Curry is one of the most iconic and versatile dishes of Asian cuisine, characterised by intense aromas and a skilful use of spices. Whether it's Indian, Thai or Japanese, each type of curry has a unique personality, capable of transforming every taste into an experience. Pairing the right wine with spicy recipes allows you to enhance aromas and flavours, creating surprising and harmonious combinations. Here's a guide for lovers of strong flavours, to discover how to pair wine with curry, choosing between white, red, rosé and sparkling wines!
Wine with hot and spicy recipes: an impossible union?
When pairing wine and food, one often relies on personal taste and imagination, creating unusual but successful proposals. However, when spices and spicy flavours are involved, it's necessary to proceed with some caution, as the risk of creating imbalances or unpleasantly amplifying the flavours of the dish is just around the corner.
The situation becomes even more interesting when talking about curry. It's not a single spice, but a true aromatic mix, which changes according to the culinary tradition from which it comes: sweet, spicy, smoky or citrusy, each blend has a unique profile.
Drinking wine with spicy dishes is not an impossible feat: to find the right bottle, you just need to categorise the different mixes, taking into account their sweetness or spiciness:
- Is the curry spicy?
For those who have no intention of giving up a glass of wine, the challenge is to find a product that doesn't let itself be covered by the intense flavours of the dish, but instead creates a good balance on the palate. The best candidates are white wines with remarkable freshness, even better if they have a tangy aftertaste that lightens the palate from the intensity of the curry and the body that generally characterises recipes where it is the protagonist. Products with good structure and a strong and fruity aromatic charge, even slightly sweet, are also required. Red and heavy wines should be avoided, as tannins and a high alcohol content amplify the heat of the spiciness.
- Is the curry sweet?
In the case of curry types with aromatic notes, but less fiery, the choice of a fresh and light wine remains desirable, to avoid creating imbalances or covering the organoleptic notes of the dish. In this case, however, you can take a few more liberties, also opting for reds and rosés, as long as they are lightly structured and with subtle tannins.
5 proposals for pairing wine and curry
Pairing wine with curry requires some care, but can offer great satisfaction. Here are 5 spicy recipes with the right wine to bring to the table according to Svinando.
Chicken Tikka Masala
The fact that among a Shepherd's Pie and a Beef Wellington, British cuisine also offers curry-based dishes as typical might leave one perplexed, but the truth is that United Kingdom cuisine is rich in nuances. The English colonisation of India - intensified especially in the 18th century - favoured cultural exchanges and led to the birth of an Anglo-Indian cuisine, also imported to the homeland.
This series of political and cultural vicissitudes have ensured that today, among the traditional dishes most dear to the United Kingdom, there is also Chicken Tikka Masala, named the British national dish by former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 2001.
This recipe - which is said to have been born in the United Kingdom or Scotland by a chef of Indian origins - consists of pieces of chicken cooked in a pan, served with a tasty sauce based on tomato sauce, cream and spices, specifically garam masala curry, usually composed of pepper, chilli, fennel, cloves, bay leaf, nutmeg, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and coriander.
What is the best wine with Chicken Tikka Masala? Characterised by aromatic and sweet tending flavours, this dish can be paired with light whites or reds. An excellent red wine for curry is Lambrusco, fresh and light. As intense in strawberry and undergrowth notes as it is delicate and lively on the palate, a "Premium" Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC transforms the tasting into an inviting experience, supporting the intense taste of garam masala without ever being cornered.
Beef Vindaloo
If garam masala conquers the palate with its triumph of aromatic and savoury notes, Vindaloo puts it to the test with considerable spiciness. Although today it is considered one of the most famous curries of Indian cuisine, it is said that this mix of spices actually has Portuguese origins, introduced in the Indian state of Goa in the 15th century and reworked with local ingredients. The term vindaloo itself would be the distortion of the name of the Portuguese recipe carne de vinha d'alhos, which means meat marinated in vinegar, garlic, salt and wine.
Vindaloo curry sees red chilli as the main ingredient (also imported to India by the Portuguese), along with cardamom, pepper, cumin, cinnamon and cloves. The result is a very spicy mix that lends itself well to seasoning recipes based on beef, pork or chicken, but also vegetables.
Taking these traits into account, a good wine pairing with a Beef Vindaloo is represented by a aromatic white wine with good structure, such as a "Justina" Gewürztraminer Alto Adige DOC 2023, rich and fragrant, characterised by an aromatic texture of mango, lychee and rose petals and a pleasant spicy counterpoint. On the palate it reveals itself as full-bodied and lively, fresh and elegant.
Just take a sip of this Trentino white wine to confirm the perfect union between aromatic wines and curry!
Green Curry Noodles
Spice lovers know that India is just the tip of the iceberg and that the rich panorama of ethnic gastronomy has so many proposals in store that a single lifetime would not be enough to try them all. Those who love spicy food, for example, can find what they're looking for in Thai cuisine. The most famous Thai curries - generally available in paste form - are three, distinguished by colour and degree of spiciness: red curry, slightly spicy and with a good aromatic charge, yellow curry, generally sweet, and green curry, the spiciest.
Composed of green chilli, lemongrass, onion and galangal, this condiment is used to marinate meat, to compose sauces to be consumed with rice and chicken, but also to flavour the classic rice noodles and give them a more gritty identity.
The pairing rules are clear: better to leave the reds in the cellar and bring to the table an aromatic and intense white such as a Riesling, so that the palate can enjoy a bit of freshness between one bite and another.
Among the best wines for Asian dishes stands out a "Famèi" Riesling Renano Trentino DOC 2019 which offers exactly what is needed to stand up to the intense flavours of this dish, thanks to an articulated aromatic texture and a bold taste. It's difficult not to fall in love with its notes of wisteria, jasmine and bergamot, which tickle the sense of smell and invite a sip. The taste is full, slightly sweet and refreshing, structured around notes of moss, resin and moss: an excellent white wine for "extreme" curries like this one!
Curry Ramen
Cuisine is history, culture and tradition, but in many cases it's above all a comforting cuddle for tough days. When succulent burgers or enveloping stews are not enough to lift the spirits, more exotic flavours can help, like the irresistible umami offered by a bowl of hot ramen.
Japanese ramen - born in China in the 19th century and arriving in Japan between the end of that century and the beginning of the next - is a dish that has now gone around the world and manages to please more or less everyone with its enormous range of variants: with meat, with fish, vegetarian, flavoured with miso, soy sauce or pork bone broth. The one enriched with Japanese curry has something extra!
This condiment usually composed of coriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper, chilli, cloves and cinnamon, is sometimes sold in powder form and sometimes in cubes. The rather contained level of spiciness allows the consumer to pair it with various wines, without compromising the final taste. Why not try it with a sparkling wine?
An excellent sparkling wine for Japanese curry is a "Berlucchi '61" Franciacorta Saten DOCG, characterised by intense and enveloping notes of tropical fruit and candied citrus.
The sip reveals a good structure, and a tangy and acidulous hint that helps clean the mouth from the more pungent and oily flavours of this dish.
Couscous
From the Far East we finally travel to North Africa, where the culinary tradition has given birth to a soft, savoury, but not very spicy curry: Ras El Hanout. Not many know it by this name, but probably many have tasted it at least once in dishes served in Moroccan restaurants.
So this mixture based on turmeric, cumin, coriander and allspice represents the perfect addition to your spice collection, to be used to flavour rich dishes of chicken or vegetable couscous.
Regarding the wine pairing, it's possible to call upon a good rosé wine for curry, in this case embodied by a "Verite du Terroir" Côte de Provence Rosé 2023. Produced through organic farming, this French rosé stands out for elegance and delicacy. On the nose it is characterised by fruity notes of peach, raspberry and pink grapefruit, while in the mouth it is refreshing and pleasantly mineral, with an aftertaste of violets and rose petals.
Spicy or sweet? Whatever your favourite type of curry, find the best pairings in the Svinando catalogue!