Rigatoni with Creamy Mushroom Ragu
This dish is rich and creamy, but also has great earthy flavors from the mushrooms. A great wine for this would be from the Nebbiolo grape. Nebbiolo is one of the few red grapes that has very high acidity and grows almost only in Northern Italy. It is full of earthy, mushroomy flavors and tart berry notes. It makes some of the world’s greatest (and most expensive!) wines, such as Barolo and Barbaresco, but if you seek out less fancy wine, you can get all those great flavors at a much lower price. Seek out a Nebbiolo d'Alba or Langhe Nebbiolo from a good producer or from the Lombardy region, or try the wine Sandro Fay Valtellina for under $20.