Matching Wine With Puddings
Forget cranachan or cloutie dumplings; one of the most delicious desserts made in Scotland is Hot Marmalade Pudding. People happily cross the world for a taste of it - heading to a remote corner of a Scottish isle where it is made. It comes served with a Talisker whisky or Drambuie whisky liqueur sauce - and its creator is Shirley Spear at Three Chimneys, on Skye. So what do the pilgrims who make their way to Colbost actually drink with this intensely rich, hot steamed pud and its warm heady sauce?

You might expect sommelier Eddie Spear to recommend a 20-year-old sherry-casked Talisker from his neighbouring distillery to combat the flavours. Instead, he prefers it with a glass of the sweetest sherry you can buy, Pedro Ximenez is made from sun-dried grapes and aged for years in cask.

Over time, the sherry takes on a similarly magical concentration and intensity, gulpy richness and flavour characteristics of - you guessed it - marmalade. One of the keys here is that he has selected a wine sweeter than the dish itself. That is an essential tip for anyone trying to find the ideal match for pudding. He's obviously also matching flavour, weight and treacly intensity. If you tasted a dry white with this sweet pud, the wine would become totally overshadowed and stripped of any flavour - and a dry, tannic red wine would clash with the sweetness.

So if you have to match a sweeter drink than the pudding, what on earth do you do when it comes to chocolate? Almost every restaurant in the land panders to our chocolate obsession, but with its intensely sweet flavour and texture coating the mouth, you need something really powerful to match.

The usual suspects wheeled out alongside dark choc tart are Australian Liqueur Muscat, Tawny port, Californian Orange Muscat, Muscat de Rivesaltes or Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. But why not head in the opposite direction for something that might cleanse the mouth: like a lighter, fluffy, choc mousse matched with a modest sparkling wine (not Champagne), sweet Italian Moscato d'Asti?

Does that mean that reds are completely out of bounds when it comes to pud? No, says Mr Spear. He reckons that provided the red is not too heavy, exotic or overpowering and has plenty of fruit, like a simple Beaujolais Villages, a dark chocolate pudding and fruity young red can really complement each other.

I know some people swear by sparkling Shiraz with chocolate, but I hate it. Instead, Edinburgh restaurateur Martin Wishart suggests a very sweet intense red like Banyuls, a vin doux naturels, made mainly from Grenache, which tastes like a ruby port to enhance a chocolate dessert.

Matching Wine With Veg
There's only one basic rule to remember here. In the minefield that is food-and-wine matching, there is just one thing that is sure to send a vegetarian screaming for the door. Don't serve them heavy tannic reds to wash down a veggie risotto, quiche or polenta. Remember, there are no friendly meat proteins on the plate to soak up all those aggressive tannins swimming around in a full-bodied red wine. Stick to soft, fruity, spicy numbers and you'll win over your veggie friends every time.

This is a tip from a man who should know. David Bann, in his St Mary's Street restaurant, specialises in serving up shepherdless pie and mushroom risottos every day of the week to the Edinburgh veggie community. If you check out his wine list, you'll see he concentrates on lighter-flavoured whites and smooth, silky, fruity reds. Gamay, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Grenache are the good red grape guys welcomed into every vegetarian restaurant, rather than firm tannic Nebbiolo or brash flavoured over-oaked New World Cabernet Sauvignons.

Instead of worrying about roasts and casseroles, the vegetarian is more likely do a bit of herb-spotting instead. Often the dominant flavour in a vegetarian dish is the herbs and spices used in cooking the vegetables, rice and pasta. Some herbs definitely have more affinity with one grape variety than another.

Mushrooms have so many permutations, it is tricky to generalise. In risottos they can match well with the soft, silky, fruity red-grape brigade like Chilean Merlot, but they can also be heavenly with the earthier notes found in Italian Barbera. The wilder flavoured mushroom can also be a beautiful marriage with a fine Chianti Classico or even red Bordeaux.

Onion or leek tart is a popular veggie dish with imposing flavours, delicious matched with aromatic whites like Australia's Clare Valley Riesling, vin de pays Viognier or maybe a little spicier grape like Germany's Rheinpalz Gewurztraminer. Spinach needs more care as its texture clashes with tannic reds, so serve only vibrantly fruity soft reds like Tempranillo. And for all those left-over pumpkins, serve them in a risotto with a fruity buttery dry white like unoaked New Zealand Chardonnay or Chilean Viognier.

Spaghetti, lasagne, farfalle, conchiglie and rigatoni pasta dishes will depend on their vegetarian sauces. Study the herb matches. As a general rule of thumb, for creamier carbonara choose creamier unoaked Chardonnays from Macon, Languedoc or Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige. Tomato-based pasta sauces suit Sangiovese or Zinfandel and with Pesto sauce choose Corvina. With vegetarian couscous, go native. Head to the band of exotic scented Moroccan reds for a real taste of the Med.