Italy is well-known for its great wines. But most travellers aren’t equipped with the knowledge to fully enjoy the wide array of wines and food pairings at their disposal.

For this reason, we decided to hold a wine-tasting and food-pairing experience for our BonAppetour community. Hosting us was lawyer-turned-home-chef Alessandro – who just happens to be a certified sommelier as well – and his girlfriend Elena. The couple also runs one of the top-rated home restaurants in Rome, so we knew that we were in for a treat.

True enough, we learned so much about the art of wine-tasting through this session. Here’s how it went down.

Wines for the day: prosecco, white wine, red wine, and moscato

By the time we arrived, the table was all laid out. 4 types of wines was set before us – prosecco, white wine, red wine and moscato – accompanied by foods that go best with each of them.

Alessandro laid out the first rule for wine-tasting: Drink more wine. Everybody agreed heartily, and started on the first drink – the prosecco.

Prosecco is a typical aperitivo drink in Italy. The Italian aperitivo – a bitter drink to be paired with snacks – apparently originated from Torino in 1786.

The rule of contrast

Alessandro then introduced us to the second rule of wine-tasting, which is the rule of contrast. The idea here is to combine the right texture of food with the persistence of wine flavours.

A common myth that Alessandro busted is that light-colored foods are best paired with light-colored wines, while dark-colored foods are best paired with dark-colored wines.

Enjoy the aroma

A critical part of wine-tasting lies in taking in the smells of the wine before drinking it.

We were told to take notice of the shape of the wine glass that the red wine was served in. The glass had a wider base and opening, which allows one to smell the wine while drinking it, enhancing its flavors.

Finally, we finished off with the moscato – a lovely sweet wine – to be accompanied by sweet treats. The perfect way to end off any meal.

Special thanks to Alessandro for being a gracious host and opening up your home to us!

Over to you

Want to join our next exciting BonAppetour experience? One of the slots has your name on it – click here to book it right away!