A classic recipe from the Italian tradition that recalls warm and familiar atmospheres, meatballs with sauce has long been a staple on dinner tables not just in Italy but around the world. Rich but not too much with a hint of sweetness that brings with it a comforting sense of home and familiarity. So, which wines make the best pairing? Here are a few thoughts from Sensorial Wine Analyst Luca Maroni.
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with a Primitivo di Manduria
The Morante Primitivo di Manduria La Pruina Vini
“The persuasiveness, the sweetness with which the berry fruit marries with its sublime spice in the aroma and taste of Il Morante Primitivo di Manduria by La Pruina Vini, is one of the most pleasant sensations recorded this year in tasting all the wines. This comes from the quality of the raw material and the oenological respect for the aroma of the fruit, integral here, in its transformation.
Like a wave of blackberry pulp, from the icing of mint, vanilla and powdered sugar, its aroma comes as a sharp and intense sweetness. A caress of ultra-pure fragrance and persuasiveness, highlighting the cleanliness and stainless enological integrity of its transformative affair. With the technique that in such pure light places the gifts of the raw material at the forefront, the result is a majestic concentration, a perfect acid-soft tannic balance, a mellowness and persistence of taste and aroma as a champion of maturity and density.”
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with a Negroamaro
Monte Tre Carlini Negroamaro Tenute Girolamo
Monte Tre Carlini Negroamaro Tenute Girolamo “Of excellent qualitative caliber the wines presented by Tenute Girolamo are ecologically limpid and clean. This Negroamaro is a grand wine also for its harmony and power.”
This wine chosen by Luca Maroni for pairing with the meatballs with sauce presents a ruby red color with intense purple hues, and a fruity bouquet, with hints of blackberry, cherry, plum, light spicy notes of cinnamon, accompanied by hints of coffee. The palate is dry, soft, persistent, with round and harmonious tannins.
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with a Nebbiolo
Batistin Roero Mario Costa
“Mario Costa’s is a glass full of notes of virtuoso excellence. First and foremost notes of absolute transformative enological clarity. This is the Batistin Roero’s show of concentration and potency of grape sunshine.
Decisive Bordeaux tinged with sun, a majestic complex of soft fruit, open, sweet on the nose for the balsamic development promoted by the spices, for the endogenous sweetness of a grape that has ripened deeply, sweetly on the vine. Here mighty fruitiness is associated with pronounced gustatory softness and beautiful olfactory fragrance. The persistence and intensity of expression impose themselves powerfully, yet are never aggressive or bitterly dulling.
The fragrance of its first, dense and glycerinous touch, are the same persuasiveness of the last, probably the most invigorating and profound. Everywhere a fleshy plum dominates, which a sprinkling of powdered sugar and vanilla ennobles in its most feminine and fluffy tones. A great wine, among the best Roero wines ever, of sumptuous texture and softness.”