Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

5 Perfect American Pinot Noir and Pasta Pairings

Tyler Zielinski
By
Pinot Noir and Pasta Pairings

Pinot noir is known as one of the best food-pairing wines that there is thanks to its bright acidity, sturdy yet balanced tannic structure, and complex rich-fruit character. It pairs well with a wide range of foods and flavors, making its use with pasta a no-brainer — extending to any number of shapes and forms, from tagliatelle to gnudi, with an infinite variety of ingredients it can be served with. Whether you prefer a red sauce, a cream sauce, or are a vegetarian or a meat-lover, pasta is whatever you want it to be, and Pinot noir is right there next to it to make it taste even better. Here are a few of our favorite Pinot and pasta pairings:

Belle Glos Dairyman 2018 Pinot Noir and Wild Boar Ragu Pasta

Robust Pinot noirs demand an equally bold pasta to balance (or vice versa), and that’s just what this pairing is. This vineyard-designated Russian River Valley wine produced by winemaker Joe Wagner is distinctive in flavor, but also in style. The coastally-influenced Dairyman Pinot noir expresses notes of ripe dark berries, with layers of earth, and a touch of cacao and savory spices from the 100% French Oak barrels in which the wine has aged.

Related Videos

Belle Glos Dairyman weighs-in at a whopping 14.5% ABV which makes a hearty Wild Boar Ragu its perfect match. The ragu calls for a wine to be used as an element of the seasoning and preparation of the meat, which is then used as a part of the ragu. Use the Dairyman Pinot noir both when making the dish, as well as to pair, and the marriage will be seamless and worthwhile.

Get the Recipe

Joseph Phelps Freestone Vineyards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2017 and Tortellini with Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Matt Morris

The Freestone Vineyards 100% estate-grown Pinot noir is a phenomenally well-structured, light-bodied wine. It boasts flavors of both candied and under-ripe red fruits, such as strawberries and cherries, with a subtle herbaceousness and earthiness reminiscent of mushrooms that makes this wine a perfect match for an umami-bomb of a pasta in the form of tortellini with porcini mushroom sauce. 

Emma K. Morris

The pasta is incredibly easy to whip up, vegetarian, and will dampen the savory notes of the wine and bring forth its fresh acidity in the form of raspberries, and bing cherries. It’ll spur a happy dilemma between wanting to glug this refreshing pinot, and looking to take your next bite of this delectable pasta. If you are an avid DIY’er, we recommend giving Joseph Phelps’ own mushroom ravioli recipe a go and substituting it for the tortellini. 

Get the Recipe

La Crema Brut Rosé and Seafood Pasta with Tomato and Crushed Olives 

Also coming from the cool grape growing region of coastal California’s Sonoma County, this vibrant, sophisticated rosé is predominantly Pinot noir, blended with a bit of its close cousin, Chardonnay. While it can sometimes be difficult to pair red Pinots with seafood depending on how meaty the fish is, and what it’s plated with, high-acid rosés skirt around those issues with characteristics that make the pairing almost fool-proof.

The La Crema Brut Rosé expresses complementary notes of lemon zest and has a minerality that tastes like the shells of oysters (I know, it sounds crazy, but you’ll see). The seafood pasta is almost like a hybrid between a pasta and a stew, and leaves it up to the chef to decide which fish to use. We recommend something with a bit more weight to it, such as swordfish, for this specific pasta. The high acidity of the tomatoes, and bitterness from the olives, will leave the wine tasting bright and fruity, with hints of citrus. A great warm-weather pasta pairing.

Get the Recipe

BÖEN Russian River Pinot Noir 2018 and Creamy Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes

While pesto can be made with a blend of any green and nut, the classic basil-pine nut pesto, which is the one used in this recipe, is known for pungent flavors that tend to linger long after the meal is over. When cream is added, it softens the spice of the garlic and herbaceousness of the dish and makes it rich, asking for a wine pairing with big flavors and refreshing acidity. The BÖEN Russian River Pinot noir is just that.

Pixzolo

It’s high in alcohol at 14.7% ABV, but its clean, mouth-watering acidity makes the wine seem less thick and heavy. The wine has characteristics of blackberry, red fruit, savory spices, and rosemary. It’s full-bodied and is able to stand up to the heartiness of the pasta’s sauce while also lending some fruit and spice to the dish, making it the perfect balance. 

Get the Recipe

Antica Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2017 and Cacio e Pepe

Antica

It is almost impossible to mess up pairing any wine with cheese, let’s be honest. No matter the cheese, or the wine, the acid of the wine and fat and lactic acid from the cheese are just a match made in heaven. So, how do you pair a pasta that is essentially just flavored with pungent cheeses and pepper? You focus on amplifying the texture of the dish. 

The Antica Napa Valley Pinot noir’s subtle, needlelike tannins from the French oak give the wine a light, nuanced structure when balanced with its crisp acidity — characteristics that improve the pasta. It has aromas of vanilla and ripe cherry, and tastes of ripe dark fruits and berry jam, with hints of baking spices. When paired with the pasta, you’ll find that it adds a tart brightness to the otherwise creamy pasta. And, if you’ve never had Cacio e Pepe before, then you are really in for a treat.

Get the Recipe

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Colombian or Kona coffee: Which is the superior drink?
Colombian or Kona coffee: Sweet and spicy, or rich and chocolatey? Which do you prefer?
Ways to Make Coffee

If you're anything of a coffee connoisseur, you're well aware that coffee beans come from coffea plants, which is grown all around the world. Depending on your preference of flavor, boldness, and acidity, you may already have a preferred location from where your coffee originates. Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Honduras, and Vietnam all grow a delicious bean. And while all of these types and their rich, complex flavors are worth exploring, the two coffee varieties that people seem to be the most drawn to at the moment are Kona and Colombian.

While there are over 120 varieties of coffea plant, and each makes its own unique bean, coffee beans are usually broken down into four categories of flavor: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa.

Read more
How to make your own cold brew coffee at home (no, it isn’t just iced coffee)
Cold brew coffee: Making this popular drink is easier than you think it is
international coffee drinks that arent dalgona cold brew ice

I grew up in a house where iced coffee was made by pouring the hours-old coffee pot leftovers over a glass of ice. Maybe a little milk was added, or, if you were feeling extra fancy, a splash of flavored creamer. Embarrassingly far into adulthood (before Keurig came along and cramped my style), that's how I made my "cold brew." For years, this was how I drank my warm-weather coffee. But oh, did I have it wrong.
In case you're unaware, cold brew, real cold brew, is made using an entirely different method than hot coffee. While hot coffee is generally made by running hot water through finely-ground coffee beans, cold brew is made more like our grandmothers made sun tea - set to steep for a while, becoming flavorful and delicious on its own with nothing added but love, water, and time.
The result is a much smoother, silkier, bolder and more flavorful cup of morning magic. When coffee is steeped this way, much of the bitterness smooths to be much gentler on the palette, allowing you to really taste the flavor of the beans in a whole new way. So how do you make cold brew at home?
There are plenty of gizmos out there, like cold brew coffee makers, jugs, and infusers, but there's no need for these. Like many needless kitchen tools, these accessories end up being shoved into the back of the pantry, never to be seen again. Our favorite method of making cold brew coffee involves nothing more than a good old-fashioned French press.

How to make cold brew coffee

Read more
This Toronto cocktail recipe is the perfect whiskey drink
Escape to Canada with the lovely Toronto cocktail
drinkers guide to aspen aspenkitchen obiwanoldfashioned3

When you think about signature cocktails, names like Tom Collins, Brandy Alexander, and Old Fashioned come to mind. Yet, for whiskey lovers especially, there's an unsung hero that's deserving of a big-time comeback. It's named Toronto, and it's a cocktail well-suited for the chilly days of midwinter.

The drink dates back to 1922 and is a riff on the beloved Old Fashioned. It's a great whiskey cocktail, for certain, but also one that can be experimented with, as the best versions tend to involve a mix of a couple of different whiskies. The key ingredient, however, is Fernet, the intense and medicinal amaro from Italy.

Read more