Matching with veal saltimbocca

When I read that Barolo was recommended to go with veal saltimbocca, I had a quick look to check it out - and you're right! Amazing! I couldn't think of a worse wine to go with this dish. Veal has almost no saturated fat in it, so why recommend the most tannic grape variety in the world?

It sounds like you cook an authentic veal saltimbocca, so you add proscuitto, which is salty and clashes with tannins, and then it's sweetened with Marsala. The sage leaf on top vaguely suggests a red wine, but sage is such a strong unique flavour I'd struggle to match that flavour. To my mind this dish needs a low tannin wine, with medium plus body. In an ideal world a wine that was off dry, but there are so few of them, let's look for good ripeness, and I think it could be a red or white wine that has a savoury flavour. How about a really top end Pinot Grigio, with some spice to it? Or maybe a Verdicchio from the best producing area of Matelica, with a rich mid palate and a slightly bitter almond finish. If I wanted a red wine I'd be looking at a Valpolicella, but not the basic level, look for Valpolicella Ripasso, which is sometimes labelled Superiore, this is where the wine is fermented for a second time on the lees left over from the Amarone fermentation, and gives a real extra degree of complexity to the wine but still retaining that vibrant cherry fruit and low tannins.

Wine Club Recipe Matching Service

You’ll find lots of ‘rules’ about matching wine with food on bbr.com and also within your Wine Club members’ binder, but for complicated recipes sometimes it can be difficult to understand exactly which flavour to match the wine with. Berrys’ food and wine matching expert, Nick Page, provides wine suggestions to Wine Club members’ dilemmas.

This service is available to all Wine Club members. Send your request to wineclub@bbr.com

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