Sep 29, 2018
We couldn't hit every food, or every wine, but this sampling was done at our kitchen table -- as an experiment with Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and Indian foods. We had some great pairing moments and some colossally bad ones (I didn't realize things could go SO wrong with wine and Asian food, but here's your warning)! Enjoy!
Use the flavors/pairing ideas to apply pairings to things with similar sauces and wines with similar flavors:
Chinese
Fried rice: Off-Dry German Riesling, Arneis, Pinot Grigio (Fuller style, ours was German but a Pinot Gris from Alsace, France or Alto Adige, Italy will work too)
Spring roll: Absolutely nothing. This was an epic fail.
Lo Mein: MVP was Dry German Riesling , Pinot Grigio (Fuller style) or Pinot Gris was good
Chicken and broccoli in a brown sauce: MVP was DRY German Riesling, also Arneis, off-dry German Riesling
Beef and broccoli in a brown sauce: Pinot Grigio (fuller style) was the only thing that worked ok. You need a heavier white that isn't too aromatic to work here. Pinot Noir was a disaster.
Thai
Eggplant in a basil sauce: MVP was Chablis -- it magnified the basil and made the dish sing, Roero Arneis wasn't bad either
Yellow Curry and Vegetables: MVP was Dry Riesling -- it cut the spice but didn't detract from the flavor. Our full Pinot Grigio was good and made the spice taste smooth too.
Pad Thai: We forgot to mention this in the show because it was forgettable. The off-dry Riesling was just BARELY ok. Nothing goes well with Pad Thai that we had on our table. Let me know if you find something different!
Scallion pancake: Off-dry Riesling, Gewurztraminer
Sushi/Japanese (small sample set here)
Spicy tuna roll: Dry and off-dry Riesling were best
Yellowtail with jalapeño: NOTHING
Avocado/Vegetable roll: Off-dry Riesling
Indian
Masalas: Off-dry Riesling
Curry/Korma: Off-dry Riesling
Lentil dishes (dal): Gewurztraminer
Saag Paneer (Spinach): Off-dry Riesling, some richer dry Rieslings
Pretty much everything: Off-dry Riesling, some dry Rieslings
As I said, this is just a small focus group of two, but we wanted to provide some guardrails on pairing for you. There were some really terrible moments, but the stuff we found was actually delicious!
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