It's not always obvious what drink you should reach for when eating spicy food (hint: ), but many people don't even consider wine an option. Unless you're a connoisseur, it can be difficult to know which wines work with spice. Choose the wrong wine and you can end up with something that is too hot to handle, or you might risk overpowering the spice and not being able to enjoy it.
To help you out, we asked Canadian chef and Cooking Channel's "Late Nite Eats" host, , who we caught up with him at the Heritage Fire Fest held in Miami, where he partnered with . According to Andino, "a good rule of thumb is to pair high acid wine with spicy food. By increasing the acid, your mouth will water and cleanse your palate in between bites of your favorite spicy dishes.
" For this, he recommends ordering a Pinot Noir. We'd add other low-tannin reds like Schiava and Zweigelt as alternatives if you're not a fan of Pinot. Another way to bring down the spice level is to look for sweetness.
"Wines that have an element of sweetness ...
tone down the heat and bring forward the flavor [of the food]. With this approach, you can reach for a bottle of wine that's fruit-forward," Andino states. You probably don't want to , but rather light bodied wines with residual sugar like a Riesling or a Gewurztraminer.
(Wine) rules are meant to be broken Andino's advice is a safe bet for those who aren't into experimenting with their wine choices. Both acidic and slightly sweet wines will bring down spice levels .
