A Cheat's Guide To Pairing Wine With Your Favourite Plant-Based Foods
We all know that red wine is as synonymous with beef, as white is with fish - but what about when it comes to vegan recipes? With the rise in plant-based recipes and the nation adopting less meat in their meals, what do you do when it comes to pairing your favourite vino, with your favourite veggies? Well, that’s exactly what we were thinking so we have enlisted the help of the expert team over at The Bottle Club who have put together their top pairings for six of the most popular vegan dishes currently on the market and gracing the pages of our best-loved foodie-magazines or scrolling past on Pinterest or Insta. We all know vegetables have a hidden power and are packed with vibrant colour and punchy flavours ranging from sweet to bitter, earthy and acidic and can add crunch or creaminess to a whole host of dishes so there are a lot of hero notes to pick out and pair - but we will let the experts do that and will just enjoy their pairings instead.
With Veganuary coming to an end, more of us than ever before are following a plant-based diet. In fact, the UK has seen an increase in demand for vegan-friendly options, with the number of plant-based restaurants increasing by more than double since last year.
And if you’re vegan or vegetarian, you might be under the impression that wine pairing with plant-based food is restricted. But vegan food offers just as equally delightful pairings as any animal-based products, such as meats, cheese and fish. And here are our favourites:
Pair Spicy Vegan Curries With a Sweet White Wine
Try to match the intensity of your wine with your dish. When it comes to curries, it’s really the sauce and its flavouring that influences the beverage that one would pair with the dish. With a heavily spiced or peppery dish, such as curry, we recommend pairing with a bold-flavoured wine.
The sweet flavours from white wine help tame the heat of vegetable curry and emphasize the distinctive flavours within the recipe. A Sauvignon Blanc or a Chardonnay will bring out the sweetness of the vegetables in the curry.
Pairing suggestions:Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie
Pair Tomato-based dishes With a French Red
The key to finding the perfect wine combination is simply to match the food qualities with the wine qualities and experiment with what works best for your palette. The rule of thumb is that the wine should be more acidic and sweeter than the foods which you are choosing to pair with them.
For a Mediterranean dish, with vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and courgettes a French red would be a perfect pairing.
Pairing suggestions: Croix de Marsan, Chateau de Marsan
Pair Creamy Pasta Sauces With a light Chardonnay
When it comes to choosing the perfect wine and sauce pairing, your choice in colour and flavour wine should be guided from the ingredients within the sauce. For a dish with a rich, creamy sauce such as carbonara, a lighter Chardonnay or a Pinot Bianco compliment the dish well. Cheese and cream-based recipes also go well with a lightly oaked Chardonnay.
Pairing suggestion: Doudet Naudin Chardonnay
Pair Tofu dishes With a Light-Bodied Wine
Baked tofu recipes call for white wine or a sweet red. Baking tofu neutralises the flavour of the dish, so spices and flavouring are added to create a signature taste to the soybean-based recipe. The subtle flavours work well with a light-bodied, clean wine, that can bring out the flavours in the tofu. The key here is to find a sweet wine that will augment but not overwhelm the delicate flavours within the dish.
Pairing suggestions: Vanita Grillo
Pair Mushroom Recipes With a Fruity Wine
Fungi come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, giving a mix of flavours and textures, and this should be recognised when pairing with wine. Mushrooms will become richer and gain more depth of flavour when paired with the correct wine.
Red wines such as Pinot Noir, Syrah or Zinfandel all give a good depth of flavour and character to popular fungi recipes such as the classic mushroom risotto. Whereas more delicate fungi such as oyster or porcini, pair perfectly with a fruity wine, with a smooth and gentle fizz.
Pairing suggestion: Villa Wolf Pinot Noir
Pair Bean Based Dishes With a Tangy Zinfandel
From a vegan bean shakshuka to a kidney bean chilli, bean dishes come in a manner of styles and preferences for everyone and finding the perfect wine pairing is easier than you think.
For beans in a rich tomato-based sauce, we recommend a Zinfandel, which will augment the flavours within the dish. Zinfandel will cancel the tangy flavours from the tomatoes, allowing the rich flavours of the beans to shine through.
Pairing suggestion: InVino Zinfandel Rose