My column in the upcoming issue of 7x7 is about pizza wine--and the most harmonious pairings I found in that classic combination of food and drink. One wine--often considered the most food friendly of all varieties--that didn’t come up was Pinot Noir. For some reason, I never seemed to find pizzas that just called for Pinot. Most pies needed something more pithy and darkly juicy. I wondered if I would ever find a good pizza for all the Pinot I like to drink.

Well, the wait is now over. I found the perfect Pinot pizza. It’s at Coco 500 and is one of their signature dishes--the Harvest pizza, featuring bacon and Champagne  grapes. It’s just an incredible match with new world Pinot (in my case the 2007 Felton Road from New Zealand, which we brought in as corkage). The grapes on the pie just perfectly mesh with pinot’s fresh red and black berries, while the bacon adds an element of salt and smoke that make those berry flavors sting. Can’t wait to go back to have that match again.