Wine with Your Pizza

Filed in archive Food and Wine on January 9, 2007

Who doesn't love pizza? We have a wonderful little place down town that I try to avoid at all costs called Pizzoodles. It's a chain, so you may have one around you.

Warning - Don't got there - especially if you are trying to watch your weight. Their pizza is wonderful, and they have all kinds of cool toppings.

Now I don't know if it can beat the pizza the Gothamists chowed down on or not, but they do have some good ideas about pizza toppings as well as pairing wines with their slice of heaven. Here are two picks from their list:

"The Big Pineapple" (from Gruppo) with: Rioja (Spain)
The "Big Pineapple" is basically a Hawaiian-style pizza loaded with pineapple, smoked bacon, fresh tomatoes and basil. The most prominent flavors that come through are the delicious smoky and salty notes from the bacon. If anybody knows pork, it's the Spanish, and the Rioja is a great match. This lighter red wine won't overpower the pizza and the subtle notes of earth and cherries pair perfectly with the bacon.

Goat cheese and Veggies with Sancerre, (France)
This pie is a combination of goat cheese, roasted red peppers, eggplant and roasted garlic on a thin crust. Perhaps, not much of a pizza in the traditional sense, this combination of flavors works so well together you may not go back. The tangy acidity in the goat cheese pairs beautifully with Sancerre, a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley. This wine has great acidity to stand up to the goat cheese and a slight herbaceous character that accents the vegetables.