Chestnuts and new wine: how to throw a castagnata this autumn
Vino novello goes on sale on 30 October. Roast a pan of chestnuts, chill a young red and do it the way northern Italy has for centuries.
On Friday the first Italian vino novello of the year goes on sale. By law it cannot be sold before 30 October, so every autumn the bottles appear in enotecas on the same morning, purple and loud, smelling of crushed berries and banana sweets. Up here in the hills the timing is perfect, because the chestnut trees behind my vineyard are dropping their burrs on the path and I come home every afternoon with my pockets full.
Chestnuts and new wine is one of the oldest pairings in northern Italy. The castagnata, a roast of chestnuts shared outdoors with the first wine of the vintage, runs from now until San Martino on 11 November, when the old saying goes that every must becomes wine. In Milan we bought paper cones of caldarroste from the street carts on the way home from school. Here I roast them in a pan over the fire and nobody leaves early.
What new wine is, and why it works
Novello is made fast. At least part of the grapes go through carbonic maceration, where whole bunches ferment inside the berry under carbon dioxide before pressing. The result is low in tannin, bright, juicy and very fruity. It is made to be drunk within a few months, ideally before spring. Beaujolais Nouveau works the same way with Gamay and follows on the third Thursday of November, which this year is 19 November.
That softness is exactly why it suits chestnuts. Roast chestnuts are sweet, floury and smoky, with almost no fat and no acidity. A big tannic Barolo would taste hard and dry next to them. A young red with fresh acid and juicy fruit cleans the starch off your palate and makes you reach for the next one. Serve it cool, at about 14 °C: twenty minutes in the fridge or half an hour on a cold windowsill.
What to pour
- Vino novello: The classic. Look for one from a producer you trust. Drink it this winter.
- Beaujolais Nouveau (from 19 November): Gamay, light and crunchy. Same idea, slightly more structure than most novelli.
- Young Dolcetto: Piedmont's everyday red. Soft, dark-fruited, with a gentle bitter almond finish that loves chestnut.
- Barbera, the youngest vintage: My house wine. Its high acidity is a perfect match for chestnuts roasted with butter and salt.
- Dry apple cider: For a lighter afternoon, or for anyone not drinking wine. A sharp, cloudy cider is lovely with smoky chestnuts.
Roasting chestnuts properly
- Choose: heavy, glossy nuts with tight shells. If one rattles or feels light, it has dried out or has a worm. Drop them in a bowl of water and discard any that float.
- Score: cut a cross or a long slit through the shell on the rounded side with a small sharp knife. This is not optional. Unscored chestnuts can burst in the oven or pan.
- Soak: 30 minutes in warm water helps the inner skin come away and keeps them from drying out.
- Roast: in a hot oven at 220 °C for 20 to 25 minutes, shaking the tray halfway, or in a perforated chestnut pan over embers or a gas flame, tossing often, for about 15 to 20 minutes. They are done when the cuts have opened and the flesh is soft.
- Rest: tip them straight into a tea towel, wrap tightly and leave for 5 to 10 minutes. The steam loosens both the shell and the bitter inner skin.
- Peel warm: they are much harder to peel once cold.
Bella's tip: Brush the hot peeled chestnuts with a little melted butter and a pinch of flaky salt before you pour the wine. Leftovers go into a jar in the fridge for up to three days and end up in Sunday's risotto or a pan of greens.
Foraging? Know your chestnut
Sweet chestnut trees grow in parts of southern Sweden as well as all over Piedmont, but do not confuse them with horse chestnuts, the conker tree common in parks. Horse chestnuts are poisonous. Sweet chestnut burrs are covered in dense, fine, needle-like spines and usually hold two or three nuts, each with one flat side and a pointed tip with a little tuft. Horse chestnut cases have fewer, thick, stubby spikes and hold one large, round, smooth nut with no point. The leaves differ too: long single serrated leaves on the sweet chestnut, hand-shaped leaves of five to seven leaflets on the horse chestnut. If you are not certain, buy them.
Turn it into supper
If the castagnata becomes a meal, keep the wine and make the food a little richer. Peeled roast chestnuts crumbled over a mushroom risotto are very good with Dolcetto, and a pot of white beans with sausage and cavolo nero is the kind of thing my nonna would have put out with the new wine.
Recipe: svamprisotto
Recipe: brothy white beans with sausage cavolo nero and garlic crumbs
Guide: serving storing wine
One last thing. New wine does not improve. Buy a bottle or two, open them with friends and a pan of chestnuts before Christmas, and keep your patience for the Barbera in the cellar.
