SIP THE LIST

Spicy, aromatic, Thai food absolutely fangs with the right wine and can turn flaccid with the wrong wine. So let’s ditch the wrong ones immediately. When there’s the heat of chilli anywhere, step away from syrah and cabernet as they will cause a car crash in your cake hole. If you must have red wine with your spicy Eastern food, please make it a light, lush, gentle pinot noir. But for oohs and aahs around the table, every Thai dish, even the red-meaty ones, are better with bright, aromatic white wines or rosés — preferably ones with a splash of sweetness. My default drink, every time, is gewurztraminer. If gewurztraminer was a rock star, I’d be its groupie. If it were a religion, I’d worship it daily. And if I’m eating spicy food, it’s like the last sausage roll at the office shout: if I see it, I have to have it.

Pronounced “gar-verts-tra-meener”, it’s an exotically perfumed, intensely fruity style that when translated from German, means “spicy wine”. I adore the heady whiff of turkish delight, toffee apples and lychee that you get in the great ones, though not everyone’s a fan. I’ve got friends, some of them winemakers, who can’t stand the stuff — “blousy, sickly, flowery and poofy” are some of the words that spring to mind when recalling our arguments. But they don’t know what they’re talking about. I love the delicate balance between sweet and acid, and the way good gewurz can transform spicy food into something less scary. It always brightens my mood and it’s so recognisable. Once you’ve tried one or two, you’ll never have a problem picking it out in a blind tasting.