The best wine pairings for cauliflower

There was once little point in thinking about wine in the context of cauliflower.

It was a vegetable. It was bland - except arguably in cauliflower cheese - and generally accompanied something that was more likely to dictate the pairing like a Sunday roast.

But now it’s roasted, fried, spiced and partnered by other exotic and flavourful ingredients it has become the focus of a meal and deserves its own wine pairings. You can even have it as a ‘steak’.

So which wine should you go for? It depends as usual how you cook it - with a sauce, roasted or in a salad ...

*With a creamy sauce, in a cauliflower soup or in cauliflower cheese: smooth dry whites are the order of the day. Think unoaked or subtly oaked chardonnay like Chablis, chenin blanc, Soave, Gavi, dry pinot gris … Unless it accompanies a steak in which case stick to your usual red.

*As a caramelised cauliflower purée (very fashionable, often in the company of scallops.)
White burgundy or a similarly posh chardonnay is bang on.

*Cauliflower cake
That marvellous creation from Ottolenghi’s Plenty More we’ve all been tempted to make or made. (I have for the record - right) Smooth dry whites again though maybe with a lick more oak. Or dry cider.

*Whole roast cauliflower or roast or grilled cauliflower ‘steaks’
Try Rhône or Rhone-ish blends of Roussanne and Marsanne, oaked white rioja or Douro whites

*Cauliflower salads
Depends if it’s raw or roast and what the other ingredients are. In general a crisper white for raw and a more robust one if it’s roast. That said food-friendly gruner veltliner would work with both. Punchy ingredients like capers, olives and anchovies would steer me more in the direction of crisp, maybe Italian, whites or dry rosés. Ingredients like raisins, dates or pomegranate seeds towards a light red such as gamay or an orange wine. (A white wine made like a red).

See this raw cauliflower, mushroom and feta salad which I suggested with a Picpoul de Pinet or an albarino. (As much because of the feta as the cauliflower tbh)

* If nuts such as hazelnuts or almonds are a prominent feature in the dish you could even go for a fino or dry amontillado sherry or as at this wine dinner, an aged muscadet.

*Indian spiced cauliflower e.g. aloo gobi
Unlikely to be the only dish on the table but it may be part of a selection of vegetable curries in which case I’ve found sylvaner from Alsace invariably hits the spot. Dry riesling or better still riesling blends with, say pinot gris and gewurztraminer are also delicious

See this recipe for cauliflower curry, boiled eggs and coconut crumble.

And Ottolenghi’s Curried Cauliflower Cheese filo pie

If you’re a brassica fan you may also enjoy these posts:

Six of the best drink pairings for kale

8 great wine matches for brussels sprouts

Image by Magdanatka at shutterstock.com

The best food matches for Semillon and Semillon-Sauvignon blends

One of the world’s most underrated grapes yet capable of making some of its most delicious dry whites, Sémillon isn’t on the radar for many. So if you get hold of a bottle what should you pair with it?

Although there’s a marked difference between young unoaked Sémillon and those blended with its habitual stablemate Sauvignon Blanc it helps to look at it as similar to but less pungent than Sauvignon. Without that marked green, grassy edge that can make sauvignon too much of a good thing with foods that have herbaceous note of their own such as asparagus, peas and mangetout.

If I had to sum up the ideal match in a few words think shellfish, fish and spring vegetables. Here are a few more specific suggestions:

Hunter Valley Semillon and other lighter styles

The Hunter Valley in Australia is the place to go for Semillon and has its most distinctive style. Fresh and zippy when it’s young, more complex and oily (in a nice way) as it ages this is the perfect wine for raw and lightly cooked shellfish especially with Asian flavours. (Think the delicious kind of food you get in Sydney.) Remember Hunter Valley wines are light - generally only about 11-12% ABV. Try them with:

Oysters, especially with an Asian dressing - the best match bar none

Fresh crab

Clams

Sashimi

Seafood salads

Spring veg such as asparagus and peas - a pasta primavera would work well with a Hunter Valley Semillon

Dishes with fennel

Dishes with a touch of citrus

Lightly cooked fish dishes such as seabass and razor clams

Fried soft shell crab - I owe this one to my colleague Victoria Moore

Salt and pepper squid

Young goats’ cheese or salads with goats’ cheese

For older vintages try smoked fish such as smoked salmon, smoked trout and - this is surprisingly good - kedgeree

Barossa Valley Semillon and other richer styles

Fuller and riper, often with a lick of oak, Southern Australian Semillons can take richer fish and shellfish dishes and light meats like chicken and pork - again with an Asian accent. Try:

Scallops (probably my number one choice)

Grilled lobster, prawns or Moreton Bay bugs

Salmon and salmon trout

Fish or chicken in a creamy sauce such as this kingklip with prawns and a white wine sauce I had in South Africa

Seafood risotto

Thickly sliced ham off the bone

Roast gammon

Pork or chicken satay

Other spicy but not over-hot pork dishes

Grilled and barbecued fish

Semillon-Sauvignon blends

Found chiefly in the Margaret River region of Western Australia and in the Bordeaux region of France where it’s mainly oaked

For Australian sem-sauv I’d go for much the same sort of dishes as I would for a Hunter Valley Sémillon - perhaps a shade richer or with a little more citrus. This dish of pan-fried scallops with orange braised chicory, celeriac remoulade and lotus crisps was a perfect match or you could go for scallops with a pea purée. It would also stand up to a mild Thai green curry.

With oaked white Bordeaux I’d be looking at more classic French or European-style dishes like this light raviolo of prawns, simply cooked fish in butter like a Dover sole, poached salmon or a posh fish pie.

Photo © vsl at shutterstock.com

Vegan Food and Wine Pairing: How to Pair Wine with Vegan Food

With media interest in vegan food and vegan-friendly wine at an unprecedented high, you might wonder what sort of wines pair with vegan food best. Is it even OK to drink wine with vegan food? How do I know if my wine is vegan? And how do I craft plant-based wine pairings as good as their carnivorous counterparts? So here’s the lowdown.

What makes vegan wine vegan?

Vegans are only slightly more restricted than vegetarians when it comes to wine drinking. The issue is in the fining process which removes any solid particles from the wine. Some wines are fined with animal products like gelatin and isinglass (fish bladder) which rules them out for both vegetarians and vegans. Other producers, particularly of fine wines, use egg whites which would obviously be unacceptable to vegans. Some wines, however, are unfined for extra flavour and texture so those wouldn’t cause any problems.

How do I know if wine is vegan?

Fortunately most supermarket own label wines specify whether they’re suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Many online retailers give this information on branded wines too though in the absence of this it makes sense to check with the producer for reassurance. Retailers are also increasingly making it easy to find vegan wines online.

Vegan wine beyond just the drinking

That said veganism carries with it a whole approach to food which may affect your attitude to wine. You may well want to avoid wines made from vines that are treated with pesticides or to which products like enzymes are added. Organic and biodynamic wines are likely to appeal.

You may also be attracted by wines that are made from indigenous or wild yeasts or which use a minimum of or no added sulphur in which case you should look out for so-called ‘natural’ wines, a somewhat controversial description which basically refers to wines that are made with what is referred to as ‘minimal intervention’.

Vegan Wine Pairing Fundamentals

The style of food you’re eating will always have implications for the type of wine you drink. If your diet is largely plant-based you may find white wines are a better match though pulses like lentils and beans and richly flavoured ingredients such as aubergines (eggplant) and mushrooms can easily handle the tannins of a medium to full-bodied red. Raw dishes like salads tend to work well with crisp whites and rosés.

But as with meat, fish and dairy it’s more about the way you cook a dish than the base ingredient. Tofu, for example, has no significant flavour of its own - it depends what you put with it.

Five-spiced tofu nuggets by Elly Curshen; the pairing is more about the sauce than the tofu!

Spicy foods pair with wines with a touch of sweetness like a pinot gris or riesling while umami-rich Japanese dishes generally go with wines that are aged on their lees like white burgundy, muscadet and champagne, as well, of course, as sake.

Read on for more wine pairing ideas for various types of vegan cuisines and vegetables.

Vegan Wine with Vegan Food: The Plant-Based Pairings are Endless

Pairing wine with vegan food follows the same fundamentals as any dish; it’s all about pairing complimentary flavors and textures to create a harmonious balance that elevates both the food and the wine. To find the perfect vegan wine for your meal, start with the ingredients. To give you a head start, here are my wine pairing suggestions for popular vegan ingredients (and the dishes that are made from them):

Mushroom Wine Pairings - the king of umami, with wine pairing options as diverse as Champagne, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, depending on the dish.

Cauliflower Wine Pairings - Especially grilled or roasted cauliflower, in which case go for a white Rhône or similar blend or an oaked white rioja.

Eggplant/Aubergine Wine Pairings - Usually a hearty dry red! But for cold eggplant dishes, go for a dry rosé.

Zucchini / Courgette Wine Pairings - It’s more about the flavours you put with them than the ingredient itself, but typically we’re talking a crisp unoaked white wine more than a red.

Red and Green Pepper Wine Pairings - Again, it all depends on how they are cooked. Red pepper soup pairs well with a dry white like a picpoul or albarino, while rich and sweet grilled peppers goes better with a young rioja. You’ll find more wine suggestions for specific pepper dishes in the post.

Squash and Pumpkin Wine Pairings - An autumn favourite. Roast squash tends to favour rich white wines like oak-aged chardonnay whereas pumpkin or butternut squash soup would generally work better with an unoaked one. Similarly for squash salads.

Kale Wine Pairings - A slightly bitter vegetable which can make wines taste sweeter so you may want to choose a slightly drier fresher style

Brussels Sprouts Wine Pairings - Yes, sprouts! Particularly vegan recipes for sprouts that include citrus, where a white wine with tropical fruit goes well (think a sauvignon-semillon blend or a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc)

Vegan Wine and Popular Cuisines

Veganism is not limited to any particular cuisine, and neither should be the wines that accompany plant-based dishes. That said, there are several cuisines from around the world that lend themselves particularly well to vegan dining, and thus should influence your wine match:

1. Asian Cuisine: and I don’t just mean stir-fry. The flavors of Asian cuisine can vary greatly depending on the part of the continent you’re in. For aromatic vegan Thai or Vietnamese dishes, think aromatic or fruity whites like Gewurztraminer or Alsace Pinot Gris (see more wine pairings for Thai food). As for Chinese food, be guided by the most intensely flavoured dish - see my extensive list of Chinese wine pairings to guide you.

2. Middle Eastern Cuisine: a classic vegan option with its myriad fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors. Where a classic mezze involves such dishes from falafel to fattoush to vine leaves to hummus, my friend Sally Prosser suggests reaching for rosé (see more about what to drink with Middle Eastern food).

3. Mexican Cuisine: Mexican cuisine is full of bold flavors and vibrant spices. Of course, you could be tempted by a margarita or even a beer - both superb vegan drink options that go with Mexican food. But wine can work, too, particularly sauvignon blanc or a dry rosé. See my wine, beer and other pairings for Mexican food and six of the best drinks to pair with tacos.

4. Indian Cuisine: India has a long-standing tradition of vegetarianism with a cuisine rich in plant-based ingredients including pulses, grains, vegetables, and spice. It’s also one of the more challenging cuisines to pair as the dishes vary so wildly in both flavour, texture, and of course heat. Read my guide on what to pair with curry for some ideas.

Vegan recipes with wine pairings 

Here’s a round-up of favourite vegan recipes I’ve collected which are really so good they deserve a suitable wine pairing. Click through the links for the recipe and wine pairing suggestions to match.

Roast Pumpkin with Savoury Sage & Pumpkin Seed Granola from Daniel Acevedo

Baingan Bharta - Indian Roasted Smoky Eggplant from Romy Gill

Parsnip, Miso, Oat and Shallot Boulangere from Gizzi Erskine

Burmese Mango Salad with Peanut and Lime from Meera Sodha

More vegan food and wine inspiration:

See all of my posts on wine pairings for vegetable and salad dishes

Which wines to pick with vegetarian food

6 vegan recipes that meat eaters will love

Top image ©shellygraphy at shutterstock.com

10 top wine matches for a vegetarian (or vegan) Christmas

It’s a sign of the times that when I first wrote this post over 10 years ago I said “Vegetarians often get overlooked at this time of year” That’s obviously no longer the case but veggie - and vegan - options are now so numerous and so diverse it can be tricky to work out which wine would work best with them.

For a start it depends whether they’re hot like a Vegetarian Wellington or a whole. baked cauliflower or celeriac or cold like a crunchy salad. 

It also depends on the flavours - whether they’re classically Christmassy or zingy and spicy. The kind of food you want to wake up your palate just after Christmas.

I’ve picked 10 recipes from popular cookery writers including Felicity Cloake, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Diana Henry and Meera Sodha. 

Hopefully they’ll provide inspiration for Christmas eating as well as drinking ...

Felicity Cloake’s Vegetarian Wellington

The centre of this recipe is a glazed butternut squash surrounded by a mushroom-type stuffing. I’d probably go for a fruity pinot noir from, say, Chile or New Zealand’s Central Otago or a full-bodied chardonnay.

Thomasina Miers baked cauliflower with roast almond and prune mole

Mexican mole is dark and spicy so even though cauliflower is quite a mild-tasting vegetable this is a powerfully flavoured dish with which I’d probably drink a grenache or garnacha or a grenache/syrah/mourvedre (GSM) blend.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Vegan Tart

There’s not much in the title to tell you what’s in it but the flavours are quite simple and creamy, designed to fit in, I think, with Christmas sides like the chestnut and prune stuffing for which he also gives a recipe. On its own it’s the sort of dish I’d serve with a Chablis or a chenin blanc with the stuffing a rioja or a Côtes du Rhône.

Diana Henry’s Pumpkin, Chestnut and Stilton tart

You’ll have to get behind the paywall to access this but I think you’re allowed 3 free visits a month. (I’m not a Telegraph reader but I DO love Diana’s recipes). On its own I’d probably go for a rich chardonnay or a rich southern Rhône red like a Vacqueyras or Séguret - probably the latter if you make her potatoes with smoked butter and mushrooms on the side. A southern Italian red like a nero d’avola would also be good.

Melissa Clark’s Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

I’m thinking pinot noir with this or a barolo if you feel like pushing the boat out. Again behind a paywall but it’s worth paying for the New York Times excellent food content.

Anna Jones celebration celeriac and sweet garlic pie

Anna Jones says of this pie, which you’ll also find in her ‘Modern Cooks’ Year’ “It’s everything I want in a pie: a cheddar and winter herb flaky pastry; a creamy filling, sweet with balsamic garlic and roasted celeriac; and a crisp, grated celeriac roof.” I

’m actually thinking of a good artisan cider with this but a merlot would be delicious too.

Sophie Godwin’s vegan Christmas wreath

A light, pretty centrepiece for the Christmas table that includes pops of cranberry and sour cherries as well as spinach and tofu. I’d probably go for a gamay but you could drink an Italian white like a gavi too.

Meera Sodha’s Sprout Nasi Goreng

This is the perfect recipe for after Christmas when you’re taste buds are feeling a bit jaded and you’re craving spicy food. It comes from Meera Sodha’s brilliant book East. With chillies, garlic and sesame it definitely needs an aromatic white like an Australian riesling

and two veggie stalwarts ...

Nut roast
You probably already have your favourite nut roast recipe and I’ve already posted some suggestions for wine pairings but if you’re making it for the first time you might want to trawl through these 10 nut roast recipes that won’t let you down from the Guardian

The trimmings without the turkey
Personally I tend to head for the southern Rhône with my Christmas dinner and would whether it was veggie or not. You need a big rich exuberant red so shiraz would also work well as would a malbec.

Top photo of a roast cauliflower is by Magdanatka at shutterstock.com though not of the recipes in the post