Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of food shows; namely rewatching my favourite episodes of Fuck, That’s Delicious and binging on Mario Batali’s Moltissimo.

One of my favourite moments is when Bronson and Batali link up at Eataly NYC and are listening to music, drinking prosecco and eating mozzarella with basil. Then ‘Big Body Bes’ (another rapper) comes along, tries the mozzarella and fist bumps Batali in recognition. I love this scene so much simply because of the fact that I’ve never seen anybody fist bump over mozzarella before, it must have been delicious!

After watching about five episodes of Moltissimo in a row, I found myself wanting to move to Italy or at least order a pizza and, as I’ve just spent the past year working in France, it’s safe to say that I’ve neglected products from other European countries. So I decided to turn off the TV and took it upon myself to fall back in love with everything Italian.

Right now, still in the icy grasp of winter, it’s easy to go straight for a warming red wine… but hold on! Spring is trying to peek through so let’s go with a bottle of white, more specifically the 2015 Terre da vino Gavi (£8 Sainsburys). Gavi is an area in Piedmont Northwest Italy, near the Swiss Alps, and makes dry white wine from the Cortese grape (aka Cortese di Gavi).

This particular one was decent, it was really pale in colour and, on the nose, there were hints of lemongrass and black pepper. It smelled rustic and, when I put my nose in the glass, I thought of hay bales. In taste it was very acidic but with a long dry finish, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, it didn’t have as much of the refreshing minerally quality that I was expecting. Sometimes, when buying from a supermarket, you can run the risk of buying a young, mass produced wine that has no sense of terroir (identity of the region) but this wine wasn’t one of those. It wasn’t the best Gavi I’ve ever had but, for £8 from Sainsburys, you can’t go wrong. It was an enjoyable glass to drink…

Oh who am I kidding? I finished the bottle!

As I’ve been watching FTD & Moltissimo it’s only right that I prepared some Italian food and listened to Action Bronson whilst drinking the wine. This wine pairs really well with mozzarella, basil and prosciutto because the acidity of the wine really is offset by the saltiness of the cheese and meat. The basil brings a herbaceous tone to it and helps balance the acidity of the wine and saltiness of the food.

When pairing food and wine, a good saying to keep in mind is, ‘If it grows together, it goes together’. What I mean by this is – and it’s pretty self explanatory I guess – wine and food grown in the same region or country generally will pair well with each other. Don’t think that you can’t pair something together because they are from different countries/continents but, as a starting point; it works.

Music wise, great songs to listen to while drinking are ‘A Light in The Addict’ & ‘Terry’ by Mr Baklava himself, Action Bronson. They bring a calming ambience to the room (especially the former) in which you can enjoy the wine and appetisers. AB’s gruff vocals over the top of soft piano and a hip hop beat really create a relaxed atmosphere. So listen to the music, let the conversation flow and give the wine a try!

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/gavi-terre-da-vino-75cl

– James