a wine region by dint of talking about it, but wines from Beaujolais respond perfectly to our research. I'd go even further by choosing a Morgon. But you can also set your sights on a Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages or a cru de Chiroubles, Brouilly or a Saint-Amour. The Côtes du Rhône wines will also be perfect to accompany your pizza especially when your pizza is topped with olives and cold cuts.

Heading for Italy

As for red wine, light and fruity white wine will go perfectly with your pizza. Citrus or white fruit aromas will blend with tomato sauce and garnish, while minerality is ideal for counterbalaing the fat of the cheeses that make up the pizza.

To find minerality and fruitiness in a white wine, I would go first to a Loire Valley wine. A Sancerre, and its citrus aromas, seems ideal to me, but you can also opt for a Touraine Blanc from the Loire Valley - the grape variety is Sauvignon Blanc —.

Heading for Italy

We will stay in Sicily with a Sicilian Land. I recommend the Catarratto grape variety and its aromas of orange peel and yellow fruits which will go very well with classic pizzas.

It is of course possible to pair your pizza with a rosé wine, but beware of missteps !

Often, the rosé wines offered by the pizzaïolo are "fairly neutral" while on the contrary the rosé wine to be preferred must be a little tannic. You can also combine pizza with rosé wines, as long as you choose them a little tannic.

I would therefore turn more to a Languedoc that plays this role well and more specifically a Corbières or Costières de Nîmes. More full-bodied than the majority of rosé wines, the tannins will allow this wine not to fade in front of the pizza. A Bandol or a Rosé IGP Maures will also know not to be dominated by the flavor of the pizza.

And the bubbles ?

Do not hesitate to choose a sparkling wine, like a Lambrusco rosé. Its bubbles will highlight the delicate taste of the tomato sauce. This sparkling wine produced in northern Italy has cherry aromas and fine bubbles.

What wine to drink according to my pizza ?

Here are some food and wine pairings with "traditional" pizzas. This list is of course not exhaustive and reveals a personal opinion.