Carrot, flavouring profile

Carrot, flavouring profile

Roasted carrot is sweeter than most people expect, and a wine that is too dry or too tannic turns sour and hard beside it.

The compounds that matter. Natural sugars, which roasting caramelises, and which make a bone dry wine taste thin and sharp. A violet scented compound that carrots share with Gamay and some other light reds, a quiet bridge between plate and glass. Earthy, faintly piney notes that give carrot its smell and suit wines with a herbal or spicy edge.

What it demands of a wine. Ripe fruit and a little roundness, or a touch of sweetness where the carrots are glazed with honey. Moderate acidity rather than a razor edge. Little or no tannin. Where cumin, harissa or yoghurt join the carrots, an aromatic or darker pink wine carries the spice.

Seek. Chenin Blanc from Vouvray in its off dry style, honeyed and bright, for glazed carrots, and the rosado below does the same job bone dry. Pinot Gris from Alsace in its dry style, rich and gently spiced, for carrots roasted in butter. Darker rosado from Navarra, made from Garnacha, for carrots with cumin or harissa. Light Beaujolais crus such as Fleurie, whose violet note mirrors the carrot. Unoaked Mencía from Bierzo for carrots on a meat plate.

Avoid

Lean, bone dry whites with sharp acidity, which the carrot's sweetness turns sour. Firmly tannic reds, since the sweet, earthy vegetable makes tannin taste bitter. Heavy oak, which buries a vegetable this gentle.

Three to reach for. Off dry Chenin Blanc, Vouvray, France. Darker rosado, Navarra, Spain. Fleurie, Beaujolais, France.