How to Host a Wine and Pizza Pairing Party at Home

October is National Pizza Month in America, a time to celebrate our unifying devotion to pizza. From one simple dish of yeasted dough with a few toppings, we have developed a cornucopia of regional delicacies: New York’s classic flat crust with sweet tomatoes sauce and melted mozzarella, Chicago’s deep dish full of sausage and gooey cheese, California’s continually creative usage of fresh, seasonal vegetables.

Why not throw a pizza and wine tasting party at home, in honor of National Pizza Month? You’ll need just a few staples: wine glasses, plenty of napkins and good company. A pizza and wine pairing party is the perfect way to celebrate America’s diverse pizza and wine making styles as well as our deep love of simply good food.

1. Planning Your Menu
As with most beginnings in food and wine pairings, you’ll need to decide which will be the basis of your tasting party: the pizza or the wine. Choosing a few wines – or a few pizzas – will make the secondary selections much easier. For a few great pizza and wine matches, see our earlier post on Pizza and Wine Pairings, or check out our general guide to Food and Wine Pairing. The following list is an easy – though by no means comprehensive – reference to tasty pizza and wine pairings:

Plain Cheese Pizza – Barbera, Dolcetto, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti
Pizza Napoletana – Pinot Grigio, Valpolicella, Zinfandel, Primitivo
New York Style Thin Crust – Montepulciano,Zinfandel, Chianti, red Rioja
Hawaiian Pizza – off-dry Riesling, White Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc, Beaujolais
Chicago Deep Dish with Sausage and Peppers – Chianti, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec
Barbecue Pizza – Zinfandel, Primitivo, Riesling, Gewurztraminer
Pizza with White Sauce – Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner

2. Cooking or Take Out?
While some of us revel in a kitchen busy with lots of bowls, dirty cutting boards and a hot oven, others may find that sanity is preserved by ordering take out from a trusted local pizzeria. Take out gives you greater time freedom, though you’ll lose control over certain toppings and ingredients. (Salt, for example, can be a dangerous foe for tannic red wines, and you won’t be able to control how, really, your pizza maker puts in.) Take out is a better choice for pizza-based pairing parties: you will be more familiar with the pizza beforehand, and can plan wines accordingly.

If you decide to make your own pizzas, you’ll have to contend with dirty dishes and a hot kitchen, but you’ll be able to more exactly tune your wine with your pizzas. This, then, is a good option for wine-based pairing parties. For good standard pizza crust, see Bon Appetit’s basic recipe for dough here. Small pizzas mean more variety and greater chance of discovering your next favorite pizza and
wine pairing.

A third, middle-of-the-road option is to buy uncooked crust and a few prepared toppings, and assemble everything at home. Ask your local pizzeria or fresh bakery if you can buy dough from them – the results will be worlds better than the frozen supermarket variety.

3. Supplies
No matter the size of your wine and pizza offerings, you won’t need much in the way of supply variety. Guests need only one or two wine glasses each – one for white wines and one for red. There’s no need to wash or rinse wine glasses between tastings. Supplies for the pizza include plenty of napkins and small plates – again, plates can be reused after each course. You may opt to cut each
pizza into small bites and put a variety out on the table, in which case you’ll need a few large serving platters (even better if you can keep them warm using sternos.)

4. Tasting Order
A generally solid approach to food and wine tasting is to begin with lighter samples and end with the heaviest. Thus, if plain cheese or herbed pizza is on your menu, or a light wine like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, begin with those. Progress onwards to meatier options like pepperoni and sausage, or Brunello and Zinfandel.

5. Tasting Notes
You may also opt to include tasting notes at your pizza and wine pairing party. Tasting notes do not necessarily indicate formality, but rather fun. They’re a great way to remember your favorite pairings, and can lead you to various successful matches in the future. Tasting notes are also a fantastic way to choose gifts and plan menus for friends and family in the future. A good tasting note will not only rate the wine and pizza, but the pairing as well. Tasting notes can be as comprehensive or as simple as you – and your guests – prefer.

6. A Note on Portions
The variety of your pizza and wine choices will be inversely related to portion size: the greater the variety, the less you should serve per sample. Three pizza types and three styles of wine would mean bigger slices and more generous pours than, say, if you were to serve six pizzas and six wines. Don’t feel obligated to have the same number of pizzas as you do
types of wine – it can be fun to taste one pizza with four different wines, as it can be to sample various pizzas with one wine variety. Above all, your pairing party is all about celebrating the diversity and easy enjoyment of pizza.