Wine and 2 Veg
Keeping it Green
Do you find it challenging to find wines to go with your favourite veg-based dishes? Or perhaps struggle with what to serve with a great red wine if you don’t eat meat? How to find the perfect pairing so that the sum is greater than the parts? Welcome to Wineand2veg.
We don’t think it should be challenging. Despite living in a wine region that produces 550+ million bottles of red wine per year, wine and food pairing for us doesn’t stop (or even start) with red wine and red meat.
Join us as we taste and test our way through wine and plant-based food pairings and share some of our seasonal favourites.
Who are we?
We love wine and we love our veg. Sally is a vegetarian wine maker and Wendy is a Bordeaux wine and wellness writer. We want to enjoy great wine, showing it at its best with our ‘greener’ food choices, so we’ve been having fun experimenting and digging into why certain combinations work.
Sustainability is important to us so the recipes focus on seasonal vegetables and most often locally grown along with some animal products such as eggs and cheese. If you haven't made the shift to fully plant-based, we've included some meat and fish dishes using free range grazing animals or fish that are sustainably farmed. Where a recipe is vegetarian, we often give a vegan version too.
We’re not alone
As more of us are eating a mainly plant-based diet, what do we need to know to help us make the right wine choices for a great pairing? And the right choices for a healthy lifestyle too! Enjoying wine can fit into a healthy lifestyle and our aim is not to encourage you to eat and drink as much as possible but to enjoy delicious combinations in moderation that will delight to perfection, and not to excess.
Enjoy
Why we should enjoy our glass of wine with food
Alcohol gives us the munchies. You know how you can’t resist food after a few drinks? It’s not just the aperitif effect on the palate that makes your mouth water. According to research, alcohol in the bloodstream makes the brain more sensitive to food smells.
So how can we balance enjoying our wine and food with a healthy lifestyle? Wendy has some great recommendations.
Fun
So what makes the perfect match?
It seems complicated but it should be fun. So where do we start with pairing wine and veg? Don't hold back from trying different combinations because we all detect the flavours in wine differently with varying sensitivities. Here are some guidelines to help you experiment and find the combinations that get your juices flowing.
Sally & Wendy
About Sally by Wendy...
As a vegetarian and a red wine maker the classic recommendation of red wine with steak doesn’t work for Sally. Fortunately, as well as being a great wine maker, she’s a great cook - witness her successful wine bar and tasting room at Château George 7.
Sally has experimented with wine and plant-based pairings and has lots of recipes and ideas to share.
About Wendy by Sally...
Wendy and wellness go hand in hand – and on many occasions she has a glass of wine in hand too. So how do you really balance a healthy lifestyle and the enjoyment of wine? Wendy not only writes about this but has lived it for many years. Her tips and the science behind her recommendations will help you be guilt-free about including wine in a healthy lifestyle.
Know a Good Cause?
Eating healthier, more plant based food is one of our passions, along with good wine. As well as spreading this message through Wine&2veg, we’d like any revenue from the site to support this cause. Do you know of an organisation that is promoting healthy plant-based eating? Please get in touch and let us know, we would love to look at helping them.
