Taste of Texas: Prime Wines for Pizza (A Great Pairing)
Texas Wine Collective – Carl’s Corner
Taste of Texas: Prime Wines for Pizza (A Great Pairing)
Texas Wine Collective is hosting a Taste of Texas: Prime Wines for Pizza on Sunday afternoon, November 24th in the TWC Event Center. There will be two sessions, 12:30 and 2:30 pm. Carl Hudson will host this event featuring 3 different types of pizza paired with 6 wines from our TWC partners – Brennan Vineyards, Lost Oak Winery, and McPherson Cellars.
Discussions with TWC operations manager Amber Saidler and Chef Marshall Lirette of the TWC Fork and Cork Food Truck have led to the menu selections. Thanks to Amber and Marshall for all their help in planning and implementing this Taste of Texas: Prime Wines for Pizza pairing.
Reservations and prepayment are required. Please check the website to make your reservations: www.texaswinecollective.com and join us for a fun and delicious pairing.
While tasting the pizzas and wine, some history of the origins of pizza will be presented along with tasting notes for each of the wines.
Pizza #1: Prosciutto and Fig with Arugula and Balsamic Glaze
McPherson Cellars Verdelho 2023 TX High Plains
Brennan Vineyards Cuvée Estate 2023 Texas
Pizza #2: Classic Margherita with Mozzarella, Basil, and Marinara Sauce
McPherson Cellars Dolcetto Single Block Selection 2020 TX High Plains
Lost Oak Winery Lost Oak Sangiovese 2022 TX High Plains
Pizza #3: Sausage and Mushroom
Brennan Vineyards Super Nero 2019 Texas
Lost Oak Winery Petit Verdot 2021 Texas
Special thanks to my partner, Robert Herrera, who will be serving food,
helping pour wines, and be your contact for the
20% discount off purchase of any three or more of today’s wines.
Our next Taste of Texas event:
Tamales and Wine to Celebrate (the Holidays) Sun, 15-Dec-2024
Ancient Origins of Pizza -
The history of pizza begins in antiquity, as various ancient cultures produced basic flatbreads with many and varied toppings. A precursor of pizza was probably focaccia, a flatbread known to the Romans as panis focacius, to which toppings were often added. Modern pizza as we know it evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the late 18th or early 19th century.
On the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia, off the west coast of Italy, French and Italian archaeologists have found evidence that leavened bread was baked there over 7,000 years ago. In the 6th century BC, Persian soldiers baked flatbreads on top of their battle shields with cheese, dates, and/or olives as toppings. In Ancient Greece, a flatbread called plakous was flavored with toppings like herbs, onions, cheese, and garlic.
Another early reference to a pizza-like food describes Trojans eating their “tables.” The reference explains this as a meal of round cakes, like pita bread, that were used as a plate or table for toppings of cooked vegetables, herbs, and cheeses.
A similar story by the writer Virgil described ancient travelers laying out thin wheat bread cakes as platters for their meal of herbs and mushrooms gathered from the nearby woods. After eating everything, including the crusty discs, one traveler apparently exclaimed, “Look! We have even eaten our plates!”
Another pizza-like offering can be traced to pizzarelle, a flatbread related to Italian waffle cookies made with flour, eggs, sugar, butter or vegetable oil, and flavorings of anise, vanilla, and/or lemon zest. They can be hard and crisp or soft and chewy depending on the ingredients and method of preparation. These flatbread cookies, often topped with sweet ricotta cheese or hazelnut spread, were adopted and eaten by Jews while in Roman territory, and were a special treat after returning from synagogue on the Passover holiday.
Key examples of flatbreads from the ancient Mediterranean world include focaccia (which may date as far back as the ancient Etruscans in Italy); manakish in the Levant (a historical term for the Mediterranean lands east of Italy); lepinja in the Balkans; or piadina in the Emilia-Romagna region of central Italy.
Coca, a thick Spanish flatbread from Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands can be made in both sweet and savory versions. Savory toppings include fish, cheese, and vegetables near the coast or tomato, sausage, cheese, and olives inland. Sweet cocas are made with eggs and sugar in the dough and topped with fruit, sweetened almond paste, lemon or strawberry cream, pine nuts, and soft cheeses.
Although pizza is not an original Greek food, it has been adapted from Italy in various forms. The classic Greek pita has often been transformed into a pizza crust. Often the crust either contains cornmeal or can even be a flattened cornbread cake topped with classic Greek options like kalamata olives, feta cheese, artichokes, onions, and roasted lamb.
Foods similar to flatbreads in other parts of the world include Chinese bing (a bread with a flattened, disk-like shape); leavened naan or unleavened roti from Central and Southern Asia; several versions of leavened flatbreads from the island of Sardinia; and rieska from Finland. There are many similar topped or stuffed flatbreads known throughout Europe, like the classic French quiche, Alsatian flammkuchen or German zwiebelkuchen (quiche-like flatbreads topped with Crème Fraiche, cheese, bacon and onion).
Pizza #1: Prosciutto and Fig with Arugula and Balsamic Glaze - With this pizza we are pairing two rich, dry white wines.
McPherson Cellars Verdelho 2023 TX High Plains
Verdelho is a white wine grape most associated with the island of Madeira where it is used in production of the famous fortified wines from that region. As one of the few heat-loving white grapes, Verdelho is well adapted to warm, arid regions like Portugal, Spain, central California, Australia, Argentina, and now Texas. Kim McPherson and Spenser Igo are experimenting with Verdelho grown on the High Plains producing a crisp white wine with floral and citrus aromas and an almost waxy character similar to that from ripe Marsanne grapes. Verdelho is a moderately vigorous vine that produces small bunches of small oval berries with a high skin to juice ratio, creating high natural acidity, a property important to Texas winemakers. Verdelho is not to be confused with similarly named grapes, like Verduzzo from Italy or Verdejo from Spain. The grapes were fermented at 57oF in SS tanks with no skin contact; aged in SS tanks before bottling @ 13.1% ABV, 0.3% RS (essentially dry). Aromas and flavors of citrus, peach, and pear abound with a pleasant crisp, food-friendly finish. Pair with seafood, grilled chicken or fish, spring picnic fare, or a charcuterie platter with friends on a sunny afternoon. It also partners well with White Pie Pizza!
Brennan Vineyards Estate Cuvée 2023 Texas
This delicious white wine is a blend of Viognier and Semillon sourced from Newburg Vineyard just 10 miles south of the winery in Comanche County. The Brennan team wanted to designate an ESTATE wine and that required the following: 1) the fruit must come from vineyards owned (or leased/managed) by the winery that produces the wine; 2) the winemaking process must be done entirely in-house; and 3) the wine must never leave the property during fermentation, aging, or bottling. Estate wines are relatively rare in Texas since most wineries do not own significant vineyard acreage themselves but purchase grapes from growers around the state. Add to that, most wines in Texas are blends either of different grape varieties, or of the same variety from multiple sources.
The desire to create an official Estate wine led to the combination of these two grapes for a lively and energetic wine with a canary yellow color and light, crisp mouthfeel. Mechanically harvested fruit was pressed and fermented cold at 55oF for about 30 days; aged mostly in used American and French oak barrels for about 6 months with portions undergoing malolactic transformation; blended and bottled @ 12.5% ABV, 0% RS (dry). Aromatics of candied apricots, butterscotch, and toasted hazelnut lead to rich flavors of candied Meyer lemon, persimmon, tropical fruits, Mexican vanilla, and buttered brioche toast. The flavors seemed like a great match to Pizza #1 and the following - baked triple cream brie, fruit salad with poppy seed dressing, garlic and burrata shrimp pasta, prosciutto-wrapped melon, and smothered pork chops.
The word pizza was first documented in 997 AD in Gaeta (a city south of Rome) and successively in various parts of Central and Southern Italy. Pizza was mainly eaten in Italy and by emigrants from there. This certainly changed after World War II when Allied troops stationed in Italy returned home to the U.S. to enjoy pizza along with other Italian foods.
Perhaps the most important innovation that led to flatbread becoming pizza was the use of tomato as a topping. It was not until the Spanish brought the tomato to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century that the modern variation of flatbread we know as pizza was developed. Surprisingly, when the tomato was initially introduced, many Europeans believed them to be poisonous. However, by the late 18th century, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flatbread, thus adding flavor and the classic red color to pizza as we know it today.
It was in Naples that pizza really came into being. In the late 18th century Naples grew to a city of nearly 400,000 residents, many of them very poor peasants that had migrated from the countryside. The poorest of this lot became known as lazzaroni, because their ragged appearance resembled the description of the biblical character Lazarus. Street vendors began serving flatbread slices cut to a size to match a casual laborer’s appetite, or more likely his budget. These flatbreads were not fancy, most simply topped with lard, garlic, salt, basil, and sometimes a simple cheese made from horse’s or sheep’s milk. Eventually tomatoes and small fish (anchovies) became common toppings.
In the late 19th century pizza underwent a big change as the result of a “royal” approval. Legend suggests that three different pizzas were baked and served for the 1889 visit to Naples of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The royal couple grew tired of rich French cuisine being served at court, so Queen Margherita asked for something local. The top pizza maker in Naples, Rafaelle Esposito, was tasked with preparing three pizzas: one with lard, sheep’s cheese and garlic; a second with garlic, parsley, and anchovies; and a third with tomato sauce sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and basil. The Queen's favorite was the third, evoking the colors of the Italian flag – green (basil leaves), white (mozzarella cheese), and red (tomatoes).
According to the tale, this combination was named Pizza Margherita in the Queen’s honor. However, other accounts indicate that the Pizza Margherita combination of ingredients already existed, having been created in Naples much earlier in the 19th century. Perhaps the story is just a little too good to be true, but the establishment in Naples (known as Pizzeria Brandi today) still features a plaque pronouncing it the birthplace of pizza margherita. Regardless of its origin, Pizza Margherita helped transform pizza from a local street food into a truly national Italian dish, akin to pasta and polenta. Today, Pizza Margherita remains one of the most common and popular versions of pizza in Italy and around the world.
Pizza evolved into a variety of bread and tomato dishes often served with cheese. A wide variety of toppings have since been used, like for the "pizza alla napoletana" topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, anchovies, and mushrooms. As pizza became more popular, restaurants creating these flatbreads became known as pizzerias. It was recorded that in 1807, 54 pizzerias existed in Naples alone and that number increased to 120 by the end of the 19th century.
Pizza #2: Classic Margherita with Mozzarella, Basil, and Marinara Sauce - accompanied by two medium-bodied dry red wines that exhibit plenty fruit and moderate tannins.
McPherson Cellars Dolcetto Single Block Selection 2020 TX High Plains
"Dolcetto"—just saying the name feels like popping a bonbon in your mouth! This lesser-known Italian variety conjures memories of the 'old country' with its heady aromas of dried cranberry, fresh-baked almond cake, and spicy black olives. Classically styled, its lighter body offers a delightful suede-like feel on the tongue, fresh yet earthy, and gently warming. The palate is rich with Amarena cherries and No.2 pencil shavings - a feast of fruit and spice. This Dolcetto will chase the winter blues alongside forkfuls of saucy pasta puttanesca, pulled straight from a cast iron pan. The flavors remind one of almond cake as it cools after baking while everyone strings cranberries for a Christmas garland. Other aromas and flavors include soft well-worn leather and woodsmoke. This delightful red calls out for grilled steaks, sausages, BBQ, red-sauced pastas, and of course, classic margherita pizza with marinara sauce.
Lost Oak Winery Lost Oak Sangiovese 2022 TX High Plains
Sangiovese is the most widely planted red variety in Italy and is the main grape in the popular Chianti blend. It is said to originate in Tuscany and has ties to the ancient Romans. It is now widely grown throughout many parts of Italy and the rest of the world. Sangiovese tends to grow well in warm to hot climates with sandy soils rich in limestone, making it a good candidate for Texas, especially the High Plains. The fruit was mechanically harvested, fermented in SS tank, aged in used American oak barrels, and bottled at 13.9% ABV, 0% RS. In the most recent Lone Star International Wine Competition this wine was awarded a DOUBLE GOLD medal. The color is ruby red with dark cherry and cranberry fruit on the nose; flavors of red currant, cherry, sweet pipe tobacco; campfire smoke; medium body and ripe tannins. It partners well with game, beef, sausage, and BBQ. Classic margherita pizza with marinara sauce seems a natural match.
Marinara sauce so popular on pizza is a traditional offering from Naples made from tomato, oregano, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. This sauce is so-named "marinara" because it was traditionally prepared by wives to accompany their husbands’ meals after they returned from fishing trips in the Bay of Naples. The wives of these fishermen were known as “la marinara".
The "True Neapolitan Pizza Association", founded in 1984, has set very specific rules for an authentic Neapolitan pizza - the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven; the base or crust must be hand-kneaded and not rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means; and the pizza must be more than one-third of a centimeter (0.13 inches) thick at the center and not exceed 35 centimeters (13.8 in) in diameter (is this the reason so many large pizzas today measure 14 inches?).
There are many famous pizzerias in Naples where these traditional pizzas can be found, mostly in the historical center of Naples. Many of these pizzerias follow even stricter standards than the specified rules. For example, only San Marzano tomatoes grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius are used and drizzling olive oil and adding tomato topping can only be done in a clockwise direction.
Many historians believe the world’s first pizzeria was the Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, established as a pizza stand in 1738 and then as a restaurant in 1830. It remains in business today and its ovens are still lined with the original lava rock from nearby Mount Vesuvius.
But pizza would remain little known in Italy beyond Naples and Campania’s borders until the 1940s. When Allied soldiers invaded Italy in 1943-4, they were so taken with the pizza they encountered in Campania that they asked for it wherever else they went. Following World War II, U.S. veterans, especially those returning from the Italian Campaign, created a large and enthusiastic U.S. market for pizza. Even our 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, became a fan of pizza while serving as Allied commander in Europe during the war.
Until the 1940s, pizza consumption outside Italy was limited mostly to Italian immigrants and their descendants. Shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, pizza became more popular in restaurants. Deep-dish pizza was introduced in 1943 with the opening of Pizzeria Uno in Chicago by a Texan named Ike Sewell. This heartier version offered much thicker crusts and more abundant toppings.
Around the same time, the Rocky Mountain Pie was developed in Colorado with a wide, rolled-over crust edge. This extra crust was meant to be eaten with honey as a dessert (sort of like sopapillas?). Today all sorts of ingredients, especially extra cheese, get stuffed and rolled into wide crust edges.
Pizza #3: Sausage and Mushroom with Marinara sauce, Mozzarella and toasted onions – served with two rich, fuller-bodied red wines.
Brennan Vineyards Super Nero 2019 Texas
This delicious red is a masterful blend of Nero d’Avola 50% from Newburg Vyd, Comanche Cty; Syrah 14% and Malbec 14% from Comanche Vyd, Comanche Cty; Montepulciano 14% from Diamante Doble Vyds, Tokio, Terry Cty; and Carmenere 8% from Lahey Vyd, Brownfield, Terry Cty. The fruit was mechanically harvested; cuvées fermented separately in SS tanks; aged an average 16 months in used American and French oak barrels; blended and bottled @ 14.5% ABV, 0% RS (DRY). Nero d’Avola is the most important red wine grape in Sicily, originating near the seaport town of Avola. Medium ruby color with aromas of fruit punch, red plums, and raisins. The flavors are tart cherry, tobacco, and cinnamon spice with nuances of cigar box, black tea, rose petals, and tarragon. The acid balance and soft tannins lend a velvety finish. Pair with veal scallopini, BBQ pork ribs, bacon jalapeno poppers, and good ol’ hamburgers. It pairs really well with pizza, too.
Lost Oak Winery Petit Verdot 2021 Texas
This wine is 100% Petit Verdot sourced from Sprayberry Vyd, Midland, TX. These grapes were machine harvested; fermented in SS tank; underwent malolactic transformation; aged about 19 months in used oak barrels; bottled @ 12.6% ABV, 0% RS (dry). This dark, full-flavored wine shows off the versatility of this important Bordeaux grape variety most often added to Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot-based blends at 4-10%. Petit Verdot adds darker color, richer flavor, and better tannin structure to many Bordeaux blends, as well as similar wines across the world. Alone, Petit Verdot can produce a tannic wine with unpleasant astringency, UNLESS techniques are used to soften tannins and highlight the fruit. Winemakers Jim Evans and Angela Chapman have created a rich, relatively low in alcohol, palate pleasing version of Petit Verdot with plum color, aromas of violet, spice, mulberry, and a touch of vanilla. It is bursting with earthy flavors of sage, cocoa, and espresso, with a hint of red fruit on the finish. Structured yet gentle tannins bring out the flavors of black tea leaves balanced with a touch of cranberry. This pairs with sage and prosciutto pasta, sausage rigatoni with vodka sauce, veal or chicken parmesan, BBQ ribs and beef, cornbread and chili, Jambalaya, and, you guessed it, PIZZA.
An ocean away from Naples, Italian immigrants to the United States were replicating their trusty, crusty pizzas in New York and other American cities, including Trenton, New Haven, Boston, Chicago and St. Louis. Pizza found a second home in the United States as thousands of Italian immigrants landed on her eastern shores. According to one report, the first printed reference to pizza served in the U.S. was a 1904 article in The Boston Journal. The Bruno brothers from Naples introduced pizza to Boston, and later one of their sons opened the first pizzeria in Chicago. The famous Lombardi’s grocery in New York began to offer pizza in 1905 as a lunchtime meal for workers in nearby factories. That location closed in 1984, but the family opened a new location 10 years later where you can still enjoy a Lombardi’s pie today.
The longest continuously running pizzeria is thought to be Papa’s Tomato Pies in Trenton, NJ, which opened in 1912 (112 yrs). With a large Italian immigrant population, New Jersey jumped into the pizza game and by 1910 many popular pizzerias were founded there, especially in areas near NYC. The Ezzo family in Canastota, NY, started making pepperoni sausage in 1906 but the first report of sliced pepperoni being added to pizza didn’t appear until the 1950s noted on the menu from a pizza place in New Haven, Connecticut.
Pizza crusts come in many variations and most folks have a specific preference. In Naples, Italy, pizza crusts are typically soft and pliable. In Rome, a thin and crispy crust is preferred. Of course, we know about the Chicago deep-dish pizza with very thick crust. And there are so many more variations.
Following WW II, it was primarily tourism – facilitated by the declining cost of travel in the postwar period – that really consolidated pizza’s position as a truly Italian dish. As tourists became increasingly curious about Italian food, restaurants throughout the peninsula started offering more regional specialties – including pizza.
After 1950, pizza was transformed even further by rapid economic and technological advancement in the U.S. First, there was the “domestication” of pizza as the availability of in-home refrigerators and freezers grew. Convenience foods became enormously popular, including frozen or refrigerated pizzas that could be baked in the family kitchen. Second was the “commercialization” of pizza that came with the ready availability of motorized transport - cars and motorcycles. It was now possible to deliver freshly baked pizza and other prepared foods directly to a customer’s door.
Pizza consumption exploded in the U.S in the late 1950’s with the introduction of pizza chains such as Pizza Hut in 1958, Little Caesar’s in 1959, and Domino’s in 1960. Tom and James Monaghan founded ‘Dominik’s’ in Michigan and, after winning a reputation for speedy delivery, took their company – which they renamed ‘Domino’s’ – nationwide. They and their competitors expanded abroad, so now there is scarcely a city in the world where some U.S.-origin pizza chain cannot be found.
Pizza is very popular in Canada. In 1962, the "Hawaiian" pizza topped with pineapple and ham was reportedly invented by restaurateur Sam Panopoulos in Chatham, Ontario. Another invention from Canada appears to be Pizza-ghetti, a combination meal commonly found in fast food or family restaurants in which a half pizza is accompanied by a portion of spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce. Although both pizza and spaghetti are considered staples of Italian cuisine, combining them in one dish is unknown in Italy.
The most distinct "Canadian" pizza is usually prepared with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon, with mushrooms and bacon as the two standout ingredients. With pizza gaining such popularity across Canada, it came as no surprise that major American pizza chains such as Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Little Caesar’s expanded their locations into our northern neighbor’s territory.
No matter where you go in the world, it seems you will find some delectable form of pizza to satisfy your taste buds. In the Alsace region of France and southern Germany, flammkuchen is a crispy thin-crust creation, an onion-bacon pie that features crème Fraiche rather than tomato sauce as its base. In Lebanon, you can find a flatbread topped with ground lamb mixed with minced onions, diced tomatoes, and a variety of condiments such as pomegranate molasses. A similar flatbread, topped with lettuce, parsley, and lemon is called lahmacun in Turkey. In Japan a popular and versatile grilled flatbread is topped with cabbage, pork or seafood, and a variety of condiments.
It is currently estimated that 13% of the U.S. population consumes pizza on any given day (that translates to an annual consumption of three billion pizzas and an average of 46 slices per person). All of the pizza sold in the U.S. everyday, placed edge-to-edge, would cover 100 acres.
Pizza restaurants all over the country see a rush of customers on Super Bowl Sunday, one of the busiest days of the year for pizza. In 2023, it was estimated that 12.5 million pizzas were sold in the U.S., mostly just before the game began and during halftime. One can be relatively certain a similar amount of pizza was ordered and consumed during Super Bowl LVIII (58) this past February. BTW, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in a thriller by a score of 25-22.
In 2012, the world's largest pizza was made in Rome. It measured 1,262 sq meters (13,550 sq ft) in area – with radius of about 65.8 ft or diameter of 131.5 ft - WOW!!
Nearly 3x the size of a standard basketball court - 50’ x 94’ or 4,700 sq ft.
In February, 2023, Pizza Hut sent a team to the Los Angeles Convention Center, whose space was big enough to hold a 13,990-sq ft pizza, with the aim of breaking the Guinness World Record. Workers put down layers of dough first, painted on tomato sauce, and then added toppings. The pizza was baked in pieces and reassembled. It had 13,563 pounds of dough, 4,948 lbs of tomato sauce, 8,800 lbs of cheese and over 630,000 slices of pepperoni. When done and certified by Guinness, it was divided into 68,000 portions that were donated to local food banks.
In closing, please support Texas grape growers and winemakers by seeking out your favorite Whites, Reds, and Rosés and enjoy a Taste of Texas with your favorite pizzas – thin crust, medium crust, or thick pan crust with whatever toppings of meat, sauce, cheese, and veggies you prefer. It’s hard to think of many better combinations of food and beverage than Pizza and Wine.
Drink and Eat Well My Friends.
Learn more from these references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza
https://bacinos.com/history-of-pizza Where, When, and Who Invented Pizza
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/history-pizza, by Alexander Lee, a fellow in the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, University of Warwick
Historian's Cookbook - A History of Pizza, Alexander Lee, 07-July-2018, Published in History Today, Volume 68, Issue 7, July-2018
https://www.rd.com/article/who-invented-pizza/, Who Invented Pizza? The Delicious History of Pizza Pies By Cassandra Brooklyn, Updated Jul. 20, 2024
7 Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Pizza, Posted by Superberries Team on 10-Oct-2020 to Aronia Berry Recipes
Who Invented Pizza? Did you know pizza took the United States by storm before it became popular in its native Italy?, by Gayle Turim, Updated: 05-May-2023, Original: 27-Jul-2012