5 Vegetables That Are Impossible to Pair with Wine

Bonappetit recently published an article on foods that are nearly impossible to pairing with wine. It’s a common problem for wine pros and casual drinkers alike. That favourite seasonal green on your plate may destroy the seemingly ideal wine in your glass.

Here are 5 vegetables that are basically impossible to pair with wines. Best you stick to beer next time you find these sneaking onto your plate!

Asparagus

Asparagus has high levels of organosulfur compounds, AKA straight up sulfur. When the compounds come in contact with wine, it makes the wine taste overly sulfuric and flawed, like a glass of burnt rubber or rotten eggs.

Brussels sprouts

They often make wine taste metallic.

Artichokes

Artichokes are the most notoriously hard to pair, and leave even some of the best sommeliers shuddering. While artichokes don’t have organosulfur compounds, they do have another organic chemical that messes with wine called cynarine. Cynarine makes everything taste sweeter than it actually is because it knocks out your taste receptors and inhibits you from experiencing acidity, bitterness, and saltiness. This leaves wine, yes, tasting sweeter, but also flat and one-note because the cynarine has robbed you of the wine’s other characteristics.