Pizza and wine go together like peanut butter and jelly. Well, kind of. Although the Italians have mastered both of them, it takes a bit of strategy to choose the perfect vino to pair with your favorite pie.

This is where Racca’s Pizzeria Napoletana (formerly known as Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza) comes in. At Racca’s Meet the Masters event tomorrow, guests can mingle with world-renowned Italian chefs Don Antonio Starita and Roberto Caporuscio, enjoy plenty of Neapolitan-style pies, and even take part in an expert discussion on pizza and wine pairings. To gear up for the dinner, we asked Rachel Jones, Racca’s bar manager, to share a few of her pro pairing tips.

Acid Needs Acid: Pair a cheesy, tomato-centric classic, like Racca’s Margherita pizza, with a more acidic wine, like Chianti Classico.

Meat Meets Dry: The Lombardia pizza is loaded with meatballs. To pare down that fatty component, pair it—or any meat lover’s pizza—with something dry, like a Nero d’Avola, an Italian red-grape variety grown in Sicily.

Sweet and Spicy: For those of you who prefer all of your food with a hit of Sriracha sauce, try the Calabria pizza, which is topped with spicy salami and hot, dry-cured coppa. Because heat needs sweet, try it with a Pinot Noir.

Overall Rule of Thumb: When choosing a wine to pair with your pizza, or really any dish, don’t focus on the protein. Instead, focus on the dominant flavors. For example, if you have a beef dish, but it’s smothered in a lovely lemon cream sauce, focus on finding a match for the lemon—not the meat.

2129 Larimer St., 303-269-7000