It might be easy enough for you to find delicious recipes and prepare standout food dishes, but what about pairing wine? Making sure your wine of choice complements a spicy dish rather than detracts from it is not as easy as you might think.
In saying that, it’s not impossible. If you’re about to flex your culinary muscles by preparing spicy dishes for friends and family, then read on. Here are some of the best wine types to go with them.
For Spicy Food with Sweetness
If you are creating a spicy dish with just a hint of sweetness, you have to be quite careful with your wine pairing. For example, if you are making a Thai dish that not only has mild chilli but palm sugar and lemongrass, then you can’t choose a sweet wine to go with it. The two layers of sweetness might clash rather than work in harmony.
In that case, a light-bodied Riesling can be an ideal matching option. You may even find that a full-bodied rosé can work exceptionally well with both that spice and sweetness. Even though some rosé wines are sweeter than others, it doesn’t tend to detract from the heat and sweetness of food as much as some other wine varieties.
A Hint of Heat
Not everyone likes a full-blown spicy dish that blows your socks off after the first bite. If you have opted for a seafood dish with a subtle heat, you have to choose a wine that can work with creaminess and chilli. Sparkling wines, or even champagne, can meet the mark.