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.

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.

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).

 

 

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.