Beer, Red or White?The Rules of Wine Pairing for Asian Menus (1/2)

Beer, Red or White? The Rules of Wine Pairing for Asian Menus Wine with Asian food is not a natural match to many American diners. Even to many Asian restaurateurs, wine pairing with Asian cuisines remains a controversial subject, as in most Asian cultures wine is traditionally consumed before a meal, rather than with a meal, contradictory to the wine drinking habit of the Western dining. Such beliefs cause paradox when diners are weighing their choices of holiday dining at Asian restaurants. Limited wine list doesn’t sound encouraging at all for a dinner party at the New Year’s Eve. Get a bit adventurous and expand your wine stocking this holiday season. You won’t regret that for creating enriched holiday dining experience for your customers, and enhancing profit margins for your own restaurant business. Unlike many typical American dishes, such as roast turkey, ham and veal that contain a single flavor profile in one dish, and are served one entrée after another, Asian foods are characteristics in the way that there are many layers of ingredients and flavors featured in one Asian dish. Thus can make pairing wine with Asian food a complicated and risky task. The safest bets seem to be a beer, a sweet cocktail, or water. But a few key tips can make wine pairings with Asian food easy, mutually enhancing both the wine and the meal. Balance is the basic consideration when pairing wine with Asian dishes. As a rule, wine with heavy alcohol or tannins will block the rich flavors of most Asian dishes. Foods that are spicy are enhanced by a wine with very little alcohol; otherwise, the heat from the alcohol will intensify the heat sensation from the food. The best bets for hot, spicy foods are a German style Riesling or a Muscadet from the Loire Valley in France. Contrasting tastes in wine and food matching is another approach that can be used with Asian food. Slightly sweet wines are a good contrast to the salty flavors in most Asian cuisines, while matching some of their sweeter flavors. Typical sweet wines include many Rieslings, Gewürztraminers and lighter style Chenin Blancs. When recommending wine for your customers, keep in mind the consideration that many Asian entrees incorporating ingredients that can be hard on wine: soy sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, chilies and chili paste, ginger, lemon grass, plus spices and herbs like cardamom, cumin, five spice, curry powder, and Thai basil. Wonderful as the ingredients are in a dish, these flavors can flatten many wines, rob them of their fruity characteristics, and even make the wine taste bitter. That is why many of today’s wine consultants strongly recommend German Rieslings, and suggest to avoid Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon. Snappy, clean, high-acid wines go well with Asian flavors. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, for instance, with their penetrating acidity and clean tropical flavors, are a sensational match. Breaking down to the spicy and flavor profiles of Asian dishes, here goes the rule of thumb. Hot Dishes Need Low Alcohol ? German Riesling's (especially Mosel region) - Excellent acidity and slight sweetness counters heat. ? Lighter-bodied wines such as Italian Trebbiano, some Pinot Grigio's, Muscadet from the Loire Valley of France, and Sylvaner from Alsace. ? Champagne and sparkling wines - Effervescence can counteract "burn" of alcohol and won't intesify the heat. Spicy Dishes ? A Spanish Rioja (or Ribero Del Duero - I add). ? Spicy red wines from Portugal or France's Cotes du Rhone. ? Fino sherry - nuttiness of sherry echoes that in sesame oils and seeds. Herbaceous Dishes ? Vouvray made from Chenin Blancin the Loire Valley - Clean and crisp. ? German Riesling from regions such as Rheingau, Mittelrhein, or Pfalz. ? Lighter Italian Trebbiano or Pinot Grigios. Salty Dishes ? German Riesling - sweetness is a good foil for saltiness. ? Champagne or sparkling wine - acid also acts as a foil for saltiness.