“We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all just for the asking,” says Ray Liotta as the titular character Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mobster classic Goodfellas. Based on the true story of Hill’s life in organized crime, the film chronicles his rise and eventual fall in the American mob. Throughout it all, the characters eat and drink very well.
“In Goodfellas, wine is everywhere,” says wine writer, educator, and bona fide Italian-American, Anthony Giglio. “And not just as a drink, but as a cultural shorthand for class, loyalty, and identity. It connects the Italian-American gangsters to their roots: family gatherings, long Sunday dinners, and rituals of respect.”
In an iconic prison scene, a group of gangsters turns their little corner of wiseguys into a protected social club, where dinner prep is sacred and bottles of wine are smuggled in for the occasion.
To honor the movie’s 35th anniversary, at this year’s Food & Wine Classic in Charleston, Giglio paired mob-worthy wines with the film’s main characters in his seminar “Good Wines, Goodfellas: A Salute to the 35th Anniversary of Goodfellas.”
So, what does Giglio look for when matching wine with big personalities? “A ‘mob-worthy’ wine makes a statement without moving a muscle,” he says. “It’s about attitude, storytelling, and presence. The wine should look bold and confident, with aromas of blackberries, gunpowder, and a whiff of danger. It hopes to be long-lived, but, que sera, sera.”
Giglio’s wine picks — eight in total — were all from Italy and ranged from light and bubbly to intense and inky red.
The tasting kicked off with 2019 Barone Pizzini Satèn, an effervescent sparkler from the Franciacorta region. Made from Chardonnay grapes, this sparkling wine has notes of freshly baked brioche and light citrus. Giglio chose to pair this with Lorraine Bracco’s character in Goodfellas, Karen Hill, the long-suffering mob wife of Henry, who transforms from an innocent girl next door to a volatile, willing participant in the mob lifestyle.
Though Billy Batts, played by the late Frank Vincent, is a minor character in the movie, he plays a pivotal role, representing the old-guard mafia. Giglio paired this character with the 2023 Viberti ‘Derthona’ Timorasso, a complex, acidic white wine from Piedmont.
Red wine is prominently featured in Goodfellas. Bolla Valpolicella Classico is the wine smuggled into prison for the dinner scene. Though Giglio didn’t spotlight this bottle in the tasting, he has a personal connection to the brand. “When I was growing up in the ’70s, Bolla Valpolicella Classico was the official red of our Friday-night pizzas,” he says. “Sometimes my mother and her mother would make Neapolitan pizze fritte (the dough is fried, then topped and baked). Other times we’d order in. Either way, the acidity in the tomato sauce brings out the sweetness of the Valpolicella blend. It’s perfetto.”
A notable red included in Giglio’s tasting, which could also pair well with a red sauce or classic Neapolitan-style pizza, was the 2021 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva, another iconic wine made exclusively from Sangiovese grapes. Rich, elegant, and fruit-forward, this wine represented Henry Hill’s mentor in the movie, Jimmy Conway, played by Robert DeNiro.
Giglio capped the program with the biggest and boldest wine in the tasting: 2018 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva ‘Sergio Zenato’. The full-bodied red was naturally matched with the composed, controlled, and larger-than-life mob boss character Paul “Paulie” Cicero, played by the late Paul Sorvino.
Bold Italian wines worthy of a mob-style dinner party
2019 Barone Pizzini Satèn (Franciacorta, Lombardy): Chardonnay-based sparkling wine with notes of brioche and citrus; paired with Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco)2023 Viberti ‘Derthona’ Timorasso (Piedmont): A structured, aromatic white with bright acidity; paired with Billy Batts (Frank Vincent)2021 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva (Tuscany): Rich, elegant, Sangiovese-based red; paired with Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro)2018 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva ‘Sergio Zenato’ (Veneto): Full-bodied, powerful red; paired with Paul “Paulie” Cicero (Paul Sorvino)
Dining and Cooking