WineDeals

It’s not as difficult to match wines with spicy food as you might think. There are wines that go perfectly ok with spicy food. The key is to avoid wines that are very tannic such as cabernet blends as the spices in the food will make the tannins more pronounced and cause a bitter taste. Also avoid oaky wines for the same reason. The spices will make the oak flavours very pronounced.

So which wines should you drink with hot or spicy food such as Indian or Thai?

With mild Indian curries try a crisp, fruity white such as a
sauvignon blanc.

Moderately hot Indian curries such as rogan josh are good with a soft, fruity red such as merlot.

Yoghurt based hot, spicy curries are best complemented by riesling.

With Thai curries white wine works better than red wine – a riesling or viognier is a good choice.

And my favourite pairing for most curries is a sparkling wine and in particular a sparkling red such as sparkling shiraz. The sweetness complements the spiciness.