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What wine is best w Chinese food?

awbrig

By awbrig
in Wine

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Howie

Howie

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A beer is always great, but perhaps try a German Reisling w/ spicier Asian foods such as Kung Pao Chicken. In my opinion, the presence of some great acidity, no oak, and a touch of sweetness pairs really well.

Josef Leitz is one of favorite winemarkers, and a bottle of his Reisling Kabinett should be under $15.

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tommy

tommy

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singha will be good. as will any of the wines mentioned above with notable acidity, no oak, and slight sweetness. then again, i rarely drink anything else, with or without food.

plotz, why would you say a slightly spicier wine is necessarily better in this application? surely other factors such as the producer would have a greater impact on a wine's food-pairing potential than just the grape, even though its name translates to "spice."

tommy:eats.com
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Steve Plotnicki

Steve Plotnicki

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I think Rieslings work better with foods where the taste is more concentrated, or with a greater degree of fat to it. So a smoked ham, or a roast goose is the perfect foil for a Riesling. Cuts through them like a laser beam. Especially if the wine has good acid. But Gewurz is a less focused wine, sort of flowery in a spicy way and I always found it a better match with foods where the flavor is not as concentrated into a single ingredient. One thing that makes Chinese food a difficult match for wine in general is the soy sauce which is already a significant secondary flavor in many Chinese dishes.

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Steve Plotnicki

Steve Plotnicki

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It's funny because I wanted to add to my last post that whatever you do don't drink chardonnay. And then there was the Cakebread post. Oh well. In my experience chardonnay is not acidic enough and is too sweet. But that brings us to Fat Guy's champagne suggestion which is a whole different thing because of the bubbles. Let's just say that I bring champage with me to eat Japanese food all of the time so it has a shot. But red wine is awful. Soy sauce and rice wine go poorly with red wine. Mogsob's albarino suggestion isn't bad, and in the same flavor profile, a condrieu would probably cut it as well. Both broad and flowery on the palate with good acid.

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GordonCooks

GordonCooks

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Specifically Kung Pao Chicken or would beer be more appropiate?  Thanks!

With spicy - it's always cool white for me -

I like a nice, peachy Gruner Veltiner -

A young, acidic Muscadet ,

A Gerwurtz or Pinot Blanc.

I have served chilled Gamay/Beaujolais with Asian - interesting, but not as good as a white

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tommy

tommy

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In my experience chardonnay is not acidic enough and is too sweet.

with *any* food, not just chinese. well, as with anything, there are exceptions. i'm still trying to figure out how i managed to drink so much of it in my 20's, and with so many good meals. i must have been drunk. :blink:

tommy:eats.com
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Charles Smith

Charles Smith

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I agree with the "aromatic" wine choices, It's also worth trying with unoaked nebbiolo wines (barbarescos work well) or Chateauneuf de Pape (Robert Parker's a big believer in these combos). As for Steve's assertion that soy sauce does not work well with red wines, I disagree- there are plenty of believers that pinot noir and and soy sauce are a perfect match in terms of umami, especially when paired with sushi.

Go hereGoogle search for some interesting reading on the subject.

anyway, it's worth trying in the pursuit of science.

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lamb

lamb

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It's funny because I wanted to add to my last post that whatever you do don't drink chardonnay. And then there was the Cakebread post.

When I mentioned the Cakebread, it was responding to Hollywood's post about the Cakebread sauvignon blanc. Sorry if I confused it with the Chardonnay - but I still think the SB would be a good choice with Chinese. :rolleyes:

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Theoretically, if there existed one wine that was the best wine with everything, it wouldn't be a copout to recommend that wine every time. The copout would be denying that reality.

But no, the copout is "Alsatian wine." That's the textbook answer everybody gives. But if you pour some Champagne with your Sichuan, I assure you you'll be promoting yourself to a higher level of enjoyment. Of course you need to pick the right Champagne -- a bit of sweetness approaching the demi-sec level is key -- and in fact some of the New World sparklers do better with spicy Asian food than the French Champagnes.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Ron Johnson

Ron Johnson

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While Gewurtztraminer is my first choice as well (the presence of a Leon Beyer Gewurtz on London's Hunan's wine list is much appreciated), a Spanish Albarino also works well and can be lest costly.

Leon Beyer is my favorite producer in Alsace right now. I also like the idea of the Albarino. Almonds and peaches. I always have it with tapas at this lovely Spanish place in my neighborhood, but I never thought of it with Asian. I think I shall try it this weekend.

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