Pairings

Growing up in a wine family definitely has it’s perks.  Sure, you may occasionally get dubbed the “wine snob” of the group when you’re eating out, but you also have the good fortune of trying some bomb a$$ wines.  Also, when you ask your dad to share his knowledge on pairings with your readers, he is able to help you out.

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Meet my dad.

He has graciously agreed to give some basic pointers in pairings (with a focus on vegetarian meals), so without further ado…

Wine suggestions for a vegan meal

Like many people, especially Californians, I consider myself knowledgeable about wine.  Unlike many people, especially Californians, I do not consider myself a wine expert.  I know enough about wine to know there is WAY more that I don’t know.  But I continue the journey of educating myself about everything from root stock choices when planting a vineyard to equipment cleaning methods when crushing grapes to learning about new wine regions and varietals around the world.  The wine journey is an endless and enjoyable one.  Adding to that fun, I have enjoyed refocusing on my diet these past few years with Elise’s interest in vegan eating.  The vegetarian, local and organic food “movement” is perfectly poised to make a huge impact on the health of our citizens.  I hope we can pull it off, because there are way too many obese and otherwise unhealthy Americans.  (Stepping off soapbox) …  Getting back to my wine journey, our new diet with more frequent vegetarian meals prepared by my wife Melinda has posed some new learning opportunities about which wines to drink with the likes of curry vegetables on brown rice or butternut squash soup.

Wine pairings with food traditionally have focused on meat.  However, as vegetarian food options slowly are becoming more mainstream, restaurateurs, sommeliers and wine enthusiasts have started to pay some attention to how their wines match with vegetarian/vegan dishes.  The basic rules of wine-food pairing still apply to vegetarian meals, but many cooks have only an experiential knowledge of – for example – why cabernet sauvignon goes well with beef, rather than an understanding of why they taste good together.  Before delving into the science and art of wine-food pairing, it is worth pausing at the outset to make a basic but important and sometimes ignored point about gustatory and olfactory perception:  if something tastes or smells good to you, no one can tell you that it does not taste or smell good.  This is especially true of wine, and it applies to which wines taste good with which foods.  A wine expert’s superior ability to identify qualities and flaws in wines should not discourage a novice to feel comfortable with his/her taste.  Similarly, if you like pinot grigio and steak together, that is perfectly OK (kinda weird, but OK).

It is useful to understand something about the chemical nature and components of legumes, soy, grains, vegetables, etc. in order to find wines that go well with them.  Just as animal fats and proteins affect the choices of wines, the protein content, acidity, sweetness, “heaviness”, richness, etc. of other (non-meat) foods will affect which wines will complement them best.  But this level of analysis is beyond the scope of an introductory discussion of wine pairing, and will wait for a future post.  I also will ignore for now the question “is wine vegetarian?” because it usually is not possible to know if fining (clarifying) agents used in a wine are earth-based or animal-based (TMI, really).

My comments are not meant to be rules, just guidelines.  When you are experimenting with matching wines to vegetarian dishes, don’t worry if you fail at times. There are many variables in how foods are prepared and how the same wine varietal is structured.  Listed below are a few starting points to help match a wine with some vegetarian dishes, but exploration can be fun and there will be exceptions to these ideas.  Generally speaking, white wine drinkers will have an easier time matching food (when in doubt, serve sauvignon blanc).  However, there are many heavier and richer vegetarian dishes that will go quite nicely with certain red wines.

As a starter, you will do well by sticking to these suggestions:

Pair “delicate with delicate”, “robust with robust”.  A subtle wine will taste weak with a spicy dish whereas bold flavored foods match well with bigger wines.

Vegetables: really robust reds (like syrah and cabernet sauvignon), which are best with heavy meat dishes, can overwhelm vegetable dishes.  Try a sauvignon blanc or chardonnay for a white or pinot noir or Chianti for a red.  Meals without proteins may taste bitter with most red wines.

Pastas, pizzas and casseroles are stout enough for medium body reds such as merlot, zinfandel or sangiovese (Chianti).  Tomatoes especially go well with sangiovese, malbec and tempranillo.

Greens: the softer red wines (pinot noir, merlot) do well with greens.  Salads go well with dry white wines such as pinot grigio (pinot gris), sauvignon blanc, dry chenin blanc.

Tofu: will assume the flavor of what it is cooked with; try sauvignon blanc or Riesling.

Chardonnay stands up nicely to rich sauces.

Roasted vegetables go well with Riesling or tempranillo.

Spicy foods (Thai, Indian) pair nicely with Riesling.

This basic introduction is meant as just that – an introduction.  In a later guest post, I will explore some specifics, possibly including a vegan recipe with a good wine buddy.  Until then, if you are a vegetarian who enjoys wine, you will get plenty of mileage simply by buying some sauvignon blanc and pinot noir.

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Pictured is a vegetarian soup made by Elise’s mom Melinda from ingredients I purchased at Kaiser Oakland’s weekly farmers market (plus tofu), olive bread from Grace Bakery (with Moroccan black olives), and a 1992 Rafanelli Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel (which works in this case because this 19 year old zin has mellowed nicely with age).

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Thanks for sharing your knowledge dad!  You are far too modest.  This guide is a great resource.  I’m typically a red wine person (the bolder the better), so I look forward to testing out more sauvignon blancs.

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Comments (26)

  1. JL goes Vegan

    This is such a great post! I love, love, love wine and try to write a bit about it on my blog (I have interviewed a few winemakers about the process involved in making a wine “vegan”)

    Your pairing notes are exactly what I’ve been looking for. I think your suggestions for greens make perfect sense. I also need to break out of my devotion to reds a bit. After reading this post I’m compelled to dip into whites a bit more with lighter and more raw dishes.

    GREAT POST! Thank you! (Thanks, Elise, for inviting your dad to post!) 🙂

  2. Emily @OneSweetVegan

    This was very informative. Thank you! 🙂

  3. cbrady3

    AWESOME post! I never know what wines go with what because the pairings are always meat focused! Thanks for this info!

  4. Stacy

    Great post! We also have the big bold cab lovers that eat vegetarian food problem. So we tend to just eat and enjoy wine separately. But we really should try and throw some whites into the mix more often.

  5. J3nn (Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog)

    Excellent post! I’ll have to refer to it in the future should I need some pointers.

    That soup looks wonderful!!!

  6. kathleen

    Great post! I can’t wait until I can drink wine again. Although when I did, I’d usually just pair the wine to my husband’s dish (he’s a carnivore and I’m mostly vegan). I never thought to pair the wine with my dish… looking forward to the next guest post.

  7. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)

    What a great post by your dad!

    My parents won’t even read my blog. I am thrilled to read your dad’s guestie!

    I would like to be adopted if possible 🙂

  8. Olivia

    Ah this is so cool!! I love that your dad knows so much about wine; very very neat:) I’ll have to visit this post again in like…5 years:)

  9. Mama Pea

    This is SO interesting, thank you! We are going out for a celebratory dinner tomorrow night to a nice restaurant that has several vegan offerings on the menu…and now I know just which wine to order with them! Thanks Hungry, Hungry Pappy!

  10. Casey

    This was really helpful! So often pairings are based off the fish or meat and you’re just left guessing.
    This got me excited, I’m gonna start wine and vego pairing asap!

  11. brothern8ture

    Thank your dad a ton! This is incredibly helpful as I had considered myself a person who loves an occasional glass of red wine but knew nothing of the type of pairings I should be aware of!

  12. Andrea of Care to Eat

    This post is so helpful! Just the other day I made indian food and I had NO idea what kind of wine I should buy to serve with dinner. Thanks Hippie Dad!

  13. Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine

    Ahhh I love this!! My dad’s best friend and college roommate lives in Santa Barbara now, and he’s obsessed with wine too. I guess it’s a SoCal thing? Anyway, I love that white goes better with most veg dishes than red, because I’m more of a white girl anyway. Awesome post!

  14. Kathleen

    This was so awesome! My dad and I definitely relate and celebrate over wine. Although our diets look very different, it so nice for us to enjoy something at the table together. Thanks for the tips. I love red wine and it’s good to know there are reds that pair well with certain vegetarian dishes.

  15. Sarah

    Awesome!

    I’m a red wine gal too and tend to go for merlots and riojas as they tend to be more mellow. x

  16. MarathonVal

    What a cool post, Elise! I WISH I came from a wine family… lucky girl!

  17. Erin

    What a resourceful post! I love it! I am a completely bamboozled by wine pairings (huge embarrassment to my family) and need this guidance for when we have people over.
    P.S. Your dad it hot.

  18. Laura

    good one, dad!

  19. Tanya @ Vegan Faith

    I appreciate this post so much. We assume because we are vegans we can basically drink whatever wine with whatever food. This is a great guide to help us better pair our wine with food. I hope for subsequent posts on this subject as I would love to learn more. Thanks Elise’s Dad!

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  22. Holly

    hippie dad is the absolute cutest. end of story.

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