Pesto: yesterday, today and wine pairing

Pesto is one of the Italian masterpieces and among the most famous cold sauce in the world.
Although the classic “Pesto alla Genovese” was created in Liguria only in the XIX century,
the practice of blending aromatic herbs with cheese and garlic has a very long tradition.
Virgilio ,in one of his scripts, says that in the Ancient Rome ages there was already such
“Moretum” which was a mixture of cheese , vinegar , oil, garlic and herbs. Moreover in the
Medieval times was quite common the usage of “agliata”, a blend of garlic and walnuts that
is considered to be the most direct ancestor of pesto.

In the Medieval times, Genova was one of the maritime republics and it used to trade many
elements including aromatic herbs and garlic. Aromatic herbs were utilized by rich people as
a garnish and from the poor ones to flavour vegetable soups. Garlic was considered by the
sailors an essential natural medicine to recover during their long journeys on the sea.

Thus the frequent use of garlic and aromatic herbs encouraged the idea to generate the
modern Pesto as is proved in the book “La Cucina Genovese” written in 1863 by Giovanni
Battista Ratto. The Italian writer described the recipe like this: “Take a piece of garlic, basil,
grated parmesan and Holland cheese mixed with pine nuts. Then mix everything with a bit of
butter and dilute it by olive oil”.

It’s interesting to note how the ingredients were already the same except Pecorino that was
added only at the beginning of the XX century to replace Holland cheese.