While doing his annual rounds of all the Xmas parties he can wrangle invitations to, your intrepid liquor reporter ended up at a fancy Thai restaurant with 50 of my closest friends and colleagues.
While your humble narrator does quite enjoy Thai food, it has the same issue as most other Asian foods, in that it is very difficult to pair with red wine, because the bitter tannins in red wine are magnified by the sour sauces so common in Thai cusine.
Asian food tends to have intense flavours of both sweet and sour, which makes it challenging find a wine that will not be overwhelmed by the food.
Indeed, when faced with Thai food, most people will immediately turn to an icy cold beer to help cool the hot chili spices on the tongue.
As is my standard operating procedure when ordering Asian cuisine, I looked immediately to the white wines on the extensive list, and found that the restaurant had a large selection of whites, many of which were old favourites of mine.
Since the Alsace region of France was well-represented on the wine list, and I was with a large party, I took it as a personal challenge to successfully pair each Thai dish with a different French wine from Alsace. Luckily, I was seated at a large table, so each bottle was quickly consumed by the thirsty guest nearly as quickly as they could be poured.
For those not familiar with wines of Alsace, they come from that border region of northeastern France that has switched back and forth between France and Germany four times in the last century.
Alsace is in the northern part of France, so its cooler climate is more suited to production of white wines than the hot and sultry summers of Bordeaux, where red wines reign supreme.
Indeed, because of its historical German influences, Alsace is one of the best places in France for a beer, and is home to the famous Kronenbourg 1664 beer, which, as the name suggests, has been brewed in the region since the year 1664.
Getting back to the topic at hand, let’s talk about pairing white wines with Thai cuisine.
Since there was a reception hour before the dinner party started, I enjoyed the Crémant d’Alsace, a sparkling wine well known in the region. Just like its more well-known effervescent cousins from the Champagne region of France, the Crémant d’Alsace is a sparkling wine made from Chardonnay grapes, prepared in the same method as sparkling wines from the neighbouring Champagne region.
Riesling grows well all along the banks of the Rhine River, which forms the western border of the Alsace region. I paired a nicely acidic Riesling with spring rolls, with the citrusy finish of the wine complementing the herbs and spices of the dish.
Riesling does tend to pair well with most Asian cuisine, as the grape is naturally quite acidic, and the lemon overtones in Riesling is a natural complement for lemongrass herbs that are present in so many Asian dishes.
Moving on to a plate of satay chicken skewers, I ordered a bottle of Pinot Blanc, which is an easy choice for pairing with nearly everything. A fresh floral aroma is present with the first sip, and hints of pear and lemon on the finish went well with the chicken skewers, without the food overpowering the wine.
My favourite pairing was the Pad Thai, which I enjoyed with an extremely aromatic Gewürztraminer. The Gewürztraminer varietal is known for being a spicy and perfumed grape, and it did not disappoint when paired with a hot Pad Thai. A medium-dry bottle was on the table, and the residual sugar in the wine helped cut the spice from the Pad Thai.
The dessert course was coconut ice cream dusted with palm sugar, which I paired with a semi-sweet Pinot Gris. Most of the Pinot Gris bottles you will find at your local booze merchant are made in the dry or off-dry styles, so it was indeed a coup to find a semi-sweet variety that would pair well with a sweet dessert.
So, the next time you are out enjoying a meal at a Thai restaurant, take a pass on that tired old Singha Lager and try a white wine instead!
