Editor's note: The following was originally an e-mail message sent out by Guillaume Lahournat, who then gave his permission to reprint it here and provided the recipe.

Bonjour tout le monde,

Just a little story to show you why wine is so extraordinary and how it can transform a simple moment into a great memory.

Yesterday after a nice day at work I came home to make dinner. Opening the refrigerator, I saw that my choices were rather limited.

So, some carrot-ginger soup. My girlfriend arrived carrying a bottle of Laibach vineyards Pinotage 2003 from South Africa (a hybrid of pinot noir and cinsault) — an opportunity to test my new Riedel glasses and to try a new wine-food combination.

So there we were, ready to taste this great meal — and my friends, I can tell you that it was quite a surprise.

The combination of food and wine was fantastic: The sweetness of the carrots picked up by the ginger was extraordinary, with sweet fragrances of cherry and red-fruit marmalade and a bitter, austere finale typical of Laibach. Moreover the carrots were a bit grainy, which goes perfectly with wines that are marked with a bit of silky wood.

Between you and me, this is a great combination to recommend to vegetarians. (If anyone ever wants to publish a book called Pairings for Vegetarians, which I've never seen in a bookstore, I'll give you the recipe!)

Try it at home, because this is so good that everyone should take advantage of it.

A Bientot,

Guillaume