Top pairings

Why Pinot Gris hits the spot with spicy food

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on May 12 2007 at 09:01

You may think tasting wine sounds arduous but a major wine and food tasting, I assure you, is a much greater assault on the system as I was reminded the other day when Victoria Moore of The Guardian and I ran 14 Pinot Gris through their paces with foods that ranged from smoked eel to chicken tikka masala. Neither of us was able to eat much for several days.

It was all in the good cause of identifying exactly what the best matches were for Pinot Gris, an aromatic white which usually has a touch of sweetness, making it pair with an entirely different range of foods from its cousin Pinot Grigio. It’s original home is Alsace but fine versions are now being made in New Zealand, Oregon and Australia, especially Tasmania. In Alsace it’s often matched with pâté and creamy sauces but it also pairs particularly well with smoked and spicy foods.

You can read Victoria’s account and wine recommendations in The Guardian today. Here are my comments and conclusions, rated as follows:

*** Great match, the best of the tasting
** A good match
* An OK match but one which slightly diminishes the food or the wine
No stars: A misfiring match

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