Bordeaux and plant based food? Welcome to wineand2veg.com

You probably know of Sally Evans or have read about her on a previous blogpost. She’s one of my Bordeaux heroines, a shining example of mid-life reinvention and how you can turn a passion into a successful project.

In 2017 she bought three ha of vines, a tractor barn and a cottage that is now Château George 7, an award winning winery for both the wine and the warm welcome she offers in her tasting room and wine bar.

Sally in the George 7 Wine bar and tasting room

The problem is she makes mainly red wine. Of course, she does, she’s in the red wine appellation of Fronsac and it’s Bordeaux and we know 89% of Bordeaux is red, so where’s the problem?

Sally is vegetarian, and she’s fed up with red wine food pairing recommendations always being steak, or beef, or something meat based. She enjoys her red wine with plant based dishes and asked why should meat eaters have all the great red wine recommendations? As no one else seemed to be addressing this, she thought better get on it. Afterall, she’s got nothing else to do, only single handedly run a vineyard, a wine tourism destination and presenting and selling her wines.

Red wine – it doesn’t have to be steak!

I invited myself to help and Wine and 2 veg was born. I’m not a vegetarian but do try to maximise the plants on my plate. Eating more greens is part of the healthy lifestyle that I outline in The Drinking Woman’s Diet– it includes moderate wine drinking too. You’ll see I do bang on a bit about the healthy properties of some of the seasonal foods we highlight.

Dry, sweet, red, white, rosé and sparkling. From aperitif to dessert we suggest easy serving suggestions as well as recipes

We’re both engaged with sustainability too. Sally’s vineyard is run sustainably and I write a lot about the subject. In the interest of sustainability, we decided to make our food recommendations both seasonal and local, and our wines recommendations sustainably made by producers we know and respect. We want this to be health-conscious and a holistic approach to wine and food.

This four-handed approach has been a lot of fun, we each have our preferences and biases and don’t always agree. We don’t only recommend Sally’s wine (she makes a dry white too so has that covered) but I do give free range to my bias for Sweet Bordeaux and women wine makers.

We had a lot of fun doing this, so hopefully you’ll have fun trying out our suggestions

Launching today, the Wineand2veg website is now online, starting with an autumn theme, there are recipe ideas, but also seasonal suggestions and variations on the theme.

As well as seasonal content, there’s an introduction to Bordeaux wines, and some background on food and wine pairing that will hopefully give you tools and ideas to have some fun experimenting with pairing wine with plant based food.

Seasonal mushroom recipes feature in our autumn suggestions

As Sally says “This is a celebration of the joy of a balanced, plant-based lifestyle while enjoying a glass of wine and underlined by sustainability and seasonality. We wanted to align with our own lifestyles and create something for those who are plant-based and wish to discover which wines pair well with their favourite vegetables too.

“Wine and2 Veg is more than just a recipe collection; it’s also a guide to exploring the art of pairing great wines with plant-based dishes. Whether you’re a seasoned plant-based enthusiast or simply curious about this lifestyle, we’re here to make wine pairing accessible and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of dietary preferences.”

Please visit wineand2veg.comand sign up to be sure to get the seasonal updates as we release them. We would love your feedback too, either directly to us or via the website.

If you’ve enjoyed the read, please sign up here to receive future blog posts directly to your inbox. To learn more about Bordeaux, read Bordeaux Bootcamp here, or learn more about Wine and Wellness, with The Drinking Woman’s Diet here.