Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle

Assuming fresh egg tagliatelle in a creamy sauce of mushrooms, garlic and parmesan.

Tagliatelle in a cream and mushroom sauce is soft, rich and earthy, with parmesan adding a savoury depth that makes firm tannin taste hard. The wine needs enough body for the cream and enough acidity to keep it light. An earthy or gently oaked, nutty wine meets the mushrooms where a fruity one argues with them.

Pairs Perfectly. Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California. Cool grown and lightly oaked, with a nutty, creamy edge that matches the sauce and the acidity to cut it. It has the body for cream without the heavy vanilla that would bury the mushrooms.

Pairs Well. Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Red cherry and forest floor with bright acidity and soft tannin, earthy enough to meet the mushrooms directly.

Pairs Well. Gamay, Beaujolais, France. Light, fresh and low in tannin, a red that sits comfortably with cream, and easy on the pocket.

Worth Seeking Out

Nebbiolo from the Valtellina, Italy. Grown on steep Alpine terraces, lighter and gentler than Barolo, with rose, cherry and an earthy note that suits pasta and mushrooms.

Avoid

Firmly tannic young reds and heavily oaked whites. The parmesan makes tannin hard and bitter, and heavy oak smothers the mushrooms.

Failing That

A Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand.

If All Else Fails

Côtes du Rhône blanc.

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