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matching wine and italian charcuterie, rule about food and wine matching, matching sparkling wines and charcuterie, matching still wines and charcuterie, red wines accompaniment italian charcuterie, matching italian red wines and charcuterie
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… Quelli Buoni … e Vinibuoni
One of many possible key cultural threads we might use
to recount the story of Italy is that of charcuterie products. A world which is heterogeneous and variegated that helps explaining just what an important role these tasty winning stars of gastronomy play in the country’s food tradition.
The reasons for this strong link lie in the peasant conditions which, for centuries, turned a necessity to transform meat into charcuterie products into an art form. In fact, until just a few years ago, in our country regions there was always at least one prosciutto, one coppa or one salami in the process of maturing,
and still today there is no territory that does not count at least one traditional product deriving from the processing of meat, albeit using different methods, ingredients and expedients, whose roots are sunk in the past and that has been handed down through the centuries, which explains the typical marked
identity of each product.
This ancient tradition is associated with the consumption of wine, which, through the time passing, has come up with consolidated solutions, almost always arrived at by guesswork.
Feeding and gastronomic culture
In the past, the word “accompaniment” was rare in everyday language, since charcuterie products and wine
were part of a single common denominator, both being suitable “to make a weight” in the stomach to soothe
hunger pangs. Only when feeding became “gastronomy” did the cutting board of charcuterie – like fine cuisine –acquire its artistic bon ton role.
The correct pairing of food and wine therefore became a question mark, and a problem that wine-trade literature became committed to solving.
Charcuterie products were not left out of the equation, and even if the overall mark given to accompaniments is dictated by certain objective rules, a partial subjectivity still remains, represented by the expectations of pleasure that each of us looks forward to.
Accompaniment and tradition
The regional nature of charcuterie products almost always suggests accompaniment by a wine from the same area to avoid breaching that affinity of aromas and flavours which time has stratified in the taste memory of the people who live in those territories, but which becomes an element of curiosity and awareness also for those who love rediscovering the savoir-faire and savour of Italy’s traditional gourmet culture.
Traditionally, the accompaniment technique left the doors open to many other possible interpretations based on an organoleptic analysis of charcuterie products and wine and the ensuing discovery of more precise sensorial data.
This is why the traditional nature of the pork-butcher’s art has established itself in Italy and the rest of the world with products of great fame and quality, and why there are companies which, like Levoni, have disseminated and made known in Italy and the rest of the world a gastronomic
heritage that is unparalleled.
The sensations
Starting from these presuppositions, the sensations emerging from charcuterie products are isolated and then matched with a wine that can blend harmoniously with them.
The sensations found in charcuterie products include a tendency to mildness, fattiness, and succulence; stronger sensations include savouriness, spiciness, and fragrance.
Together with these sensations, persistence and structure are taken into consideration, which are transverse
characteristics that most charcuterie products feature. As a result, taking the sensorial profile into consideration, and according to individual cases, the tendency would suggest chilled white or rosé wines, moderately mild, soft, floral and fruity, or structured red wines, featuring body and a discreet complexity; wines that also feature a wide-ranging bouquet characterised by hints of fruit
and spices. Spumante wines, especially those obtained with the classic method, almost always represent a winning choice.
General rules
To balance the fattiness and mild tendency, we can choose still or sparkling wines as long as they are chilled
and flavoursome.
Those charcuterie products which offer succulence go happily with averagely tannic wines sustained by a coherent alcohol level, while savouriness should be countered by a wine’s softness.
Spiciness and fragrance require wines featuring a greater degree of “intense aromatic persistence” (P.A.I. in Italian) to balance the charcuterie product’s aromatic and taste
profile. More structured charcuterie products may be accompanied by full-bodied wines, including important ones. Nowadays, thanks to the media, gourmet culture has reached the most demanding of palates, and as a result there is the possibility of consolidating not only tradition, but also the desire to try unexplored sensations and emotions. A wealth of knowledge allied to personal taste and experience can reveal multiple levels of harmony consistent with such a gourmet offer. This means that a certain accompaniment can be tried and re-tried, but it also means, especially when dealing with charcuterie products, that the smallest variation, determined by the maturation time and/or the level of savouriness or spiciness, can hint at first-rate combinations and marriages that are perceptibly different and exciting.
A variation in one or more properties, or one or more of the conditions of the setting used for tasting, can inspire fresh discoveries and singular suggestions.
Charcuterie products and autochthonous wines
The vast range of Italian wines, especially those coming from autochthonous vines, represent an infinite mosaic of stimuli in their very diversity. In fact these are wines that, similar to charcuterie products, can embody the characteristics of their place of origin in their taste.
Like charcuterie products from the centuries-old Italian pork-butcher’s art, autochthonous Italian wines
consolidate the historical memory of eating habits.
This means preserving certain taste sensations, it means revisiting and innovating in harmony with local culture, but it also means promoting awareness of the country’s first-rate agro-food heritage.
Rewriting the universe of flavours that comes out of an encounter with unique territories and products is a
commitment that Vinibuoni d’Italia has shared with Levoni, and if the collaboration promises the taste-buds
exciting moments from combining charcuterie products with wine, in point of fact what unifies the intention
is the invitation to go back over important traces of tradition and Italian gastronomic history, which deserves
to be better known, disseminated and appreciated.
This is the way forward for wine and the Italian agro-food sector. A choice of road strongly shared by Vinibuoni d’Italia, Touring Editore and Levoni; a road that can lead afar, since, by taking it, it is possible to arrive at giving a sense of identity and representativeness to the Bel Paese’s produce: No longer “this” Made in Italy product, but “these” Made in Italy products, each linked to a place, an area and a region.
Mario Busso
National editor of the “ViniBuoni d’Italia” guide – Touring Editore
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Red Wines
A selection of red wines that create an ideal match with Levoni Salumi. A correct match between red wines and charcuterie to create a great marriage to satisfy the palate. |
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White Wines
Still or sparkling wines and Champagne that can be match with traditional pork Salumi and with beef products such as Bresaola and all the Levoni charcuterie and specialties. |
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Rosè Wines
The right match between Salumi and wines for an interesting cultural and sensorial experience. Traditional italian charcuterie and new gastronomic Levoni specialties are suggested in match with rosé wines. |
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