When your pantry fills with fall fixings, add these five wines too. Some are Italian classics, some off the beaten track, but all pair beautifully with autumnal fare. 

LAMBRUSCO

Fall brings Octoberfest, but if beer’s not your thing, wash down your bratwurst with another type of chilled fizz: Lambrusco. They say “what grows together, goes together,” and in Emilia Romagna, this frothy, fruity wine has linked arms with cured meats and salumi since time immemorial. Prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, coppa, culatello, and cotechino just beg for it. 

Pair it

The marriage of fizz and fat works every time. The locals serve Lambrusco with their beloved lasagna, pasta Bolognese, and the elaborate spread of boiled meats and condiments known as bollito misto. Stateside, pair it with grilled sweet Italian sausage—a match made in heaven. Another classic pairing is pumpkin ravioli with sage butter; Lambrusco’s vivid berry character just clicks with the natural sweetness of pumpkin. That also makes it a natural fit for Thanksgiving, where it partners nicely with sweet potatoes, gratins, and the big bird itself. Plus, the fizz is festive and the alcohol low (11%), which means Lambrusco can go the distance.

Territory

Lambrusco is the name shared by a family of grapes in the Apennine foothills southwest of Modena and Reggio Emilia and stretching across the agricultural plains to the Adriatic: Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa, and Lambrusco Salamino being the big three. What’s important is this: Forget everything you thinkyou know about Lambrusco—that it’s sweet, it’s like soda pop, it’s industrial plonk—and give it a try. Just be sure to pick a dry artisanal version.

Try this one

Cleto Chiarli’s “Vecchia Modena” Lambrusco di Modena is a historic style from a historic winery. Chiarli reproduces the wine they began with in 1860. It’s delicately colored, lightly foamy, full of pretty red fruit (wild strawberry, tart cherry), and is completely dry. That light color (it’s watermelon pink) is due to the Sorbara grape, which always runs on the pale side. This Lambrusco guarantees converts. 

BARBARESCO 

Nebbiolo gets its name from the fall mists, the nebbia, that chill the air in Piedmont’s Langhe hills come October. They signal the time to harvest the grapes that become Barolo and Barbaresco. Because of that, and the earthiness these wines acquire with age, I associate nebbiolo with the fall, when Piedmont’s other earthy bounty—porcini mushrooms and white truffles—are in season.

Pair it

The ethereal bouquet of a young Barbaresco speaks of black cherry, violets, and spice, then over time, scents of sandalwood, leather, or forest floor come into play. The piemontesiknow what magic awaits when such a bottle is uncorked alongside a porcini risotto with white truffle shavings. Other classic match-ups include egg yolk–rich pasta (tajarin) doused with ragù; gnocchi under a velvety blanket of raschera cheese; and guinea fowl roasted with herbs and potatoes. 

Territory

Nebbiolo is noble, but it’s a mamma’s boy, preferring to stick close to home. One stomping ground is the village of Barbaresco. Its eponymous wine came about in 1894 thanks to Domizio Cavazza, founding director of Alba’s enological school, who settled in this village. He noticed that the nebbiolo grown here had a decidedly different character than that a few miles south in Barolo. So he and nine growers assembled in his palazzo to make the first wine officially dubbed Barbaresco. And in that moment, Barbaresco’s first cooperative cellar was also born. 

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That coop disbanded under the Fascists, but another sprung to life during the post-war recovery. Today the Produttori del Barbaresco is considered one of the finest cooperatives in Italy, and their well-priced Barbaresco is a benchmark of the traditional style. While their single-vineyard reserves are highly coveted, the flagship Barbaresco, which mixes vineyards, maintains equally high standards. The 2015, now on the market, was a small but exceptionally good vintage. Decanted, it could be drunk tonight. 

SANGIOVESE

Sangiovese is the most widely planted grape in Italy, and in Tuscany, there’s more of it than you can shake a stick at. It’s the centerpiece in dozens of appellations, from Chianti Classico to Brunello di Montalcino, and simpler versions show up at every trattoria in ceramic pitchers. There’s a reason for that. Sangiovese is perhaps the most food-friendly wine on earth. 

Pair it

There are probably as many wild boar, or cinghiale, in Tuscany as there are grape vines. These shaggy, tusked creatures happen to love ripe grapes, so they wreak havoc in the vineyards in the fall. Perhaps that’s the reason you see so much cinghiale on Tuscan menus: pure vengeance. Or perhaps it’s because slow-braised meat is a perfect accompaniment to sangiovese. Don’t see cinghiale in your grocery? Go for pot roast, or a slow-cooked lamb shank, or a nice juicy steak. 

Territory

In central Italy, Sangiovese has had time to evolve dozens of variations over the millennia, and all respond to and reflect terroir like a chameleon. Combine that with different winemaking techniques, and you’ve got a huge array of styles. But all share certain characteristics of the grape: its lively acidity, tart cherry flavors, tannic structure, and a certain rustic, savory character.

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San Gimignano is known for its white wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano, but one of my favorite sangioveses comes from this turf. Cesani’s Luenzo is 90 percent sangiovese, balanced out by colorino, a traditional Tuscan grape that provides inky dark color. It’s aged in oak barrique for 17 months, which imparts seductive chocolate notes that are simply luscious with the black cherry and red currant fruit. As with any tannic wine, this will improve with age.

GEWÜRTZTRAMINER

During cool weather, white wine often takes a back seat. That’s too bad, because fall is the perfect season for gewürtztraminer. Rich and full-bodied, this ain’t your summer sipper. It’s got luscious aromatics, like dewy rose petal and fresh lychee, plus a voluptuous texture and ample alcohol. Unlike the semi-sweet versions from Alsace, the country most associated with this grape, Italians make it dry.

 Pair it 

Fish and shellfish are a natural match. When temperatures fall, think New England clam chowder, crab bisque, and lobster pot pie. Keeping it simple? Just bring out a plate of gorgonzola. Ordering out? Winemakers around the world will tell you that gewürtztraminer goes great with Thai food—and they’re right. 

Territory

Wine scholars still debate where gewürtztraminer was born. We know that gewürtzis German for spice, but the second part of the name would suggest its birthplace is Tramin, a town in Italy’s German-speaking Alto Adige region. “It’s called gewürtztraminer, not gewürtzalsace,” notes Markus Heinel, enologist at J. Hofstätter, a historic family winery based there. Tramin is also home to the traminer grape. Originally wild, it’s thought to be the parent of numerous noble grape varieties, including the more intense and expressive gewürtztraminer. Nonetheless, others point to gewürtztraminer’s genetic similarity to Riesling and posit Germany, possibly the Pfalz region, as its native home. 

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J. Hofstätter’s Gewürtztraminer is a benchmark alpine gewürtz: pure, vibrant, and eminently drinkable. Planted on the steep slopes flanking the Adige river, it gets the benefit of warm morning sun and cool evening winds whipping down from the Alps. The warmth results in sufficient ripeness, essential to coaxing out gewürtztraminer’s heady floral and exotic perfumes. And the dramatic temperature swings preserve a mouthwatering acidity—always a challenge in this grape—which leaves a sensation of freshness on the finish. 

RECIOTO DI SOAVE

Are you a dessert-wine skeptic? Try a passitowine this Thanksgiving, and I swear you’ll turn over a new leaf. Passito is the technique of drying grapes in airy fruit lofts; as they dehydrate, the sugars concentrate. This ancient Roman method is found up and down the peninsula, from Tuscany’s Vin Santo to Sicily’s Passito di Pantelleria. Up in the Veneto region, it’s applied to the garganega grape used in Soave, and they call it Recioto di Soave.

Pair it

In the Veneto, the most traditional time to serve recioto is at Christmas, when it accompanies Pandoro di Verona, a tall, star-shaped cake that’s dusted with powdered sugar, like fresh-fallen snow. But this wine truly sings with pumpkin pie. Bonus: Serving a dessert wine at Thanksgiving will make you feel like a real grown-up.

Territory

The Veneto has an array of wines that use some form of drying, or appassimento, the most famous being Amarone. Why here? Local grapes have thick, waxy skins that allow this, an evolutionary adaptation that protects them from the harsh winds and rains that swoop down from the north. While most grapes would be hard, tooth-cracking nuggets after five months of drying, these are in fine semi-raisin form. If the humidity is right, there might also be some botrytis, or noble rot, which further concentrates the sugars, the glycerine, and the yummy quotient.

Try this one

Pieropan’s Le Colombare Recioto di Soave is based on a recipe from the 1880s, passed down through the generations. At the time, Leonildo Pieropan was the village doctor in Soave. Having studied biology, he tinkered with the drying process to make a richer wine. He sure got it right. With scents of dried apricot and baked peaches, plus a bracing acidity, this wine is luscious without being cloying.