Some Surprising Asian Food & Wine Matches

The U.S. has gone far beyond the point where Asian influenced food is found only in ethnic restaurants. It’s in our homes, our supermarkets, bookstores and televisions; and American culinary schools are now turning out legions of chefs who apply the concepts of Asian cooking everywhere they go. And I mean everywhere: it’s no longer surprising to find Chinese style spring rolls in “regional” American restaurants, Thai style curries in “French” restaurants, and Japanese style marinades or even sushi in steakhouses and seafood eateries.

Wine, of course, is not indigenous to the cultures and gastronomies of Asia. But there are enough variations of wines made around the world today to find some perfectly delicious, if not surprising, matches for nearly every Asian style dish. If you love wine, and you love Asian foods, all the more reason to try them:

Asian Foods with German Riesling (Dry to Kabinett Level Sweetness)

Quintessential German style Rieslings – penetratingly scented, juicy rich, light and fine as silk, with a whispering sweetness balanced by perceptible acidity – are usually the first wines cited for Asian foods. Think of how you might make a healthy stir fry -- balancing thin strips of meat with at least equal amounts of crisp vegetables, a trace of an oil balanced with soy, lemon or rice vinegar, salt and cracked pepper, a touch of a chili sauce or multi-spice seasonings, and served with fragrant jasmine rice. You can't go wrong when you figure in a fragrant, deftly balanced German Riesling, whether bone dry (if balanced with lush fruitiness and minerality), “half-dry” (balancing slivers of sweetness), or slightly sweet (Kabinett style).

It may be understandable why someone would say that Asian cooking is not good for wine. Badly balanced cooking -- and badly balanced wine, for that matter – is not good for anyone. But when principles of harmony and balance are executed in your stir fry, and are intrinsic in your choice of wine, then you’ve got yourself a perfectly delicious, and dramatic, match.

Asian Foods with Viognier

White wines made from the Viognier grape are actually an unorthodox choice for Asian style foods for two reasons -- they tend to be low in acid and full in alcohol, somewhat like Chardonnay. But unlike Chardonnay, Viogniers tend to be extremely fragrant -- billowing with exotic fruit and honeysuckle-like perfumes, and suggestions of violet and white pepper. The finer styles of California grown Viognier are amplified by plush, mouthwatering, almost sweet (even if the wine is technically dry), dense and silken textured flavors.

Chinese cooking in particular -- such as duck in hoisin plum sauces, chicken in gingery or citrusy syrups, and savory sauced napa cabbage, choy sum, mustard greens, and other toothsome vegetables -- can be tilted towards sweetness balanced by a mild bitterness and saltiness. In Southeast Asia, fish is often coated with curries and coconut milk, strong pastes made from coriander root and peppercorns, or stuffed with scallions, fatty pork, garlic cloves and even spicy hot Serrano chilies. In these food contexts, the aggressively full, hefty, peppery qualities of Viognier are often superior to the more feeble alcohol and higher acid qualities of Riesling.

Viognier doesn't work, however, in cases where dishes are overly sweet, or numbingly hot -- in other words, badly balanced Asian cooking. But when full flavored Asian dishes are prepared correctly, a good, balanced Viognier can contribute an exotic note of its own to the overall experience.

Asian Foods with Zinfandel

The jammy, lusciously raspberryish, black peppery spiced aromas and flavors of first rate California Zinfandel – especially those of moderate or at least rounded tannin structure - are a sensible if unorthodox choice with barbecued pork or beef ribs coated in sweet/spicy marinades (especially when Asian chili seasonings or sauces are used). A proper Zinfandel has the red wine tannin to handle fatty, charred meats, yet the cushion of fruitiness to enhance, rather than fight, the hot spices.

But peppery spiced Zinfandels are also surprising with aggressive forms of Southeast Asian cooking, such as grilled coriander chicken served with sweet/salty/spicy dipping sauces (nam jeem), raw beef with pepper salt, beef stir fried with spicy ginger, and hot pot dishes such as eggplant (cooked with ground pork, coriander, dried shrimp, garlic, and shallots) served with fried beef jerky. Whenever there is a presence of peppercorns, some vinegary zest, or slightly hot garlic, chile and gingery sensations, a zesty, peppery, fruity Zinfandel finds another surprising food element.

Asian Foods with Southern French Varietals & Blends (Syrah, Grenache & Mourvèdre)

The entire premise of balancing Southern French style varietals reds and blends – Syrah utilized for its floral, spicy, structural fullness, Grenache for its plush, mildly peppery red fruitiness, and Mourvèdre for its dense, meaty texture – draws comparisons to the balancing of ingredients and sensations in Asian style cooking. Beef or pork ribs in sweet, salty, peppery, vinegary, spicy hot, and even downright sticky sauces tend to be problematic for Bordeaux varietals, but not so much for the Southern French.

The advantage of Southern French blends is that their tannin is moderated enough so that they don’t taste so bitter in relation to sweet, sour, salty or spicy sauces, yet retain enough red wine phenolics to digest fatty meats. This opens the door for the peppercorn-like components natural to Syrah and Grenache to find pleasing flavor bridges in dishes that make use of chiles and other spicy ingredients.

Then there is the factor of umami – specifically, the reaction of salt and acidity when activitated by foods high in amino acids (such as mushrooms, aged cheeses, seaweeds and natural stocks) – which effectively reduces bitter tastes in both wines and dishes.

In the presence of high umami ingredients, typically spicy, sweetly fruited, earth toned Southern French reds tend to taste “milder,” while dishes become more savory. In fact, pure varietal Syrahs – particularly the fruit forward (as opposed to hard and tannic) styles of Australian Shiraz, and many of the new style Syrahs coming from California’s Central Coast and Lodi regions – seem to help the palate achieve umami-related sensory adaptations with considerable ease. It’s no surprise that the dominant style of cooking done in Australia today is pervasively Asian, and the Aussies have no problem, philosophically or sensory related, consuming their biggest Southern French varietals and blends with it!

Asian Foods with Rounder Italian Red Varietals (Dolcetto, Barbera & Sangiovese)

The range of red wines made from these grapes not only in Italy but also, now, in California is astounding. Each has its charms – Dolcetto a zesty black fruitiness, Barbera an even zestier edged, palate sticking fruitiness, and Sangiovese (i.e. Chianti, and reds of Montalcino and Montepulciano) a mildly zesty, cherry fruit complexity – and all are marked by qualities of slightly elevated acidity, low to medium tannin, and earth related characteristics manifested in multiple ways, from burning leaves and licorice to roasted meat and leather-like nuances.

Given these structural and aroma/flavor advantages, there are few wines that perform as well with Chinese or Southeast Asian style hot pots of beef or pork; especially when punctuated by peppercorns, garlic, scallions, and the licoricey tastes of star anise, cilantro or coriander, and sacred basil. Then there is the seemingly vast range of small production Italian and California wines that utilize these varietals as blending elements – Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese with Tempranillo, Barbera with Nebbiolo, Zinfandel with Barbera, et al. While unorthodox, the good thing about these innovative “Italianate” wines is that they fit in with many of the unorthodox styles of fusion cooking being done all around the world.

To wit: if Asian cooking is untraditional with wine, the best wines for Asian foods may very well be the most untraditional, imaginative blends.

Into the Realm of Good Sense

There is no reason to fear wine with Asian foods as long as your choices are based upon the premise that the highest percentage chances of achieving a perfectly delicious match are found in

• Crisply balanced, moderately scaled whites, or
• Sweetly fruit forward reds (whether light or big) that are also round, smoothly textured, and (especially) spice toned.

To that, you can probably add sweetly aromatic, smoothly dry or off-dry pink wines, not to mention crisp, lively sparklers.

But when you think about it, if you can find wines to match the most difficult Asian foods, you can probably find just as many to match more of the foods we love to eat; like spicy marinades, salty chips and creamy dips, heavy mayo salads, souped up ramen (I add fishcake, sesame oil, spinach and nori strips), and even fully loaded hot dogs (for me, naked without a meaty chili, sauerkraut and sweet onions), cheeseburgers (either Tabasco and Sharp Cheddar, or Maytag blue cheese and sweet relish). If wine is to ever become an American staple, it has to be treated like one: as a sensible part of our lives and meals!