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Sweet Surprises Pairing Brachetto and BBQ #ItalianFWT

 

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This month, the #ItalianFWT group is exploring the wines of Piemonte and/or Valle d’Aosta. Culinary Cam will be hosting a Twitter (I refuse to call it X), on Saturday, November 4 at 8am Pacific/11am EST/6pm Istanbul. You can read her invitation to the event here. 

Lacking any wine from the Valle d’Aosta, I chose a wine from Piemonte. I have several on hand at the moment but my overwhelming love for anything bubbly trumped all the other wines, and so I had to choose a Brachetto.

Brachetto the grape and the wine

Brachetto is both a grape and a wine, both of which hail from Piemonte. The berries are dense and firm with a purple-blue color…and high high sugar levels. The combination of their high sugars and terpenes make them aromatic even on the vine. You might not be able to see the grapes shaded by their leafy canopy, but you can smell their distinctive rose aroma in the vineyard. Charming as it sounds, tis not, apparently, an easy grape to grow as it loses its flowers easily thereby having a naturally low yield.

Brachetto the wine comes in red and rosé, but is possibly most well-known as a sweet, sparkling red wine; especially from the Aqui area of Piemonte. By law, all wines must contain a minimum of 85% Brachetto (up to 10% of the remainder is often made up with Ruché).

Rivata Brachetto Piemonte DOC

Sparkling red Brachetto, such as the Rivata Brachetto Piemonte DOC wine I opened, has an interesting production process. Very similar to what I understand is done for Moscato d’Asti. The wine ferments to only about 4% alcohol. The fermentation is then stopped and the wine kept at very low temperatures to ensure that the fermentation stays dormant. When a winery is ready to bottle, they initiate the second fermentation, slightly bringing up the alcohol (but never very much) and creating the wine’s trademark frothy, pink bubbles. 

About Rivata the winery, I had absolutely no luck finding a website or any information about the wine. How do I keep ending up with these wines?? Despite its somewhat suspect origins, it was very pleasant. Deeply colored but also largely transparent ruby with its characteristic pink foam. Lovely, intense aromas of red fruits, spice – almost peppery – and bitter almond. Lightly sparkling and obviously sweet but wrapped in a lively acidity that balanced the sweetness nicely. Only 7% alcohol. The palate presented flavors very similar to those sensed on the nose with a very red berry finish.

When researching how to pair this, almost every suggestion that came up listed desserts. I did actually make a chocolate mousse to pair with it (which the wine actually did not like in the least!). But I wanted to go savory. In the end, I made a slow-cooked oxtail bbq which I plated on a piece of Turkish katmer with a side of coleslaw. That did SO WELL with the wine! The richness of the meat and the tangy-spicy bbq sauce played off the sweetness and berry flavors of the wine really well. 

But wait! There’s more!

Don’t forget to check out what the others in the #ItalianFWT group are sharing!

• A Fall Menu for 5 Wines from Piemonte: Cortese di Gavi, Erbaluce, Barbera, Barolo, Brachetto d’ Asti by Wine Predator…Gwendolyn Alley
• Grosjean Fumin Valle d’Aosta DOC with Carbonade Valdostana & Polenta Concia by Crushed Grape Chronicles
• Nebbiolo delle Langhe DOC from Vietti 2020, A Symphony of Flavor by Avvinare
• Simple, but Seriously Delicious: Lasagne alla Valdostana + Grosjean Vallee d’Aoste Gamay 2022 by Culinary Cam
• Sweet Surprises Pairing Brachetto and BBQ by The Quirky Cork
• Two Cru Wines that Celebrates the Accomplished Viticultural Heritage of Piemonte by Grapevine Adventures
• Valle d’Aosta Co-op La Kiuva Rouge de Vallèe paired with Mushroom Soup by Vino Travels
• Why has Barbera wine from Piedmont changed so drastically in recent years? by Life at Table
• Wine Braised Pork Loin and a 2019 Travaglini Gattinara by A Day in the Life on the Farm