Autumn Food Pairing: Bolzano Cantina Pinot Grigio with Pumpkin Pasta & Pancetta

Welcome to our 5^th Wine Pairing Weekend. Last month I had such fun preparing a food and wine pairing focusing on the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy with porcini risotto and a 2005 Carlo Giacosa Montefico Barbaresco. This month we are focusing on fall fruits and wine pairing. Pumpkin, known in Italian as zucca, is very popular throughout Italy and was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of the fall.  I had always assumed pumpkin was a vegetable, but it's actually considered a fruit. Of course then it was my go to choice. What better than anything pumpkin flavored in the fall!

My recipe was influenced by a recipe I came across on Academia Barilla that sounded so delicious and I was very satisfied with the results as I played with the recipe and the ingredients. Pumpkin is commonly savored in the regions of the Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy in northern Italy. I have fond memories of some delicious dishes through my Italian travels of pasta stuffed with pumpkin, in particular at a restaurant while in Verona. I'll have to look it up again due to my upcoming trip to Verona in January for the 2011 Amarone release! I should have some great wine pairings to share with you after some winemaker dinners from that event.

Food Pairing

I chose to make a pasta dish with campanelle pasta that I mixed in with pumpkin, pancetta, onion and traditional 25 year aged balsamic vinegar.  Between the sweetness of the pumpkin, the saltiness of the pancetta and the rich touch of aged balsamic my palate was on overload.

pancetta & onions

I started boiling the water for my pasta as I prepared the ingredients that were to be blended into the dish. In a separate pan I sauteed about half a vidalia onion with diced pancetta in extra virgin olive oil, seasoning it with salt and pepper. Once the water reached boiling point I added the campanelle pasta that cooked for about 9-10 minutes. Once the vidalia onion and pancetta were cooked I added in the pumpkin and mixed in about a ¼ cup of cream to lessen the thickness of the pumpkin and to make it more spreadable once combined with the pasta. Once everything was fully cooked I added the pasta in to mix the ingredients all together. I topped the dish with some parsley, 18+ month aged American Grana parmesan cheese adding some sweetness and nuttiness. Lastly, I drizzled my 25 year aged traditional balsmic vinegar from Acetaia di Giorgio in Modena.

Pumpkin with pancetta & onions

American Grana Parmesan cheese

Acetaia di Giorgio traditional balsamic

Campanelle pasta with pumpkin, pancetta & onions

Wine Pairing

For wine, I decided to go with a white wine as there were so many flavors present in the dish I didn't want to overwhelm the dish with a red wine, although if you found something lighter in style it would have probably gone well. I opened a bottle of a 2012 Kellerei St. Magdalena Bolzano Cantina Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy. I had featured this wine on my blog previously where you can review the history of this winery. The nose shows hints of honey, florals with some citrus. On the palate is lots of citrus and apple balanced with refreshing acidity. I love wines from the Alto Adige region and it's my go to region for many Italian white wines, along with a couple of others of course.

I hope you enjoy our wonderful wine and food pairing recipes for the fall and make sure to come back next month for some holiday treats!

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Wine Pairing Weekend # 5 Bloggers: Be sure to check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with for the October Wine Pairing Weekend!

On the Menu...

Savories
Pumpkin Lasagna with Halter Ranch's Côtes de Paso by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Squash and Sausage Soup with Pumpkin Cornbread and McKinley Springs 2010 Bombing Range Red by Tasting Pour
Linguine with Roasted Carnival Squash and a Garnacha by Cooking Chat
Pinot Vs. Syrah - Pork Tenderloin with Fig & Apple Sauce by Confessions of a Culinary Diva

Apple Cider Pork with Red Cabbage and Oak Aged Apple Cider by Curious Cuisiniere

Sweets

Harvest Fruits-Maple Crisp paired with a Riesling by Eliot's Eats

Caramelized Almond Apple Upside Down Cake with a Late Harvest Riesling by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Forgotten Fire Late Harvest Riesling and Warm Apple Crisp by Grape Experiences

Peach and Ginger Cobbler and Tablas Creek Petit Manseng by ENOFYLZ Wine Blog

Autumn Puff Pastry Tart and La Crema Chardonnay by It's Okay to Eat the Cupcake

Surprise!
Wines for a Sweet & Savory Fall Harvest Meal by foodwineclick

Fall Fruit and Wine Pairing by Rockin Red Blog

Autumn Pumpkin Food Flair by Vino Travels -- An Italian Wine Blog

Butternut Squash Risotto: White Wine or Rosé by Pull That Cork

Join the #winePW conversation: Follow the #winePW conversation on Twitter throughout the weekend and beyond. If you're reading this early enough, you can join us for a live Twitter chat on our theme "Fall Fruits + Wine" on Saturday, October 11, from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern Time. You can also visit our group Pinterest board to pin some great pairing ideas for later! Stay tuned for the November Wine Pairing Weekend, which will be on Saturday, November 8.

Lots of Chianti Classico at the Enoteca in Florence

I have to say I have been all over Italy and truly appreciate  every regions own landscapes, food, wine and traditions. Although, my heart is tied to the capital of Tuscany, Florence aka Firenze.  It's very evident coming into my home with all the pictures and memorabilia brought back over the years. I'm usually one for smaller towns in the countryside as you get a true sense of the culture of an area and region, but even though Florence is a city, the city center is closed to most traffic and everything is within walking distance. 

If you're a wine lover you have the picturesque Chianti Classico wine region within a short ride on the outskirts of Florence. A new addition to the center of Florence as of spring this year was the addition of the Enoteca of Chianti Classico inside the San Lorenzo Mercato Centrale, “central market”, which is right in the heart of the city.  

Read on with Italian Talks. 

Mercato Centrale by Adam Burt

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Cannonau di Sardegna with Sardus Pater

Who is ready for some wines from Sardinia, in Italian as Sardegna?  First time covering this region on Vino Travels so let’s get started.   If I say Cannonau do you know what it is?  You might be surprised you may be familiar with it because Cannonau is a red grape also known as Grenache or Garnacha.  And to think you may have overlooked it in the store wondering what is Cannonau?  That’s what this blog is all about and glad you’re here.

Sardinia, Tharros Beach by Chris

Sardus Pater, founded in 1949 and meaning “Father of Sardinians”, is a wine cooperative comprised of over a couple hundred members located on the region and island of Sardinia, west of Italy.  Sardus Pater is actually specifically located on an even smaller island part of Sardinia, but to the west, called Sant’Antiocco.  The island of Sardinia is surrounded  mostly by the  Tyrrhenian and Mediterranean Seas and is the 2^nd largest island in Italy next to Sicily.   

I recently tasted the 2012 Sardus Pater Foras Cannonau di Sardegna with their export manager, Antonio Cabibi, at the Grand Portfolio tasting with Masciarelli in Boston.  I had fun with this tasting as they had a lot of grapes that folks aren’t super familiar with.  Cannonau is a widely grown grape in this wine region of Sardinia.    There is a DOC in Sardinia named the Cannonau di Sardegna D.O.C.  The 2012 Sardus Pater Foras Cannonau di Sardegna is a full-bodied balanced with rich fruit on the nose and palate along with some sweet spiciness and some notes of vanilla.  I enjoyed the mild tannins and pretty nice finish.    

A wine to seek out from Sardus Pater that is one of their prized wines is the Carignano del Sulcis.  It’s made from the Carignano grape on vines that are around 80 years old. 

There was a book written by Dan Buettner called “Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest” and in this book the Sardinian people and culture are one of the groups mentioned.   Maybe it’s because of the Cannonau grape?  Find out for yourself.  One of the very few regions I have been too so would love to hear about your travels there.

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