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Best Italian Wines for Pizza, Focaccia, Calzone and Flatbreads, Page 2
Pairings at a Glance
Showing 11–16 of 16 dishes
Focaccia Genovese (Focaccia Genovese)
Focaccia Genovese is a Ligurian bread of olive oil, salt and soft chew, usually eaten plain enough for the dough to matter. A heavy red misses the point. Vermentino and Pigato keep the oil bright, Prosecco adds lift, and light Rossese can work when the bread is served with cured meats.
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Focaccia Barese (Focaccia Barese)
Focaccia Barese is an Apulian tomato and olive focaccia, softer and more Mediterranean than the plain Ligurian style. Cherry tomato acidity, olive brine and oil need freshness before power. Negroamaro rosato, lighter Primitivo, Vermentino or Falanghina keep the bread savoury and the toppings bright.
Perfect grape varieties
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Focaccia di Recco (Focaccia di Recco)
Focaccia di Recco is a Ligurian cheese-filled flatbread, thin sheets of dough trapping warm stracchino rather than behaving like pizza. The cheese is tangy and creamy, so the wine needs snap. Pigato and Vermentino are the cleanest matches, with dry Prosecco useful when the bread is eaten hot from the oven.
Perfect grape varieties
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Schiacciata (Schiacciata)
Schiacciata is a Tuscan olive-oil flatbread, often salty enough to make wine taste softer and sweeter. Plain schiacciata favours Vermentino or Trebbiano, while prosciutto or pecorino pushes it toward Sangiovese. The key is freshness: too much oak or alcohol turns a simple bread into a tiring pairing.
Perfect grape varieties
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Crescia
Crescia is the Marche flatbread, a cousin of piadina enriched with egg and lard, cooked on a tile and stuffed with cheese and cured meats. The Montefeltro version is thick; the Urbino version thinner. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC handles the cheese and pork fat, while Rosso Piceno DOC is the weekend choice for richer stuffings.
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Torta al testo
Torta al Testo is the Umbrian flatbread cooked on the testo, a flat stone or cast-iron disc heated over embers. Perugian tables stuff it with porchetta, sausage or wild greens. Montefalco Rosso DOC or a still Grechetto di Todi DOC carries the pork-and-sage direction the filling usually goes in.
Perfect grape varieties
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