(Photo by Jing a Ling, CC)
Whenever I buy a new bottle of wine to try, I instinctively think “Okay, anything but Chinese for dinner.” But really, why can’t my favorite alcohol and (one of) my favorite cuisines just play nice? In China and many parts of Asia, the de-facto alcohols are rice wines, beer, and for the modern high-roller, whiskey. Drinking grape wine with Chinese food is much more complicated, because of the food’s possible spices, smoked flavors, and sometimes pesky cilantro. Lately, however, the food media has been stepping up to the challenge.
Some brief insights:
Eric Asimov’s recent column for The New York Times focuses on “Asian genres”. Although most of the word count is devoted to Indian food, the same theories can apply to Chinese. “Sparkling wine often complements spicy food for the same reason that
beer often works: the bubbles scrub and refresh the palate. Gewürztraminer is often recommended with spicy Asian cuisines, but I much prefer riesling, especially if it has some sweetness.”
Red Cook, one of my favorite blogs, did a four-part series on pairing Chinese food with wine. Kian found a Chenin Blanc that worked well with silken tofu and mushrooms, and a fruity Zinfandel that complimented his red-cooked lamb. See his series for more in-depth coverage.
In an old Food & Wine column, Lettie Teague found that Côtes-du-Rhône was nice with Peking duck. And that Dom Perignon rosé went well with soup dumplings until you add the vinegar. So, uh, no rosé for my xiaolongbao outings.
In the rare occasions I have eaten Chinese food with wine, I tended to go for rieslings, the safest bet. Though I recently discovered tempranillos also worked well with mildy spicy Sichuan, like twice-cooked pork.
Have you had good experiences with Chinese food and grape wine? Nightmare experiences? Share!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, Diana!
I’m in general agreement with Asimov. I’ve found that a dry, effervescent white wine is the most complimentary and versatile, particularly for Southeast Asian foods. My favorites are French Blanc de Blancs, Spanish Cavas, and Italian Proseccos. The tinier the bead, the better.
For still whites, a Sauvignon Blanc or a crisp Sancerre works well. I like how crisp wines cut and sweeten chili heat.
Red wines (and to a lesser extent, sweet wines) are more intrusive; often, their flavors eclipse whatever’s being served. But I imagine a sweeter, juicy red would pair wonderfully with salty, caramelized porkfat.
One word, riesling. One of my favs is the Boony Doon Pacific Rim dry riesling. Inexpensive and lovely.
I will second the Riesling recommendation and also the Sauvignon Blanc. Bubbly is nice, too. For the longest time I always stuck to beer, but a nice, not overly-dry white works well. There is a local chef who cooks neo-Asian and loves pairing wines with Asian cuisine. We attended a bubbly dinner at his restaurant and it was genius. He tends to do the pairing backwards -he tastes the wine and then cooks something to go with it. Here is his menu for an upcoming vegetarian wine dinner he’s planning:
Jujube Recession Dinner
Vegetarian Edition
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 7pm
Beet and citrus tartar with curried mango and goat cheese
-Emperador Macabeo
Parslied Bruschetta with shiitake, green garlic, and seaweed broth
-Tezza Flavio Bianco Veneto
Fennel and Rice cake with fragrant lebneh and braised bock choy
-Dr. Heyden Rose of Pinot Noir
Crispy soy and carrot won-tons with smoky plum sauce
-Peirano Estates “The Other Red”
Pepper “beef” with scallions and hoisin
-Santa Carolina Carminere Reserva
$40 per person plus tax and gratuity
Tam – Great suggestions! I’ll try one of your suggestions the next time I have Thai or Vietnamese.
Tam – Great suggestions! I’ll try one of your suggestions the next time I have Thai or Vietnamese.
Susanne – Thanks for sharing your dinner experience. I’m so inspired to try such an experiment, of tasting a drink and concocting a dish to match.
First off, thanks to Susanne for posting our latest wine menu. I do take the notion quiet seriously and really think that the only way to achieve a truly sublime pairing is to start with the wine an work backwards. After all, one has a nearly infinite choice of dishes but only so many wines to choose from. Fortunately, over time, I’ve been fortunate enough to taste enough wines that I can sometimes “dry-lab” a decent pairing based on tasting notes, but nothing compares to actually sticking my nose into a glass.
None the less, I was hoping to shed what is a surprisingly rarely shown light on the subject. Much of the alleged problems with pairing Asian food with wine tend to be attributed to the spice. Thing is, it’s not always spicy. Think about Cantonese food, it’s practically French with maybe a touch of ginger added. So, what’s the problem? The problem is sugar. Sugar in food makes wine taste insipid and tart. As a general rule, you need to avoid any situation where there’s more sugar in the food than the wine. And if you’re ordering take out from your favorite Chinese joint, you’re going to get a ton of sugar in your food. An alarming amount, really.
Oddly enough, I didn’t find that to be the case when I was eating Chinese food in China. However, when I’ve worked with Chinese cooks, or especially Thai cooks in American kitchens, I’ve been stunned by the amount of sugar they throw into dishes.
Interestingly enough, it is Gewurtztraminers and Rieslings that are always mentioned as the perfect foil for Asian foods. The logic is that sugar combats the spiciness. Honestly, however, I think it’s the sugar that combats the sugar.
Because we take our wine program seriously at Jujube, we make a concerted effort to reduce the sugar in our recipes. That allows us to serve a much larger array of wines with our foods and to compliment the actual flavors in the dishes rather than simply keep up with the sugar levels.
Charlie – If it’s just the sugar, then why do many red and whites not classified as dessert wines taste good with dessert? Could it be the combination of spice and sugar in some dishes that makes pairing difficult? In Cantonese food, the large amounts of ginger can also overwhelm a wine.