“Their juicy, vibrant profiles complement smoky, charred flavours, and they’re an especially great match for Keralan fish curries, because the wine’s gentle tannins bind to the proteins perfectly.” She also recommends textured whites such as viognier and chenin blanc to take on aromatic dishes such as papadi chaat and light orange wines for ones that go big on green chilli or coriander.
“That is, respecting the spice, celebrating the complexity and letting the wine do its thing.” European wine pairing, by contrast, aims to cleanse the palate, “but spice won’t let you do that”.
“Sri Lankan cuisine is a tapestry of influences – South Indian, Dutch, Arab, Portuguese, Malay and English – so the challenge lies in balancing the structure and texture of a wine with all those rich, bold flavours, especially since we eat everything together on one plate.”.
Off-dry rosé, chenin blanc, gewürztraminer and riesling all work well, though grüner veltliner, which many say has a signature pepperiness that matches well, I tend to find too acidic and often bone-dry, so I tend to avoid it with spice unless, again, it’s made in an off-dry style.
There are several constituent parts in a wine that unfavourably accentuate the heat of a dish: for example, spice can increase our perception of alcohol, causing an unpleasant burn, intense acidity and astringent bitterness.
