Sumac: flavouring profile

Sumac is the tart, fruity-sour heart of Levantine cooking; a deep-red seasoning that is really an acidulant, all lemony astringency and no heat, so its first demand on a wine is simple. Bring acid to meet acid.

The compounds that matter. Sumac's character is dominated not by aroma but by acidity, malic and citric acids give the sharp, lemony sourness, while tannins in the ground berry add a gentle astringency and its dark red colour. There is a fruity, faintly woody note beneath the tartness, but the souring is the headline. That changes the usual pairing logic: where most spices ask a wine to mirror an aroma, sumac asks it to match a sourness. A wine with lower acid than the dish tastes instantly flat and flabby beside it, so high acid is not a preference here but a requirement. Sumac lives on fattoush, grilled meats, fish and mezze, and is a backbone of za'atar, so the table around it is savoury, herbal and often spread with many small plates.

What it demands of a wine. High acid first, to stand level with the tartness rather than be flattened by it. A fresh, citrus or red-berry fruit character chimes with sumac's own fruitiness. For grilled and roasted meats, a savoury, moderate-tannin red works well, but not a hard, high-tannin one, whose astringency stacks on the berry's own. Light oak at most: heavy vanilla and toast dull the bright, sour lift. There is no heat to manage, so alcohol simply needs to stay in balance.

Seek

High-acid whites lead for fattoush, fish and mezze: a saline, citrus-driven white matches the tartness and the lemon note at once. For sumac-rubbed grilled lamb and kebabs, a savoury, herb-and-fig Eastern Mediterranean red of moderate tannin meets both the meat and the regional logic. A darker, Mediterranean rosé suits the mixed mezze table, and a skin-contact (orange) wine: a Ribolla Gialla from Friuli or a Rkatsiteli from Georgia, earns a place wherever the spread turns to many small, savoury plates.

Avoid

Low-acid wines of any colour: they fall flat the moment the sumac's sourness hits. Heavily oaked wines, whose vanilla and weight smother the bright tartness. Big, high-tannin reds, whose astringency compounds with sumac's own into something hard and drying.

Three to reach for. Assyrtiko (Santorini). Lebanese red blend (Bekaa Valley). Tavel rosé (southern Rhône).