Food and Wine Pairing : A Sensory Experience

194 Chapter 9 The Impact of Spice

Table 9.1 Wines with Spice, Herbal, and Taming Characteristics

Wines with Spice Notes

Wines with Herbal

Notes

Wines that Tame

Hot-Spicy Foods

Whites:Gewurztraminer,

Viognier, oaky Chardonnay,

Austrian Gru ̈ner-Veltliner, Mosel

Riesling (Germany),

Portuguese Vinho Verde

Whites:Sauvignon Blanc,

Fume ́ Blanc, Se ́millon, New

World Viognier, white

Bordeaux, Sancerre, Pouilly-

Fume ́, Alsace Riesling

Whites:Italian Moscato d’Asti,

German Riesling Kabinett,

Gewu ̈rztraminer, Portuguese

Vinho Verde

Reds:Shiraz, Syrah, Coˆtes du

Rhoˆne, red Zinfandel (California

and Washington), Greek reds,

Petite Sirah (California),

Sangiovese

Reds:Merlot, Cabernet

Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc,

Shiraz, Syrah, red Rioja, Italian

Chianti

Red:Reds with low tannins,

lower alcohol, and a fruity

nature (e.g., Beaujolais,

Gamay, Italian Dolcetto,

Lemberger, Valpolicella,

Spanish Tempranillo)

capable of producing some of the highest-quality white wines on the planet, with good aging

potential. Because the current fashion is to drink dry red wines (or big, oaky Chardonnays

if forced to drink whites), off-dry Rieslings are currently a great wine value. Riesling with

spicy foods can be a refreshing to good match due to the acidity, a slight sweetness in the

off-dry versions, and a great contrast of fruit and floral flavors with the food’s hot or peppery

spices.

For a red wine to go with hot and spicy foods, choose one with lower tannin, lower

alcohol, and a fruity character. Lemberger, Beaujolais and Dolcetto are good examples of

fruity, lower-tannin, higher-acid red wines. For both reds and whites, however, with hot,

spicy foods the best you can generally hope for is a refreshing match, one that doesn’t fan

the flame of the food’s heat.

Spices in food are more difficult to pair with wine than herbs. Depending on the level

of spice in a food dish, many spices can clash with oak and wine tannins. Excessive heat

from horseradish, hot mustards, and chiles can numb your palate prior to even tasting the

wine. Herbs are much more wine-friendly than most spices. Column 2 of Table 9.1 provides

examples of wines that have herbal notes in them—again, not from the herbs themselves,

but from growing conditions at the vineyard, the characteristics inherent to the varietal, or

the winemaking process. The key to matching herbal foods is to use a wine that echoes

herbal notes as well. Many of these wines also have spice characteristics.

FOOD TYPES AND STYLES

Spice and seasoning use in food has evolved dramatically over the past thirty years.

Overall consumption of spice has increased substantially over this period, with greater use

of herbs, fusion flavors, robust and bold flavors, chile varieties, and ethnic flavors.^8 Spices

with a sweet character include cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and tamarind. Savory spices

and seasonings are those such as pepper, cumin, cardamom, fish sauce, and so on. Hot spices

include mustard seed, hot peppers, and horseradish.

The first spice brought to Europe from the East was pepper. Peppers and other hot

spices (including black pepper, white pepper, red pepper, and mustard seed) account for 41

percent of total U.S. spice usage. Though chiles or hot peppers originated in the Americas,

they have become a basic ingredient in many cuisines around the globe. Many of the ethnic

cuisines we enjoy today, such as Indian, Asian, Mexican, African, and Caribbean, rely on hot