A Chianti for Bella Notte

Name: A Chianti for Bella Notte
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 bottle Chianti (Sangiovese), lightly cool; A candle in an old bottle, strictly required

Serve when

Pour it as the candle is lit and the accordion starts — the wine the checked-tablecloth table is begging for.

What to drink

Tony's is a candle-on-a-checked-tablecloth Italian-American joint, and the wine that world drinks is Chianti — bright, cherry-red Sangiovese, ideally from a straw-basket bottle. No one pours wine for the dogs on screen (they're dogs), so this is a suggested pairing: the honest human accompaniment to a shared plate of spaghetti and a song.

What to drink

Chianti's bright acidity is built for tomato sauce — it's the classic red-checkered- tablecloth pairing for a reason. Get one in a fiasco (the straw basket) if you can find it; the scene deserves the prop.

Ingredients

1 bottle Chianti (Sangiovese), lightly cool
A candle in an old bottle, strictly required

Method

Open the Chianti a few minutes before the spaghetti lands.
Pour into short tumblers — trattoria style, nothing fancy.
Light the candle, cue 'Bella Notte', and share the plate.