Pasta & Wine...what goes with what?!
Pasta & Wine...what goes with what?
Alright so I only recently started drinking wine, and I found that I enjoy it a lot more than beer or hard-A.
*Anyways I am no expert and I wanted to know if there is a good, inexpensive wine to go with just a simple chicken alfredo dinner...kind of like at olive garden, you know?
~I wanted to make dinner for someone and I just wanted to keep it simple and tasteful, so I thought maybe a pasta and wine etc. ?
*If you know of any good pasta's and what wine will go good with which, let me know. I have a great recipe for the alfredo, so if you know of a good wine to go with that...I'd like to know!
**Thank you much :):)
Answers:
I am not an expert but if you are looking for a light red wine I just tried a great one... 2005 Sketchbook Pinot Noir. I also like Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio
I'm not an expert either I just know a couple of rules that have always worked for me:
Don't know any name brands for you, but I would go with a dry white. The lighter color the sauce, the lighter color the wine should be. This is also true for meats. If you were serving chicken you would go with a white as well.
If you were serving marinera, you would go with a red.
Also, the more heavy the flavor, I always go a little dryer. Stay away from sweet tastes as well as these will also compete with the heavy flavor of the alfredo.
I love white wine with chicken alfredo. Yellow tail is great and very cheap. Also--any red wines go with spaghetti. Yellow tail also has red wines. It's a good brand to just start to see what you like and what you don't like-red, white, merlot, chardonnay, etc.
Any reasonably priced white wine would be good with chicken alfredo. I'd go for something dry, rather than sweet.
Some would only serve a white wine with white sauces, preferably Italian (Soave, Bianco di Custoza, Orvieto or Pinot Grigio). Some would only serve a light or medium red (Valpolicella, light Chianti, unoaked Barbera. Prosecco works well. Others would only serve a full-bodied red. Most red wine advocates would consider a white wine with clam sauce, however. Ultimately, drink what you like, but consider a red wine, even with a white sauce.
If it's a rich, heavy cream sauce, try a crisp Pinot Bianco or Sauvignon Blanc from northern Italy.
Even though there are tendencies there are no set rules to wine choice.
So basically if you don't like a particular type of wine say you don't like red wine then you won't like it regardless of what food it is served with.
That said the general rule of thumb is if it has a red sauce then you should serve a red wine. Beef is another call for Red wines
For chicken Alfredo on the other hand you could go with a white wine but if you are like me and enjoy a nice sweet wine then you should go with a blush or a white Zinfandel (yes I know it is pink but they call it white zin anyway)
Whatever else you do, do not, DO NOT!!, follow James G's suggestion of a white zinfandel. That would be a travesty, and worthy of a mafiosi coming to whack you! (Thank God that white zinfandel is not sold in most of the countries served by Yahoo Answers - English).
Meanwhile, mrs sexy... may or not be sexy but she gives you pretty good advice. Because of its cheesyness, chicken alfredo can be matched by a variety of light reds as well as firm, steely whites. If I were to choose from widely distributed, good but inexpensive Italian wines I might have a soave or trebbiano for a white, or a valpolicella or rosso de conero or barbera for a red. Mrs sexy's suggestion for a prosecco sparkler is a good one, too. (If you are American and live in a state with licensed Trader Joe's stores they have an excellent one - a frizzante - for between $6 and $ 7.50, depending on the state).
Cream suace go with a white or rose red spicy suaces do a Italian red chanti or Barbera