There must be a million people in this country uttering the same words every weekend. Why don't we just have a pizza and a bottle of wine? It is a phrase alien to the supporters of lavish lifestyles, I imagine - but for the rest of us it is a kind of shorthand implying modest pleasure for minimum outlay, either at home or in a low key restaurant. It sounds reasonable. It should work. But the whole cheap n cheerful concept is more riddled with risk than a colander is with holes, for just as the pizza may incline towards styrofoam, the wine it is paired with tends to be thin, tart, nasty, tongue-souring red plonk.
There are two lessons to be learnt here, I think. The first is that, even on the tightest budget, the choice of the right sort of wine can enormously enhance the flavour of even a pretty average pizza, rather than slaughter it entirely. The second is inspired by Bernadette O'Shea, the queen of pizza pzazz featured above. Her belief is that proper pizza is a noble food, a culinary treat, which jolly well deserves to be enjoyed with a wine of equal stature. And, in the same way that she has broadened our appreciation of it by introducing all sorts of exciting ingredients, she whips off the blinkers in regard to wine by slipping a few surprises into the list of suitable bottles.
In either case, the general principle remains the same, and that is to try to match the main flavours of the pizza to the flavours of the wine. That means questioning the automatic reflex most of us have developed to reach for red, because in fact, across the whole spectrum of pizza styles, there are more that marry happily with white. Think, first, of a basic Pizza Margherita. Even though you will survive unscathed with a gentle red like Valpolicella Classico Superiore or a young Merlot, it seems to me that the cheese, tomato and herbs are offset perfectly by an off-dry north Italian white. Working out from there, white remains a winner when those same elements are combined with other vegetables or seafood. The herbal flavours that are such an important aspect of many pizzas (coming not just from scattered herbs but also from pesto) go particularly well both with Pinot Grigio, our Bottle of the Week, and with Sauvignon Blanc - as, indeed, does goat's cheese. That means a glut of choice, from the most inexpensive Chilean right up to Sancerre, Bernadette O'Shea's favourite with pizzas featuring smoked salmon.
It is only when the flavours become more gutsy that you can happily enter the red range. Here the guiding principle must be to choose wines with rich fruit and not too much overt tannin, otherwise your pizza, no matter how sensational, may turn into a bitter disappointment. Tomatoes in particular have a habit of turning tannic red wines horribly metallic, so beware. But the further you venture towards the Mediterranean in style - choosing a pizza with the robust flavours of olives, anchovies, spicy sausage, roast garlic, sundried tomatoes - the more assertive your red wine can be. In the mid-range, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a good bet. For more full-blooded southern flavours, you might try the great, dense reds from Salento, down on Italy's heel.
Not that there is any reason to think only of Italy. Just as pizza is an international classic, capable of absorbing local elements, the wines to go with it can be international too. One of the things I most enjoyed, when talking to Bernadette O'Shea, was her adventurous approach to choosing the best bottles for a food that is shunted unnecessarily into an Italian corset. I have been guilty of this narrow-mindedness myself. But why not a Bandol or a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, as she suggests, for one of those potent pizzas whose flavours belong as much to Provence as to Palermo? Why not the full bodied white Burgundy she proposes so passionately for her Pizza of Herb Sausage & Onion Puree with Rosemary Potatoes, even though it was inspired by the great beer halls of Germany? Think Before You Drink could be the motto - then enjoy the fun of match-making.
Pizza partners
White
Carmen Sauvignon Blanc 1996 (very widely available, usually about £5.89). For pizzas in a lightish vein - especially those with herbs, pesto, goat's cheese or sea-food - Sauvignon is a flexible choice. The grassy edge to this lemon-and-melony example makes it just right for all those ingredients, and its flavours linger impressively for such a well priced wine.
Villa del Canlungo Pinot Grigio Vendemmia Tardiva, Eugenio Collavini, 1996 (Vintage shops, £7.99). Italian sunshine in a glass: peaches and apricots, a dash of lemon, and it leaves your palate ringing with the flavours of fresh herbs. This off-dry white from Friuli in north-east Italy is super with a wide range of pizzas. See Bottle of the Week.
Podium Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, Garofoli, 1994 (McCabes, Redmonds, Very Best of Italy Ranelagh, £8.50-£8.99). Verdicchio can be deadly dull, but this one shows it can also be glorious. Gentle hints of lemon and pears with the meanest touch of aniseed, and it develops splendidly in the mouth, starting off tinglingly fresh and opening out until is smooth and full. It's a relative newcomer; there should be more stockists soon.
Clos de la Roche Pouilly Fuisse, Domaine Saumaize-Michelin, 1995 (Wines Direct, £13.85). Here's something to think about for a special occasion, prompted by our Pizza Queen's revelation that Pouilly-Fuisse is the only thing to drink with her Germanic inspired Sausage and Herb invention. This one, evidence of Wines Direct's new excursion into Burgundy, is perfectly poised and beautifully full - a well made classic.
Red
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Umani Ronchi, 1995 (James Nicholson Kildare, £5.99; also SuperValu Raheny, McCabes, Noble Rot Navan; J. Nicholson N.I. £4.85 stg). Mouthwateringly tangy cherry and herb flavours with what you could fool yourself into imagining as a puff of woodsmoke from the pizza oven . . . There are better Montepulciano d'Abruzzos at two or three pounds more, but at the price, this one is an unbeatable bargain.
Vinas del Vero Merlot 1994 (Farm Produce Upr Baggot St, SuperValus Killiney & Deansgrange, Kelly Wine Cellar Phibsboro, Londis Clane and other outlets, usually £7.99). Merlot is your flexible friend in the red department, soft and easy and probably the best choice when you're part of a group eating pizzas of vastly differing types. This Spaniard passes the O'Shea quality test, with its super-rich flavours and long, spicy, almost coffee-like finish. Far classier than the price suggests - and it comes in an unusually elegant bottle.
Notarpanaro, Taurino, 1990 (Vintage shops,£8.99). "Huge big flavours but not unmanageable," says Bernadette O'Shea, seizing on this immensely popular Bottle of the Week from last November. "And as for value for money, you just couldn't get better." There's little more to add, except that it's a mouthfilling, smoky, chocolatey, gorgeous southern Italian.
Domaine Tempier Bandol, Cuvee Migoua, 1990 (Terroirs, Verlings, McCabes, Beams Carlow, Blue Haven Wine Shop Kinsale, typically about £19.30). Bernadette O'Shea's all-time favourite - "dense, big and wonderful" - with her Provencal pizzas, and certainly one of the loveliest red wines I tasted last summer.
Bottle Of The Week
"EVERYBODY'S answer to summer" is how Bernadette O'Shea describes the Villa del Canlungo Pinot Grigio Vendemmia Tardiva, Eugenio Col lavini, 1996 (Vintage shops, £7.99), pointing out that this subtle and lively white is perfect, not just with all those herbscented pizzas but also with summer fruit desserts. But as it's pizza we're thinking of primarily, it is worth mentioning that this wine was one of the best loved in Truffles restaurant. It marries happily with strong cheese, too - Parmesan or Milleens. Distinctively different - and still a great all-rounder.
On The Grapevine
Move Fast To Enjoy Mouton: It's not every day that an opportunity presents itself to sip Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the world's most famous wines, at dinner. And certainly not for an all-in price of £80 - the cost of a ticket to the Baron Philippe de Rothschild dinner at the Clarence Hotel next Wednesday, July 30th. Chef Michael Martin has devised a four-course menu a la bordelaise to complement five chosen wines - all made under the guidance of Patrick Leon, chief winemaker at Mouton, and including the premier grand cru star itself. They will be introduced by Douglas Morton, the ebullient managing director of Baron Philippe de Rothschild. It should be a night to remember. To snap up the last few seats, telephone Findlaters, 01 475 1699, without delay.