Calzone

Calzone

Assuming a folded pizza filled with mozzarella, ricotta, tomato and ham or salami, baked until crisp.

Calzone is molten cheese, salty cured meat and tomato sealed inside crisp dough. It wants a red with bright acidity for the tomato and ripe fruit for the salami, with soft tannin that will not turn metallic against the cheese. Heavy, oaky reds and delicate whites both miss.

Pairs Perfectly. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Italy. Plum, black cherry and soft tannin with fresh acidity, made for pizza and easy on the pocket.

Pairs Well. Frappato from Sicily, Italy. Light, juicy cherry and strawberry with almost no tannin, fresh and easy against cheese and tomato.

Pairs Well. Zinfandel, California, USA. Ripe bramble fruit and a peppery warmth, a good match for spicy salami.

Worth Seeking Out

País from Maule, Chile. A light, rustic red from old vines, with red fruit, earth and gentle tannin, very easy with pizza.

Avoid

Heavy, oaky, tannic reds and delicate whites. Tannin turns metallic against cheese and tomato, and a light white is lost.

Failing That

A Primitivo, Puglia, Italy.

If All Else Fails

Rioja Crianza, Spain.

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