SENSORY COMPONENT: SPICE HEAT
Spiciness, if you piss off your mouth, your mouth will get back at you… As soon as you have that sip of lovely Cab…. Or Syrah, or Sauvignon Blanc even. What happens when our mouth is experiencing the sensory sensation of spiciness is irritation. Your entire mouth is irritated, and therefore also more sensitive to other irritants such as tannin and alcohol. Have a spoonfull of chili paste, and try to wash it down with a gulp of nice chilled dry rosé. If your mouth wasn’t already on fire, the alcohol just acted as lighter-fluid. Moreover if you take a sip of a tannic wine, the tannin that previously might have seemed balanced and smooth, is now attacking your mouth like the greenest banana you’ve ever laid eyes on.
So how do you spice Lovers in the world find a way to quench your thirst whilst avoiding the dairy isle? Sugar! The sweeter the wine the higher the viscosity and the lower the natural alcohol! A thicker, syrupy wine will drape your mouth in a soothing film of sweetness, and what’s even more perfect about choosing a sweeter wine to go with your pepper platter, is the fact that when making wine yeast eats sugar in the must (the grape juice) and creates alcohol, but if you want to keep half of the sugar, you will also have half of the alcohol (less lighter-fluid).