The Best Type Of Wine To Pair With Veggie Pizzas

Wine and pizza are already the perfect duo, and making that a veggie pizza, overflowing with fresh summer produce just makes the wine pairing more fun and enticing. While fatty, salty meats like sausage and pepperoni may get most of the pizza topping attention, they also lend themselves to more obvious pairings with bold reds that can stand up to their savory flavor. Veggie pizza, on the other hand can vary across a huge range of flavors, from charred to crisp, briny or acidic. It's a little more daunting, but that range of flavors opens up a whole range of wine cellar options for you to pair with your pizza. It's such an abundance of choices that Tasting Table asked Vanessa Price, a sommelier, author, and restaurateur at Mavericks in Montauk for recommendations on how to pair wine with veggie pizza.

Price's advice is pretty clear: it's all about the type of vegetable. She says, "Some mushrooms eat like a steak more than they eat like a vegetable," and that in her restaurant, both get the "same treatment ... I usually suggest a New York Cabernet Franc." For fresher, lighter veggie pizzas, a crisp white like a Sauvignon Blanc will match its characteristics well. Price takes a "like with like" approach, choosing a wine that would have similar descriptions as the toppings themselves. She also recommends thinking locally about where the veggies come from and what kind of wine grows there; the same natural environment makes for natural pairings.

Figure out what the star of your vegetable pizza is, and the best wine choices will reveal themselves. If your veggie pie is tomato heavy, like a Margherita, or topped with dried tomato slices, then a light red wine or rosé is a nice choice. Grenache, Pinot Noir, or dry rosé have the acidity and bright flavor of a tomato, with enough robustness to match the intensity without overpowering it. Lighter, sweeter red wines and rosés are also great with veggies that are going to caramelize and get a little saccharine themselves when cooked, like onions, red bell peppers, or zucchini.

Refreshing and light white wines are fantastic with veggie pizzas that center around greens. Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, or a dry Riesling will leave room to let arugula and spinach shine while having some tartness to balance out the bitter greens. If your veggie pizza is more fully loaded, with a variety of mixed produce, moving towards a more full-bodied and flavorful white like a Chardonnay can help it stand up to the flavors while still matching the fresh profile. And, of course, you can't go wrong with a bubbly white or rosé, which are versatile enough to pair with a wide range of toppings, veggie or otherwise. In the end, don't sweat it too much because, with such a range of wines that go great with veggie pizza, it's pretty hard to go wrong.