Bagna cauda night: what to pour with Piedmont's garlic dip
Anchovy, garlic and olive oil are a tough match for wine. Here is why young Barbera wins, what else works, and how to host the evening.
Once the grapes are in and the first fog sits in the valley, Piedmont starts eating bagna cauda. It means "hot bath" in Piedmontese: salted anchovies and a frankly indecent amount of garlic melted slowly into olive oil, kept warm at the table in a little terracotta pot over a candle, with a mountain of vegetables to dip. Everyone shares one pot, everyone smells of garlic by midnight, and nobody minds.
It is also one of the hardest dishes on the table to pour for. Salt, oil, pungent garlic and fish all at once will flatten a delicate wine and turn a tannic one metallic. In my village the answer has always been the same jug of young red that came out of the cellar that autumn. Here is why that works, and what to buy if your own cellar is a bit thinner than mine.
Why the wine has to be young and sharp
Bagna cauda is fat and salt. What cuts fat is acidity, so you want a wine with a bright, almost sour edge that rinses the oil off your tongue between dips. What fights with anchovy is tannin: those drying, grippy wines that are lovely with a steak taste bitter and tinny next to salted fish. So the rules are simple. High acid, low tannin, plenty of fruit, and nothing oaky or expensive, because the garlic will win any argument about subtlety.
That is why Barbera is the classic. It has naturally high acidity and soft tannins, and a young one tastes of sour cherry and plums. Serve it slightly cool, around 15 to 16 °C, and it stays fresh all evening.
What to pour
- Young Barbera d'Asti or Barbera d'Alba: The house wine of bagna cauda. Choose a recent vintage without much oak; the acidity does the work.
- Dolcetto: Softer and rounder, with a bitter-almond finish that suits the garlic. Good for guests who find Barbera too sharp.
- Grignolino: Pale, peppery and lively, with a little grip. A local favourite from the Asti and Casale hills and a lovely surprise for anyone who has never tried it.
- Freisa: Raspberry-scented and sometimes lightly fizzy. The bubbles scrub the palate beautifully.
- Arneis or a dry Lambrusco: If you want a white, a crisp Roero Arneis works. If you want fun, a dry red Lambrusco is cheerfully good with it.
- Save the Barolo: Young Nebbiolo has too much tannin for anchovy. Open it the next night with the roast instead.
Guide: piedmont wines
Making it, the way we do
Allow roughly one head of garlic and a handful of salted anchovies per person, which sounds like a joke and isn't. Peel the garlic, slice it thinly and, if you want it gentler, simmer it in milk for ten minutes first and drain. Rinse the anchovies, take out the spines and pat them dry. Put garlic, anchovies and a good glass of olive oil in a heavy pan over the lowest heat and let it murmur for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring and mashing, until the garlic dissolves into a creamy, nutty sauce. It must never fry or brown, or it turns bitter. Some families stir in a knob of butter at the end. Mine does not, but I won't argue at someone else's table.
- Raw: cardoon if you can find it, fennel, celery, red and yellow peppers, white cabbage and Savoy hearts, chicory, young Jerusalem artichokes.
- Cooked: boiled waxy potatoes, roasted beetroot, roasted onions and squash, cauliflower florets.
- From the shelf: good bread, and a jar of peppers in oil if you put some up in summer.
- In Sweden: cardoons are rare, so lean on fennel, celeriac batons, Jerusalem artichokes and the crisp heart of a white cabbage.
Bella's tip: When the pot is nearly empty, crack an egg or two straight into the last of the sauce and scramble them gently. It is the best part of the night. Garlic in oil is a botulism risk at room temperature, so chill any leftover sauce within two hours and eat it within a couple of days.
A bagna cauda evening, planned
Getting it on the table
- The day before: Buy the wine and the vegetables. Roast the beetroot and keep it in the fridge.
- Two hours ahead: Peel the garlic (put the radio on), clean the anchovies, cut the raw vegetables and keep them in cold water so they stay crisp.
- One hour ahead: Start the sauce on the lowest heat. Boil the potatoes. Put the Barbera somewhere cool.
- At the table: Pour the sauce into a warmed pot over a tea light or on a gentle burner, pile up the vegetables and open the window a crack.
Matching wine with food is mostly common sense: think about what the dish is made of, then pick a wine that balances it. Bagna cauda is the perfect lesson, because it is so loud that it tells you exactly what it needs. Invite people you like, tell them to wear an old jumper, and pour the young red generously.
Guide: food wine pairing
