Wine doesn't really go with spicy food, does it? Aha! That's the sort of remark you might have got away with five years ago, but not now. Too many of us are too fond of our wine to swallow the notion that a Kingfisher beer is the only thing to drink with curry. If matching food and wine is currently a favourite pursuit among the drinking classes (and believe me, it is), finding the right bottle to flatter searing spice is absolutely the hottest topic - and no apologies for the pun.
Some relentless winos even go so far as to maintain that beer - or anything else with bubbles - is the very worst thing you could possibly choose. Fizz accentuates the chilli burn, they argue. I'm not sure I'd take autocratic dictates quite that far. If you want to drink beer with your rogan josh (or if I want to drink champagne with my satay, should I be so lucky), let nobody stand in the way with a pile of theories, all puffed up like poppadoms. But there's no doubt that some wines taste terrific with Indian, Thai and spicy Chinese dishes, while others are disastrous.
Ethnic restaurants are beginning to offer exciting wine lists which do their menus justice. One of the best I've come across belongs to Jaipur, the new Indian restaurant on South Great George's Street. About 35 wines are grouped according to their style - aromatic, fruity whites, spicy reds and so on - with a few words at the top of each section, explaining which type of dishes they suit best. "It seems to be working," says proprietor Asheesh Dewan. "Our wine sales are phenomenal."
The list was structured by Martin Moran, a Dublin-based Master of Wine who is now a freelance consultant. Some time ago, when Nisheeth Tak, Dewan's partner in Jaipur, was managing Poppadum in Rathgar and Moran was employed by Gilbeys, he took a vigorous approach to drawing up the wine list there, setting up a small tasting panel to test various wines with various dishes. What revelations emerged?
"It pretty much confirmed that aromatic whites and fruity non-tannic reds work best. But we were struck by how good Chardonnay is with creamy dishes like korma."
That's it in a nutshell, as far as Indian foods are concerned. The milder the spice, the more readily you'll get away with some fragrant, fruity white such as Sauvignon Blanc, Cotes de Gascogne, Australian Riesling or pretty much anything from Alsace. (Personally, I'd pick Riesling, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris way ahead of Gewurztraminer, whose rose-petal perfume seems to me to swamp most foods, but a lot of people love it). The greater the heat, the better off you'll be with red, provided it's not tannic and austere. Beaujolais and Grenache are flexibile middleweights. "They go with just about anything," Moran says.
But bolder flavours need bolder solutions - such as a top quality Chilean Merlot or a rich Australian Shiraz. The most striking thing I've discovered about red wines with spices is that bottles I'd normally find a bit too sweet seem just right with fiery food - so don't be afraid to pick big, jammy efforts from hot climates. The New World may be the most popular choice, but it isn't the only option. The south of France, southern Italy and central Spain are all good sources to plunder.
What about the broader picture - wines which harmonise with spicy foods from other cultures? Thai food seems, on the whole, to go better with white wines than red. Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon-Semillon blends, either from France or the New World, suit the dominant Thai green curry flavours of coriander, lemon grass, lime and basil. Australian Riesling also works well, with its lime freshness. With red curries, it's probably best to opt for bland, dry whites or fairly sweet, fruity reds, like those from South Australia or Chile.
China's spiciest food also goes down well with the slightly jammy red wines of the New World - like Californian Zinfandel, Australian Shiraz, Chilean Merlot or Pinot Noir.
The trouble is that all this careful matching falls asunder at the table. Unless you are all by yourself, the chances are you'll end up sharing several dishes - maybe even a whole line-up - with different degrees of heat. This probably means compromising a bit with the wine, choosing something middle-of-the-road. If you're in a group, though, the best bet is to try both a fruity white and a fruity red, and see how each stands up to the spice test.
Back to Jaipur for a moment. To somebody (like me) who complains pretty regularly about steep wine prices in restaurants, Jaipur's list triggers an instant and powerful thirst. You know how roughly twice the retail price has become the restaurant norm? Not here. Jaipur's mark-ups, especially for its better wines, range from modest to madly enticing. Champagne Laurent Perrier L-P Brut costs just £29 - virtually the same price as in the shops. Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve 1997 and Hunter's Estate Sauvignon Blanc, both typically retailing at around £12, are £18 on the wine list. Frank Phelan Saint-Estephe 1996, normally about £19 on wine shelves, is £27 - not the £38 or so you'd imagine. And so on. The idea, Asheesh Dewan says, is to encourage people to drink more. Imagine!