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Having recently spent a long weekend in Rome, I was struck again by how different Italian drinking habits are from our own. Wines (largely white, in the case of Rome) are made to go with food, which means, in the case of local wines not destined for the export market, that they tend to be neutral in character, modest in alcohol and refreshingly high in acidity. And cheap. The small organic wine bar we discovered around the corner from our hotel in the Trastevere sold wine at €2 a glass (though the glass probably wasn’t more than 100ml).
In the UK, however, wine is often a substitute for food: a high-alcohol beverage that we drink, in large quantities, on its own. Many would see the big, assertive flavours of, say, a New Zealand sauvignon blanc or a Coonawarra cabernet as superior in quality to those basic Italian wines, but I’m not so sure. They can sometimes dominate a meal, overwhelming subtle flavours and tire rather than refresh your palate.
It’s hard, of course, to find the simple wines you enjoy on holiday back home. Cheap wines, especially the better-known ones, tend to be mass-produced and their flavours artificially contrived. If you want to drink like an Italian, you need to go off-piste and look for less familiar names.
You probably wouldn’t pick out Sainsbury’s Winemakers’ Selection Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2012 (£6.99; 12.5% abv) in a tasting, for example, but its subtle hint of citrus and earthy, herby flavours would be as good with fish and chips as it is with a carbonara or Rome’s famous fritti (basically they fry anything that moves, and a lot that doesn’t).
If you want a wine with a bit more personality, try the deliciously crisp Greco Sannio 2012 (£9.99, Marks & Spencer; 13.5% abv), from Campania and part of M&S’s excellent Italian range. We enjoyed a similar wine in Rome with spaghetti with clams and mussels, but it would work with practically any fish or shellfish. (Think Italian albariño.)
Italy also has uniquely light reds that work as well with fish as with meat. Try Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Marzemino 2012 (12% abv), from the Veneto, at £6.49, or Ventoso Morellino di Scansano 2012 (£11, Oddbins; 13.5% abv), a fresh, sangiovese-based Tuscan red that could take you right through a meal.
These wines may be lighter and less intense than you’re used to, but they really come into their own with food. They’re well worth trying with your next pasta supper.
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