Consumption

Pairing wine with vegetarian dishes may seem tricky at first, but it's far from impossible. Here's a brief guide to help you choose the ideal wine to accompany your vegetable dishes.

Let's start with a few general principles

• There are no hard and fast rules for vegetarian wine pairings.
• The choice of wine will depend on the type of vegetable and its preparation.
• When in doubt, a dry white wine is often a safer choice than a red wine.

Pairings by type of vegetarian dish:

1. Vegetables

• Recommended wines: Fresh, fruity whites with good acidity.
• Examples: Muscadet, Chablis, Menetou-Salon, Sylvaner, Jacquère wines
• Summer alternative: light Provençal Rosé

Tip: don't overuse vinegar in your vinaigrette, as it can detract from the wine's harmony.

2. Green vegetables

• Recommended wines: dry whites
• Examples: Provence whites (Bellet, Côtes-de-Provence, Bandol), wines made from the Rolle grape (Vermentino)

Special cases:

• White asparagus: dry Riesling, dry Vouvray
• Green asparagus : Muscat sec alsacien, Condrieu
• Artichokes: very dry, mineral whites (Muscadet, Alsatian Sylvaner)

3. Potatoes

• Simple preparations: Dry whites (Chablis, Chignin, Sylvaner) or light reds (Beaujolais, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil)
• Creamy preparations: Smoother whites (Chardonnays from Mâconnais or Jura, Savoyard whites).

4. Simmered vegetables with tomatoes

• Recommended wines: Southern reds
• Examples: Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages, Provençal reds, certain Languedoc vintages
• Summer alternative: vinous rosés (Tavel, Roussillon rosé)

5. Carrots and mushrooms

• Carrots : Fruity, low-tannin reds (Beaujolais, generic Burgundy, Loire wines based on Gamay or Pinot Noir)
• Mushrooms :
• Ceps : Ripe Bordeaux reds (Pomerol, Saint-Émilion)
• Girolles: Burgundy full-bodied whites (Côte de Beaune)
• Morels: Oxidative Jura wines

Conclusion

Although wine-vegetable pairings can be complex, there are many ways to enhance your vegetarian dishes. Don't hesitate to experiment and find the combinations you like best.

(MH with LpR- Source idealwine/picture: Loes Klinker via Unsplash )