Why wine tastes more bitter as meal progresses

[sanjay_111]

Hi, I am pretty much a novice in wine drinking. Actually, I had never liked any alcoholic drinks earlier primarily because of the smell. But one day someone actually practically forced a Chardonnay on me and I just loved it. Since then I take wine regularly.

I seem to like sweet wines rather than dry and bitter. I also find (and this is my question), that wine tastes more and more bitter as the meal progresses. Anyone can tell me why it happens. For information, I invariably take very spicy Indian vegetarian food.

[wondersofwine]

I don't know the scientific answer. My guess is that the spiciness changes your palate as your meal progresses and makes the wine taste different. You might try several glasses of wine with a more bland dish and see if you still perceive increasing bitterness. Most delicate wines will not stand up to a very spicy dish.

[dananne]

I'd agree with Wonders on the palate change when progressing through a spicy meal. Eating vegetarian Indian cuisine (I like it hot, also) I tend to lean toward a Gewurtztraminer when I'm doing a white, though more often I drink softer reds with it -- such as Rioja, Grenache, or New World Shiraz/Syrah. I have no idea whether these pairings are traditional or mainstream, but they work for me! I'll be interested to see what thoughts more experienced folks have on the topic!

[Thomas]

The above answers are sound. If you are drinking Chardonnay with spicy dishes, it is quite safe to say the bitterness has a lot to do with the fact that the wine just isn't holding up well with that kind of food, and it usually won't.

[Kcwhippet]

The bitterness has everything to do with the food and wine pairing. If you like spicy Indian vegetarian food (as I do), you should have asked what the Indians have with such meals. No surprise, it's not wine. Indians, including my fanatical wine loving friend Dileep, most generally will have something that ameliorates the heat and spiceness, and makes an attempt to match. They will usually have some type of yogurt based drink or condiment (like raita) that tempers the heat. If you must have a wine, we've found that a sparkling wine (surprisingly enough) goes best of all the wines we've tried with spicy Indian dishes. Anything else and you're on your own.

[Drew]

If your drinking Chardonnay, specifically an over oaked one, the bitterness may be from the excessive oak and over the course of the meal those bitter flavors may become more pronounced as the wine opens and warms.

Drew

[sanjay_111]

Thanks for responding guys ! What this tells me is that one should have only sweeter wines with spicy food which means take something like Riesling, Chenin Blanc or Chardonnay.

By the way, I would like kcwhippet to tell me what wines his friend Dileep usually pairs with Indian food apart from sparkling wines.

[Kcwhippet]

Depending on the dish - Riesling, Gewurtztraminer and (sometimes)Zinfandel - red of course.