Summer has well and truly left us and winter is on it’s way, but first the leaves are turning orange and guests are looking for a different type of wine. With Halloween decorations adorning restaurants and bars across the country today, we look at the best wines to pair with pumpkin.
For a pumpkin risotto, try offering a dry Prosecco. The clean, light flavours of the sparkling white wine help lift the almost floral aspects of the pumpkin without accentuating any sweetness. The Carpenè Malvolti, 1868 Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore, Prosecco Brut NV is ideal with its floral and fruity bouquet, elegant aromas of ripe pear, crisp apple and citrus, layered with subtle herbaceous notes. It’s smooth on the palate with crisp, refreshing aromatics and an elegant finish, and a perfect pairing for pumpkin risotto.
If you’re incorporating cream into a pumpkin dish, the food gets more wintry weight, so a wine with more body works well. Sangiovese strikes the balance of standing up to something like a pumpkin inspired cream sauce without overpowering the main ingredient. The Castello Nipozzano, Vecchie Viti, Chianti Rúfina Riserva 2014 boasts a lovely ruby red colour and has notes of raspberry, currant, and gooseberry leading to a finish of cocoa and white pepper. The 90% Sangiovese wine strikes the balance perfectly between standing up to, and complementing, a creamy pumpkin dish with its medium body and silky tannins.
Grüner Veltliner offers the zingy characteristics 
that go well with pumpkin in any of its guises, but shows especially well next to a savoury option like a pumpkin gnocchi. The home of Grüner Veltliner is Austria, so look no further than Johann Donabaum’s Johann Federspiel, Grüner Veltliner 2015 a fabulous, restrained wine with bright apple and lime characters, combined with white pepper, cardamom and spicy minerality. The wine is balanced and refreshing and makes it the go-to partner for any pumpkin dish!
Happy Halloween!
