Category: Wine & Spirits

China has an appetite for Bordeaux. The wines from this southwest wine region of France are popular worldwide and have a privileged position in the China wine market. There are reasons. Bordeaux is big and no other wine region produces so many good and even great wines. However, over the past three or four decades the prices of Bordeaux’s best wines have risen exponentially? Bordeaux has become a land of the rich and poor with the great Chateaux getting richer and the lesser Chateaux getting poorer. This begs a question, are the great wines of Bordeaux worth their exorbitant prices? No, unless of course someone else is buying. Even a better question is, can bargains still be found in Bordeaux? Yes!

Chilies were introduced to Thai cooking during the late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who developed a taste for them while serving in South America. Since then, chili peppers have become an essential ingredient in Thai cooking. But what about dishes with chilies enjoyed with wine? Some gourmets may claim that spicy Thai dishes only go with beer. This is erroneous. While beer is a neutral partner when paired with Thai dishes containing chili peppers, the proper wine becomes an embellisher of the flavors and textures in the dishes.

Denmark is a not a wine growing country but the Danish have developed an interesting concept of “hygge” which means something like a feeling of well-being, warm, comfortable or cozy. The traditional cuisine of Denmark has a lot of comfort foods and is sometimes referred to as a buttery cuisine. In this week’s column I’ll pick two traditional Danish dishes and match them with “comfort wines”, wines that contribute to the Danish feeling of hygge.

Blessed by abundant natural resources, Chile offers some of the world’s most intriguing foods and wines. Vines were first planted in Chile in the mid 16th century by Spanish missionaries and settlers making the country one of the oldest of the new world producers. Over the past three decades, new investment in technology and winemaking skills has resulted in a vast improvement in quality. In fact, many consider the price quality ratio of Chilean wines to be the best in the world.   

I simply adore Chinese food and eat it all the time. Frequently, I’ll also partake of fine western cuisine, but when I want something totally different my first choice is Indian cooking. The special cooking techniques and exotic spices make this one of my very favorite cuisines. I especially favor spicy Indian dishes. Many a gourmet would suggest beer with spicy Indian dishes. The problem is that I hate beer! If you haven’t already guessed from my previous article, I’m a firm advocate that wine goes best with practically everything.

Communal fun eating is what Swiss fondue is all about. The dish originated in Switzerland, specifically in the Canton of Neuchatel several centuries ago. Traditional Swiss fondue is a peasant dish made of two or more cheeses melted in white wine with a touch of Kirsch, a popular local cherry liquor. Because white wine is used to make the dish the same wine is the most logical wine to accompany the dish. In Switzerland this would be a Fendant white wine made from the chasselas variety. Good luck finding this is Shanghai! Therefore, when enjoying a Swiss fondue in Shanghai I suggest you pick a wine with similar attributes to the Fendant, specifically generous fruitiness and good acidity.  An excellent choice would be a young sauvignon blanc wine.

The art pairing of Indian food with fine single malt whiskies is not new, but unlike food and wine pairings, far too little of this delectable topic has been written about or documented. In particular, the pairing of the savory and spicy cooking of southern India with The Singleton of Glen Ord results in some extraordinarily delightful experiences of the senses. First, let’s take a closer look at southern Indian cuisine.

There are those who would claim that the best beverage to enjoy with Mexican food is beer, but I beg to differ. Many people outside of Mexico confuse real Mexican cooking with the more modern and Americanized version referred to as Tex-Mex. Mexican cuisine is actually as diversified and complex as European cuisines and likewise meets its perfect partner in fine wines. Though Mexico has been making wines for over three centuries and has some good producers, these wines are not readily available in Shanghai. Instead, I’ll suggest some wines from the old and new worlds that pair beautifully with Mexican dishes.

The initial Malayo-Polynesian then Austronesian influences on Filipino cuisine brought the basic ingredients, while the Spanish brought chili peppers, tomatoes, corn and potatoes to augment the diet. Modern Filipino cooking is an amalgamation of many cooking style from the east and west offering some of Asia’s most intriguing flavors and textures. With as many as five meals in a day, the snack culture of this island nation is particularly rich and varied. Tasty by themselves, these snacks are even more delicious when enjoyed with the rights wines.

Winemaking in Turkey predates that of Western Europe but due to religious and political issues the industry has experienced numerous ups and downs. Exports are quite modest, mostly to Cyprus and counties like Germany with large ethnic Turkish populations. So what’s our wine solution here in Shanghai when enjoying delicious Turkish cooking? My answer is to pick wines that emulate the tastes, textures and styles of Turkish wines that have evolved alongside their cuisine for millennia. Wine and food cultures develop tastes as a whole, not in parts, meaning there’s a strong synergistic relationship between Turkish foods and wines.