For the city of Pavia, 2025 was an important anniversary year and an occasion for an exhibition of cultural and historical interest: ⚔️ 500 years since the Battle of Pavia on February 24, 1525.
Pavese-style soup between legend and history
A legend is linked to the Battle of Pavia and also a culinary recipe of the area: Zuppa alla Pavese.
It was served to King Francis I by a local peasant woman who prepared a dish for him with what little she had in the kitchen: chicken or chicken broth and vegetables, whole wheat bread which, being stale, she toasted in a pan, and raw eggs on which to pour the boiling broth.
🍲It is said that this peasant dish was greatly appreciated, proving that the simplicity of poor cuisine holds its own against more elaborate dishes.
Food and wine pairing
Who knows what wine was served on the table at the time …
Five hundred years later, our food-wine pairing suggestions are these: we start with the ingredients of Zuppa alla Pavese namely broth, egg and bread.
🥄 The broth is very delicate, so with wines that are too intense it would risk being overpowered, but at the same time the wine should be fragrant on the nose and delicate but with distinct flavors on the palate.
🥚The egg, especially the yolk, has a particular flavor tending toward sweet that needs to be preserved and has a fatty component that wants a wine with degreasing power, as in the case of sparkling wines or a sparkling wine.
🍞Bread here is the most neutral-tasting element, but if it is whole wheat it has a slight bitter note and of course carries with it the taste of yeast, so a classic method sparkling wine, which has yeasty notes, is another good pairing.
White and sparkling wines Francesco Maggi
As you can see, there is not just one choice, and looking at the range of wines from our Francesco Maggi Winery, for Pavia-style soup our suggestions of dry, soft, medium-textured white wines with unremarkable acidity and flavor fall on three wines:
🟡 the Cortese Quarti IGT, a sparkling white from Cortese grapes, delicate in flavor but persistent in accompanying an enduring flavor like that of egg yolk.
🟡Prassi Riesling, sparkling, fragrant, floral and fruity perfect for vegetables, eggs and white meats.
🍾The latest sparkling wine born in our winery, a Blanc de Blancs (Chardonnay and Riesling) with a fine froth that supports and enriches this simple dish: its name is Enigma!
Cantino Francesco Maggi- Canneto Pavese: sparkling Cortese, sparkling Riesling, classic method sparkling wine
After the hearty meals of Christmas, a soup supper may be just what is needed.
Meanwhile, happy holidays!
