The oldest wine-and-food rule is 'White wine with fish; red wine with meat.' But what if you eat neither?
Vegetarians ought to be able to enjoy wine just as much as steer eaters or fish swallowers. But no one hands out suggestions for veg-head wines.
Most vegetable dishes—especially those prepared with a predominance of rice or pasta—aren't much of a problem for wine, especially white wines. But certain vegetables contain chemicals or elements that are hostile to wine and spoil its taste. Wine goes with them, but only certain wines.
Artichokes contain a unique organic acid, cynarin, which stimulates the sweetness receptors in the taste buds. Cynarin makes everything, even water, taste sweeter for a short time. Consequently, when you eat, say, steamed artichokes and mayonnaise with a wine that has some residual sugar (for example, a Vouvray or many an American Chardonnay), the wine will come off as cloyingly sweet.
Asparagus is one of the edible plants highest in phosphorus and mercaptan, both of which can corrupt a wine. (In fact, if a wine itself smells like rotten eggs, it is likely that it has an elevated level of mercaptan.)
However, very, very dry white wines that are low in alcohol and high in acidity—northern Italian whites, for example, or a Bourgogne Aligoté, just to give two examples—work well with asparagus and artichokes. Artichokes, in fact, can actually 'sweeten' the impression of very dry wines.
Tomatoes' high acidity makes them unfriendly to many wines. That's because foods with a lot of acidity—lemon juice, vinegar, white wine reductions, tomatoes—dull or flatten the wines consumed with them.
So, say you have a fresh marinara sauce or a Provençal ratatouille and want to have wine. One food-and-wine rule really helps here: acidity redeems acidity, especially if a little sweetness (in either the food or the wine) goes along for the ride.
So, pair a wine that is high in acidity with tomato-based foods or with foods that have an abundance of lemon juice or vinegar—in other words, many a salad.
The acidity of a salad dressing and the acidity of a high-acid wine 'cancel' each other out in the mouth and even make the dressing and the wine feel softer than each might each alone.
In general, then, the kinds of wines vegetarians can best enjoy with all-veggie foods are high-acid, low-alcohol, lighter reds and whites (some with residual sugar) such as German Rieslings; northern Italian whites such as Arneis or Soave; Spanish Albariño; dry and medium-dry Vouvray or Muscadet from the Loire; some Pinot Noirs from cooler climates (Oregon, Burgundy); South African Steen (that country's word for Chenin Blanc); top-notch Italian Verdicchio or Orvieto; good Italian Barbera; good Gamay (from America or Beaujolais); Piemontese Grignolino; many an Italian Aglianico; and Rioja reds.
Stay away from blockbuster or overly manipulated, oaky, high-alcohol wines (many Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs and Merlots). They're just too big for most vegetarian dishes.
Allen at Food Event
