The Best Wine To Pair With Classic Italian Lasagna

A symbol of Italian cuisine, lasagna has become an essential part of our daily lives and appreciated by the whole family. Here’s a little overview of the best appellations to pair perfectly with a succulent lasagna dish.

What wine with Bolognese lasagna?

If you have chosen to cook lasagna with bolognese sauce, in keeping with Italian culinary traditions, turn to a red wine. Lasagna is a very generous dish, usually prepared with a Bolognese sauce with tomato and minced beef, a Bechamel sauce flavoured with nutmeg, all topped with grated cheese. A dish rich in flavor and creaminess! To sublimate it without distorting it, choose a red wine with light tannins and fruity aromas.

• Chianti (Toscana, Italy) : Chianti Colli Fiorentini Riserva DOCG La Torretta by La Querce 2016

Imagine waking up to the rolling hills of Florence every day… We did, for a few days anyway, while on a tasting tour last year in Tuscany. Our devotion to eat delicious food and drinking as much Tuscan wine as we could paid off when we stumbled across a producer tucked away in the southern belly of Florence.

After tasting 7 of their wines, there can be argument in our mind that La Querce is one of the top producers in this part of Tuscany. They make some of the most truly authentic and traditional wines to come out of the region. We, as well as many of the renowned wine critics, believe it to be some of the best.

This Chianti is an Italian epic poem in wine form pairing perfectly with some lasagna.

And 2016 was a special vintage in this region, churning out legendary wines that are powerful and concentrated, yet show purity and elegance.

For many of us in the wine industry, Chianti is God’s country. The wines of this region are some of the world’s favourites. When you visit Tuscany and sample the regions food, meet its people and submerge yourself in the Italian culture it’s no wonder so many of us dream of visiting bucolic Tuscany one day.

• Côtes de Provence (Provence) : Tibouren Côtes de Provence Rouge by Clos Cibonne 2018

Geek Alert! What is Tibouren and why should you care? Basically it’s an heirloom variety grown in Provence. It’s not particularly easy to work with like Grenache and Syrah so many producers have shied away from using it. Our friends at Clos Cibonne have made amazing rosés that are Tibouren based and are some of the most ageworthy in the region. They sell out quickly each year. Today, we have both the rosé and the red and what a treat! For our wine pairing, we will juste focus with the red. It is a marvel! Faintly colored, soflty extracted, well peppered, with flavors of crushed strawberries, brillant… Really special wine for you adventuresome drinkers out there.

• Beaujolais Village (Beaujolais): Beaujolais Villages Burgundy by Stéphane Aviron 2016

Our value-driven red Burgundies have hit successive home runs this year, and here’s another heavy-hitting surname for your table: Aviron. 

Stéphane Aviron can be considered a pioneer is his approach to winemaking in Beaujolais, however he would just tell you that he’s simply returning to the traditional practices that have always made fantastic Gamay wines. Sustainable viticulture, extremely old vines and classic Burgundian techniques. He focuses on the Beaujolais village crus, all but forgotten gems of vineyards when the nouveau craze took over, which are the best sites for unique, expressive and terroir driven wines.

Today’s Beaujolais is produced Biodynamically. Some of the wine world’s big names have been farming biodynamically for years: Domaine Romanée Conti, M. Chapoutier, and Boisset to name a few.

Seeing Vieilles Vignes on the label is a right of passage, not a privilege. Authenticity and a distinctly Beaujolais style of winemaking is what sets Stéphane apart from the competition.

What wine with salmon lasagna?

• Côtes du Rhône Village (Vallée du Rhône) : Côtes-du-Rhône Villages by La Bastide Saint Dominique 2017

This “Côtes-du-Rhône Villages” is layered and delightfully fresh but it adds on the luxurious, constantly building power of 2017.

La Bastide Saint-Dominique estate lies in the heart of Provence, right in the foothills of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, buffeted by the gusts of the Mistral wind and bathed by the bright southern sun.
A powerful, beautiful and well structured wine. 92 Points Wine Advocate.

What wine with Veg lasagna?

A more delicately flavoured vegetarian lasagne should also work with a lighter, dry white style, such as or Sauvignon Blanc.

• Dry white styles : Barahonda Blanco by Señorío de Barahonda 2018

We are excited to present Señorío de Barahonda Blanco, run by generations of the Candela family since 1925. When we first tasted this new vintage with the winemaker, we loved its freshness and acidity. Barahonda Blanco has been a staple at WineOnline for years and each vintage continues to impress.

The ’18 Barahonda Blanco by Señorío de Barahonda. 

Best Buy – Peñín Guide 2020

Now with a splash of Sauvignon Blanc!, this wine hit all the right spots, from the the freshness of the Sauv Blanc and the roundness of the Vardejo.

These highly adaptive Verdejo grapes, that grow in a desert-like climate somehow, are able to turn out a beautiful, white wines, that are nigh on impossible to resist. The sad part is 20 years ago white wine from this part of the world was very much out of favour and Barahonda ripped up most of their Verdejo vineyards, limiting them to a very small production of this wine.

What’s leftover however, are 80 years old vines that produce some intensely flavoured grapes that continue to express the true nature of this region. Barahonda Blanco is the ultimate white wine to match with your Vegetarian Lasagna.

This Barahonda Blanco delivers the goods and represents great value. This stunner is nothing short of amazing and has no business being this price.

• Sauvignon blanc : Cartagena Sauvignon Blanc by Viña Casa Marín 2018

If you are looking for something crisp, refreshing and inexpensive (21.95/bottle) that maintains beautiful fruit… This is it.

It’s from one of Chile’s most awarded wineries. From the beginning, Viña Casa Marín set out to make one of the world’s best cool climate wines, thanks to the unique terroir qualities and the climatic conditions in Lo Abarca (San Antonio Valley).

If you’re stuck between loving the new world style of Sauv Blanc such as the wines from New Zealand and the old world style such as those from Sancerre, you will absolutely love this wine from Cartagena. Soft and supple with bright acidity…

Where to buy these wines online in Canada?

• Chianti Colli Fiorentini Riserva DOCG La Torretta by La Querce 2016
• Tibouren Côtes de Provence Rouge by Clos Cibonne 2018
• Beaujolais Villages Burgundy by Stéphane Aviron 2016
• Côtes-du-Rhône Villages by La Bastide Saint Dominique 2017
• Barahonda Blanco by Señorío de Barahonda 2018
• Cartagena Sauvignon Blanc by Viña Casa Marín 2018