Wine & Spice - testing the “ripeness” doctorine….
The heat of the lentils is making me wince in pain, and even the rice elicits a silent pant from my mouth. Madina restaurant, home of the “seasonal” health department shutdown, is testing my limits for spicy food.
Chono’s Carmenere is soothing me though with berries so ripe that they are almost oozing their inner sugars onto my fingers before I eat them. The resulting metaphoric mess is massaging my palate as the food heats it (beyond pain I can enjoy… but will continue happily in the name of keeping you lovely blog readers filled with wine adventures!). I totally lost the “green peppercorn” part of the flavor profile with this food, but I did get the chocolate and the nearly jammy nose just as much as before.
The “ripeness” doctorine works out tonight… wine’s flavors should be of the RIPEST varieties (almost so ripe it is going rotten) if it’s going to pair with spicy food. If you taste a berry, it should be an almost mushily ripe berry. If you taste a pear, it should be approaching softness. If you taste an orange, it should be almost handsoap level over-the-top in its aroma.
Tannins may not help the situation, but it’s the “ripeness” of the fruit flavors of the wine that will make or break the experience.