Matching in sequence - part one:
first course with meat sauce - grilled or roasted meats - baked potatoes

When we have to prepare a dinner with different courses, it becomes fundamental to consider not only the wine pairing, limited to the single dish, but to try to have an overview of the menu. It is important to plan the service sequence of the wines, in order to have a coherent and harmonious progression. As for food, there is a growing complexity and structure of the dishes, from the appetizer to the second dish, even the bottles of wine brought to the table should follow the same logic. You should start with rather simple wines, young and not too alcoholic, and then gradually level up during dinner. For example, it would be not only incongruent, but also wrong, to serve an Amarone della Valpolicella with a first course and a Frappato di Vittoria with the second. And if the two wines go well with the individual dishes, then it means that there is something wrong with the order of the dishes on the menu. Thinking about a menu means considering the dishes and their combinations to try to create a tasting list that makes logical sense.

Let's think for example of one of the most classic home menus of the winter period: a first course of pasta with a meat sauce and a second one based on grilled or roasted meat with an inevitable side dish of baked potatoes. We begin to examine the first course, a pasta with meat sauce is a tasty dish, not particularly complex from an aromatic point of view, with the starch component of the pasta with a sweet tendency and with a ragout of mixed meats, often a little fatty and oily. The pairing is not difficult, we will choose a medium-structured red wine, quite young and fragrant, characterized by a good acidity to balance starch and fat and with few tannins. We could choose a good Sangiovese di Romagna or a Barbera d'Asti or Colli Tortonesi. The second with grilled or roasted meat with a side dish of baked potatoes is a medium-structured dish, not too complex from a gustatory point of view. We have a tasty red meat but cooked in a simple way, without marinades, adding spices or anything else. Even the side dish of baked potatoes is simple, the presence of starch confers a certain doughiness and a slight sweet tendency. The dish is not particularly succulent, so we will choose a wine with a slightly accentuated tannic texture and balanced freshness. The cooking is not complex and the flavors are not too complex, therefore the wine must be mature, full-bodied but without exceeding too much in tertiary evolutions. We could choose a Chianti Classico , a Rosso Conero or if we want to move to the south a Nero d'Avola or a Negroamaro .