What wines pair with yogurt and kefir?

When I write about wine and food in the Lake Tahoe area, the chefs and wine experts often collaborate in producing a slate of wines that go with particular dishes. It's always a learning experience because as I say to people, the emphasis on "Wine Writer" in my case is on "Writer".

But still I try to keep ahead of the crowd, and part of that is understanding trends in cuisine. So when The State of the Specialty Food Industry 2010 report dropped into my in-box, it held some suprises for me. I quote:

• "Yogurt and kefir is the fastest growing specialty food category; sales jumped 38.9 percent in 2009 to $830 million.
  


• Mediterranean, Latin and Indian were named as the three fastest emerging cuisines.
  


• Local, sustainable and eco-friendly products were identified as the items that will grow the most in the coming years."

Gosh, what do you pair with yogurt and kefir. Help me out here!

And should we search for Indian wines to pair with Indian cuisine? Hello, Sula! Rev up that distribution please!

These are just a few of the interesting tidbits from this annual report from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT); it is prepared in conjunction with Mintel International, a market research firm, and tacks sales for specialty food segments with data from SPINS and ACNielsen.

The State of the Specialty Food Industry 2010 research was published in a summary report in the April 2010 issue of Specialty Food Magazine. The summary report is available for $30 for non-members of the NASFT at http://www.specialtyfood.com/.

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