Within our dining culture, we have evolved our habits to drink big red wines with meat. Hearty, juicy, red meat. Satisfying bottlings made from grapes such as cabernet sauvignon and syrah are flattered by a steak or a lamb chop—and, of course, they make the food look good, too. It's a mutual admiration society.
Just pick up any bottle of, say, a Rhône-style blend from Paso Robles. Somewhere on the back it will recommend pairing with lamb or beef. We also welcome ‘big wines'— meaning ones with copious amounts of tannin and alcohol— onto our tables partly because we think, “Oh, eating meat while we drink will neutralise those drawbacks.”
But as high-end cuisine veers away from meat, how do we shift the way we match food with those big reds we've come to love? After all, it's not just an issue for vegetarians. Many of us are putting vegetables at the centre of our plates more and more, for reasons from our health to the environment. And as Laura Fiorvanti, the owner of New York's wine-centric Corkbuzz
