A Vegetarian Christmas

Christmas can't be an ideal time to be a vegetarian; all that turkey and when it's not turkey it's goose, or some other game. However, there are plenty of vegetarian food options - the BBC, Jamie Oliver, and the Vegetarian Society have some good recipes - which can be as rich and decadent as a traditional Christmas meal - and, after all, all those side dishes are meat free.

Matching wine with vegetarian food is not as obvious as with meat or fish. The great wines of France, Spain, and Italy have developed in tandem with the local gastronomic culture, which has usually involved meat or fish dishes, and these are countries where vegetarian food can still be difficult to find.

What this means, though, is that matching vegetarian food with wine is not based on tradition but innovation, and you can really experiment with both food and wine. Thinking about matching flavour intensity rather than specific flavours, here are some pairing recommendations based on styles of wine.

Champagne

Any Christmas meal should start with a bit of fizz, and the yeasty, bready, toasty flavours of Champagne make it a great match for canapés, pastries, tarts, bruschetta, or even poppadoms.

Sauvignon Blanc

The aromas of Sauvignon Blanc are intensely green - apple, gooseberry, green bell pepper, asparagus. Goat's cheese salad is a perfect match: this polenta and goat's cheese stacks recipe would be a much more indulgent and Christmassy option.

Gewurztraminer

This is where you can really start to experiment. Gewurztraminer is often off-dry (particularly if it's from Alsace) and has rich, opulent flavours of tropical fruits (think lychee and mango) that makes it a great pairing for spicy Asian food, particularly Thai or Vietnamese. It may not sound that Christmassy, but that just depends on what you want to eat on Christmas day.

Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris is the same grape as Pinot Grigio, but it's picked much later on in the harvest, meaning that it has much deeper, richer aromas and may be quite a bit sweeter. Whereas Pinot Grigio is an easy-drinking aperitif, Pinot Gris can accompany an array of foods. Again, like Gewurztraminer, the nutty depth of Pinot Gris can stand up to spicy food: I recently had a New Zealand Pinot Gris alongside an aubergine and cauliflower rogan josh curry (at Green's in West Didsbury) and its nutty spiciness added further complexity to the meal. This Christmas curry would similarly benefit from being paired with Pinot Gris.

Italian Reds

Due to their high acidity and high tannins, Italian reds are at their best as food wines. The reason that Italian reds are so high in acidity is to match the sauces in pasta, so it doesn't matter whether there's meat in the pasta dish or not: it's all about the rich sauce accompanying it. Jamie Oliver recommends a couple of spinach-based pasta dishes that a Chianti or Valpolicella would be great with.

Pinot Noir

A grape that tradition pairs with game, but the earthy characteristics of Pinot Noir mean that it will go perfectly with any mushroom-based dish. This vegetarian Christmas roast almost demands a bit of Burgundy.

Sweet Wine

At the end of the meal, veggies and carnivores can get together in sweet harmony and share a sherry and Christmas pudding or port and cheese. For sherries, seek out in particular the intensely sweet Pedro Ximénez style. The French may not make their wines to suit vegetarian palates, but there's one combination that works well: Sauternes and blue cheese. Now there's a way to end Christmas day...