What wine with pasta?
Quick answer
It's the sauce that picks the wine, not the pasta. Tomato sauce: a medium Italian red (Chianti, Montepulciano). Cream sauce: a full white (Chardonnay, Soave). Pesto: Vermentino or Ligurian white. Bolognese: Sangiovese or Barbera. The regional rule — Italian wine with Italian food — works about 90% of the time.
Detailed answer
Here's the thing about pasta and wine: the pasta itself is basically flavourless. It's the sauce that matters. So when someone asks "what wine with pasta?", the real question is "what wine with this sauce?"
Tomato-based sauces are acidic, so you need a wine with matching acidity or it'll taste flat. Italian reds are the obvious choice — Chianti, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, or Barbera. They grew up with tomato sauce, and it shows.
Cream sauces (carbonara, alfredo, four-cheese) need a rich white wine. Soave, Fiano, or an Italian Chardonnay work well. The wine's body should match the sauce's weight. Light, crisp wines will get bulldozed.
Pesto is interesting — the basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan want something herbaceous and fresh. Vermentino from Liguria (where pesto was born) is the dream pairing. Sauvignon Blanc also works great.
Bolognese/ragu is the heartiest pasta sauce, and it needs a structured red. Sangiovese, Barbera, or — plot twist — a dry Lambrusco. Yes, the fizzy red from Emilia-Romagna. It's the traditional pairing in Bologna, and the bubbles lighten the rich meat sauce brilliantly.
The simplest rule: when in doubt, Italian wine with Italian food. It almost never fails.