Each Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week, ‘Blow the Bank’ brings you two of InterWined’s favourite pizzas.

Pizza with Parma Ham, Basil, and Red Onion

Feta & Butternut Squash Pizza with Ricotta and Pine Nuts

The 2006 ‘Taste the Difference’ Primitivo del Salento, from Italy and available exclusively to Sainsbury’s for approximately £5, is made by Cantina Due Palme, an Italian co-operative from Apulia known for their award- winning Primitivo. So, it doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it slightly astounds. For £5, this is one of the best wines that I’ve had in months; it’s also great for pairing with all manner of foods.

This wine is rich and flavourful, with a complexion that’s something of a cross between black cherries and dried blood. Thankfully, you can only taste the cherries. But even if wine could taste like blood, this wine would pull it off brilliantly. There’s such a good balance to it.

It’s also the perfect mix of spicy and sweet to match both pizzas. The sweetness really marries well with the squash and adds a little bit of a zip to the mellower flavour of the baked feta. Likewise, the sweetness helps counter any saltiness from the Parma ham, while the fresh basil, red onions, and ample cranks of cracked pepper help compliment the spice. A perfect threesome: 9.1.

InterWined’s Own Recipes in Full

Pizza with Parma Ham, Basil, and Red Onion & Feta & Butternut Squash Pizza with Ricotta and Pine Nuts

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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A bottle of the TTD Pinot Grigio was on-sale for less than £5. Grassy, crisp and clean. One of the best wines for the price, unbelievably. 8.9.
At Budgens, for less than £5, is the Da Luca Merlot/Primitivo blend (Primitivo is basically Zinfandel’s ancestor, and is remarkably similar). It does not have a vintage, so the grapes come from multiple years, and it is an ‘Indicazione Geografica Tipica,’ or from a typical, but not special, Italian region, in this case Tarantino (a little wine from Taranto, related to the Hollywood director), Apulia – hot and southern.

It’s a blockbuster, just like many of Quentin’s movies. Also, no grace, strong in will and sometimes surprising, but with a big finish. It is a heavy, clumsy, large wine and it tastes great. 8.9.

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The 2004 Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc is a stunner, £7. Good with anything, even spicy sausage: tropical fruits on the nose; dry finish, light on the tongue. Two days later, the wine had mellowed to being almost buttery. It was smoother than Brazilian legs during Carnival. 8.5.

2001 was not so good for California and Bonterra’s Cabernet from that year shows it. Watery and thin, little identity, no wonder many bottles of it are available to buy now – though it’s not a complete wash-up. It was drinkable as a table wine. Serve with dinner. 7.7

Same for 2004 Valdevieso Merlot. It holds it own, but can’t hold your attention. 7.7.

The ‘Taste the Difference’ 2003 Connawarra Cabernet from the grocer Sainsbury’s was on sale for half-off, £4.

The fumes alone are flammable. Hard to taste anything else when a wine is pimped out with so much silly sauce. A day later, ripe fruits, mainly blackberry, tinge of oak, still strong. Price was right though. Eight pounds would be a joke. 7.0.

Finally the 2003 Heartland Petit Verdot from the Limestone Coast of Australia…The Heartland gave off wild aromas violets, black cherry but still very rustic, like an old leather belt that will never give up holding onto pants. Also a bit of rust and a hint of mint.
8.9 points, mainly for controlling a late harvest grape most people won’t bother with.

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