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Spicy Goes with Sweet
I had a recent experience with Moscato d’Asti and raw jalapeno slices – it was such a taste surprise!  I wanted to explore a little further, so I decided to try it with some spicy fish tacos.  I stopped at our corner wine shop on the way home and there was a rep sampling Martini & Rossi wines.  I figured, why not?  I picked up their sparkling Moscato for $13.  I also had a nice Riesling from our December shipment from Matello to test with the spicy food.

Home for the holidays, my daughter Casey made a fresh salsa with plenty of jalapenos; it was spicy!  We rolled fish and shrimp in a savory barbecue rub and quickly sauteed for the base filling.  The tacos were topped with the salsa and avocado slices.  A nice, cool cilantro coleslaw on the side completed the main dish.

Sweet wines for spicy fish tacos

Which Pairing?
Both wines were winners.  The Matello Carey Creek Riesling was very nice with the spicy tacos.  It had both sweetness and tart, refreshing acidity to balance the spicy salsa.  The Moscato d’Asti was amazing.  It showed creamy pears on the nose, with sweetness, acidity and bubbles in the mouth.  The addition of the bubbles somehow made us crave even more spice; and we’re from Minnesota, land of meek palates!

You may want to grab your favorite HOT peppers

With the encouragement from the Moscato, I added more of a  hot pepper blend to my tacos.  This pepper blend is grown, dried and produced by my friend Dave and it is hot.  The sweetness, fresh acidity and bubbles of the Moscato just seemed to ask for more spice.

My conclusion?  Moscato d’Asti is not just for dessert.  Break out a bottle the next time you have a very spicy dinner.

Thanks again to Bill Summerville and the folks at Kitchen in the Market for their enlightening introduction to sweet sparkling & spicy!

My sweet sparkling & spicy introduction.