Pesto, flavouring profile

Pesto, flavouring profile

Pesto is raw, green and pungent, and it wants a white with its own herbal snap rather than one built on ripe fruit or oak.

The compounds that matter. The aromatic oils of basil, sweet and faintly aniseed and clove scented, which a green, herbal white mirrors directly. Raw garlic, sharp and sulphurous, which makes tannin taste harsh. Aged cheese, salty and deeply savoury, and olive oil, both of which want acidity to cut through them.

What it demands of a wine. High acidity and a green herb, citrus or peppery register. Light to medium body, since the sauce is intense but not heavy. No oak, which dulls the basil, and no tannin, which the garlic and cheese turn bitter.

Seek. Greco from Campania, taut and faintly bitter at the finish, which holds the garlic. Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, whose green herb and gooseberry run straight into the basil. Pecorino from Abruzzo, green herbed and mineral. Lugana from the south of Lake Garda, fresh and almondy, for pesto with potatoes and green beans.

Avoid

Oaked whites, whose vanilla and toast bury the basil. Red wine, since raw garlic and aged cheese make tannin harsh and metallic. Sweet or very perfumed whites, which clash with the raw green bite.

Three to reach for. Greco di Tufo, Campania, Italy. Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand. Lugana, Lake Garda, Italy.