As Benny the Bartender sliced into the jalapeño, across his face was a pained smile that said, I’m horrified … but also kind of excited.
Maybe Benny Gershweir agreed to this experiment because, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan, there was only one witness in Automatic Slim’s, a dive in the West Village. Or maybe it was because Mr. Gershweir was promised a free drink for his troubles.
Either way, a little part of him seemed to die each time he plopped a slice of the green chili into the cold glass of sauvignon blanc.
“Wine is sacred,” Mr. Gershweir, 25, of Brooklyn, said. To him, this latest wine trend was like putting caviar on a hot dog.
But on social media, where the caviar hot dog has a home, throwing a few jalapeño slices into a chilled glass of white wine is the latest drinking craze.
“I fear I will never be able to drink my sauvy b the same way again,” wrote Grace Ramadan, a casual wine enjoyer from Austin, Texas, in the caption of a TikTok video that shows her dropping frozen jalapeño slices into her wine. In an interview, Ms. Ramadan, 26, called it her “drink of the summer, because it was so easy” and cheap.
This trend is not new. There are nine-year-old Reddit threads dedicated to jalapeño wine. But over the past month, it has resurged on TikTok as people look for a refreshing, cheap way to spice up life.
At Cardinal Hollow Winery just outside Philadelphia, Christopher Boyd has been making jalapeño wine for nearly two decades, or as he puts it, “before TikTok was TikTok.” Instead of infusing a white wine with a few slices of the hot pepper, he ferments the jalapeño into its own wine.
“As soon as I open the bottle, 10 feet away, you can smell it,” he said. “When you drink it doesn’t burn your eyes or your lips, but you feel the warmth go down your throat into your stomach.”
Compared to the espresso martini or the Aperol spritz, which have reached near-ubiquity in many cities, jalapeño wine is not as widely known. Mixologists and sommeliers at wine stores and bars in Manhattan stared blankly when asked, “What wine pairs best with sliced hot peppers?”
Even at Dante, a bar and restaurant whose name brings to mind one of literature’s most famous infernos, the burning drink was not on the menu. The trend had to be explained to Dante’s beverage training director, Renato Tonelli, who said that when it comes to mixing he prefers to work with a tincture made from soaking hot peppers in alcohol for a more consistent flavor.
At Entwine, a narrow, dimly lit hipster bar in the West Village, Richard Robles, the vest-wearing host, poured two half glasses, dropped in slices of serrano pepper — a variation on the jalapeño drink — and was about to take a sip when a voice from the end of the bar called out.
“Can I take a picture of it?” Leela Glenn jumped in. To her confused friend, she explained, “It’s like a trend online right now. All the girlies are doing it.”
“What kind of wine is it?” her friend, Bradley Ghei (pronounced “guy”) a sommelier at the restaurant Peak With Priceless in Hudson Yards, asked.
“‘Sauvy b,’ right?” said Ms. Glenn, a server at Peak. “I saw it all over TikTok.”
Mr. Robles poured the half glasses into two more glasses, inviting all four people to sip past white seeds and green flesh in the name of science.
At first, it tastes like eating a bell pepper before drinking wine — the pepper’s essence is floral, sweet and a little bitter. Then, at the back of your throat is a light burning sensation heightened by the pepper’s overwhelming aroma.
Like Mr. Gershweir from Automatic Slim’s, Mr. Robles was reluctant, then pleasantly surprised, and then concluded that he would never try this trend again.
“But it’s like fun,” Ms. Glenn said. “It’s cute and it’s fun.”
Cute and fun indeed. Similar to the ever popular spicy margarita or Dua Lipa’s pickle juice and jalapeño Coke, it is easy to see why this cheap and easy way to enhance your evening drink is popular.
At Layla, a cocktail bar and restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, one bartender was less enthused. Elvis McNally, 26, the lone bartender one Thursday evening, used a Soave Classico to make the drink, which he concluded tasted “green.” He insisted that people looking for the right mix should try a natural wine that simulates the same flavor of the chili peppers.
And what if someone orders the drink when he’s working?
“I’m going to say I don’t have jalapeños,” Mr. McNally said.
Just down the street from Layla at the popular wine bar Sauced, two employees, Tae Anne, 30, and Ellen Alt, 26, were cautiously open to the idea.
Before she took a sip, Ms. Anne said it sounded “equivalent to putting ice cubes in your wine.”
But after trying it with a Greek orange wine that the two selected to pair with the hot peppers, both agreed they enjoyed the combination.
“It’s a vibe,” Ms. Anne concluded.
On TikTok, each casual wine drinker’s jalapeño-wine concoction varies. Some use rosé instead of white wine. Some freeze the peppers; others don’t. Some remove the seeds.
Sommeliers say to remove the seeds. Don’t freeze the peppers for too long, or else you won’t be able to taste the heat. Use the leftovers from a bottom-shelf wine. Try adding jalapeños to a fun cocktail or even a Jell-O shot. Use an off-dry riesling that is a little sweeter than a sauvignon blanc to balance the jalapeño, said Madison Grace, 30, a Los Angeles-based sommelier who posts wine tips on TikTok.
There was one piece of advice that every sommelier shared: Enjoy your wine however makes you happy. With ice cubes? Sure. With some heat? Why not. It’s your life, it’s your wine.
But if you order jalapeño wine at a bar, just be prepared for some confusion from the bartender, and maybe even a photo request.
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
Sara Ruberg covers breaking news and is a member of the 2024-25 class of Times Fellows, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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