Sweet paprika — flavouring profile

The point of sweet paprika is that it is sweet, not hot: the chilli heat is bred out, so it asks for a wine matched to a rich, paprika-thickened stew, not for the low-alcohol cooling that fierce chilli demands.

The compounds that matter. With the capsaicin gone, what is left is colour and gentle savour. Carotenoid pigments, capsanthin and capsorubin, give the deep red and a faintly sweet, dried-fruit warmth. Mild pyrazines carry a roasted, dried-red-pepper note, earthy rather than green. Cooked into the base of a dish with onion and tomato, paprika browns and turns sweet-savoury, building Maillard depth and body. The one thing to watch is bitterness: scorch paprika in a hot pan and it turns acrid, and that bitterness stacks with hard tannin.

What it demands of a wine. Body to match a spice that thickens and enriches whatever it is cooked into; ripe, rounded fruit to echo paprika's own sweet-savoury warmth; and supple, moderate tannin rather than a hard green grip that would meet any scorched bitterness head-on. Because there is no heat here, alcohol does not need reining in the way it does with hot chilli, and a comfortable medium-bodied red is back in play. Fresh acidity helps, since paprika dishes are often tomato-rich and generous.

Seek. Medium-bodied, fruit-forward reds with soft tannin and a savoury edge. Grenache is a fine match for goulash and chicken paprikash, its ripe strawberry-and-plum fruit and gentle pepper echoing the sweet spice without fighting it. Spanish Tempranillo, soft and warm with sweet vanilla from oak, suits paprika-led sofrito cooking and chorizo. For the smoky-grilled, caramelised end, a fuller darker rosé in the Tavel mould has the weight and red-fruit warmth to meet browned paprika. Lighter, fresher paprika dishes take a juicy, low-tannin red served slightly cool.

Avoid. Hard, young, tannic reds, whose grip turns drying and bitter against any over-toasted paprika. Delicate, neutral whites, which a paprika-rich, body-heavy dish simply overwhelms. Heavily oaked, high-alcohol reds, which bury paprika's gentle sweetness under wood and warmth.

Three to reach for. Grenache for goulash and paprika-stewed chicken; a soft Spanish Tempranillo for sofrito-based and chorizo dishes; a fuller darker rosé for grilled, caramelised paprika cooking.