Pairing wine with Chinese cuisine
I’ve written before about pairing wine with Chinese food - and so have some of my contributors but here’s a slightly different way of going about it that may help you decide which bottle to choose and make your pairings more successful. It involves deciding which flavours are predominant in a dish or selection of dishes.
Of course dishes of different types tend to be put on the table at the same time but they tend to be grouped together. You rarely find a delicate seafood dish served alongside a stir fry of beef in black bean sauce, for example, so it makes sense, as it does for a Western meal, to open more than one bottle. Be guided by the most intensely flavoured dish you’ve cooked or ordered - this is the one that’s going to dominate any wine that you’re drinking.
Delicate seafood flavours, typical of Cantonese cuisine as in steamed dim sum, scallops, steamed whole fish: Minerally Sauvignon Blanc e.g. Sancerre, young Chablis and other young white burgundy, dry German or Austrian riesling, Champagne
- Deep fried dim sum and other snacks: sparkling wine.
- Spicy noodles: Viognier
- Sweet and sour dishes: Fruity rosé e.g. Merlot-based Bordeaux, Australian and Chilean rosés, Australian semillon-chardonnay blends
- Duck dishes such as crispy duck with pancakes: New World Pinot Noir, Merlot and Merlot blends
- Dishes in which ginger is a dominant note e.g. crab or lobster with ginger: Gewurztraminer
- Black bean sauce: Rich, velvety but not too tannic reds e.g. Chilean or other ripe New World Cabernet, fruity Zinfandel
- Barbecued dishes such as spare ribs: As above
- Rich braised dishes, hotpots: More tannic reds such as Syrah or blends of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre
- Hot, fiery dishes typical of Szechuan cuisine: Wines with a touch of sweetness especially Alsace pinot gris and Gewurztraminer - even sweet wine ***