Not long ago I was running through the forest in Campania, chasing a medium sized dog that – between peeing and defecating – occasionally dug up a truffle.

I am one of those blessed people on earth that has a real truffle hunter in the family. My Italian uncle Vittorio owns 5 truffle dogs and regularly goes out to beat this black gold out of the ground (it can be a tough job).

What does this mean for me? Always a freezer full of black truffles. A sentence from my daily life: “No darling no pasta with truffle tonight, I already had breakfast with a fried egg with truffle this morning”. I know, you’re jealous, huh.

Now let’s move on to the order of the day because in general I’m talking about wine here so what do we poor ourselves with a truffle dish?

Let’s start with a wine that isn’t too aromatic, the truffle already is. Also the wine shouldn’t be too acidic. Furthermore, it’s nice to look up the earthy character of the truffle in the wine. If the wine has matured a bit, that’s certainly a good thing.

Red wine and truffle

Because the truffles in my freezer are of Italian origin, I immediately think of a nice glass of Nebbiolo. Be it a good Barolo, Barbaresco or a “simple” Nebbiolo langhe. Also the lesser known wines from the Marche region are a good fit. The Rosso Piceno or Rosso Conero certainly match well with truffle.
If I take a broader view, a French Burgundy Pinot Noir of course also goes sublime with a nice truffle dish. With hearty meat dishes topped with slices of black truffle, a good glass of Bordeaux can be the icing on the cake, or a big fat Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

White wine and truffle

For lovers of white wine you can combine a truffle dish with a nice glass of Burgundy Chardonnay, a Falanghina or oaked Verdicchio (the one from Fattoria San Lorenzo ‘Casa delle oche’ is damn good) or think of a not too fresh Champagne.