Pairings that Pop: Vegan Wine & Popcorn

I was snacking on a bowl of popcorn and responding to emails when I opened one from Skinny Pop. Chuckling to myself, I opened it thinking, “how ironic.” Popping another cheesy piece in my mouth, I opened it up.

Wine and popcorn?

What is Skinny Pop trying to pull?

Opening it I read about how someone named Olivia Pope loves to pair wine and popcorn together.

I don’t know who that is, or I didn’t, I had to Google her, but she loves pairing popcorn + wine.

(I don’t watch Scandal – I’m sure it’s a fine show, please don’t send me hate mail) 

Skinny Pop agrees and created a slick little infographic pairing their vegan popcorn with a variety of wines. I like Skinny Pop (white cheddar is my jam), I like wine, so why not pair them together?

Let’s take a look at vegan wine & popcorn pairings.

Vegans, let me remind you that not all wine is suitable for you. Yes, wine is made from grapes- well, fermented grapefruit. Yeast converts the grape juice sugars into alcohol. So far, so vegan. It’s the clarification processor, fining, that screws things up. 

Fining removes organic compounds such as proteins, tartrates, tannins, and phenolics, either to improve clarity or adjust flavor/aroma. Traditionally the most commonly used fining agents were casein, albumin, gelatin, and isinglass. They don’t end up in the finished wine; they’re precipitated out along with the compounds, but trace amounts could end up in the finished wine. 

Find wines that use clay-based fining agents or activated charcoal. Some winemakers not to fine or filter their wines, leaving them to self-clarify and self-stabilize. Look for labels with ‘not fined or not filtered.’

Or, make it easy on yourself and check out the 27,245 vegan brands listed on Barnivore. That’s what I do because I like easy.

Related Reading on Your Daily Vegan: How to Host a Vegan Wine Tasting

So, did I pair wine and Skinny Pop while binge-watching Doctor Who? No, but that’s because I didn’t have any wine on hand.

Have you paired wine and popcorn? I’d like to know. Tell me about it in the comments.