What plonk goes best with Peking duck

WINE .... with David Bray


It is often hard to find a decent wine match for the food in Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, restaurants in our part of the world. This is partly because the wine lists are usually not very good, offering about as much choice as the dessert menu, and partly because we don’t really know what goes best with so many of the dishes.
So there is some advice to be gleaned from the recent inaugural Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition, said to be the world’s first authentically Asian, and Asia’s largest, wine competition.
Some 1300 wines from around the world were judged by a pan-Asian panel of wine professionals from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and India.
The organisers say the top wines for the Asian palate were revealed in the trophy winners. Among them: Best wine with Chinese dishes: With Abalone – Jacob's Creek sparkling rosé (Australia); with Kung Pao chicken – Martin & Weyrich moscato allegro 2007 (California); with Dim Sum – Wairau River pinot gris 2009 (NZ); with Peking Duck – Judas malbec 2006 (Argentina).
Debra Meiburg, Master of Wine, director of the competition said: “Out of the four Chinese food and wine pairing categories, it was interesting to note that three trophies were awarded to white wines and rosés. Despite many wine lovers in Asia reaching for a bottle of red to pair with Chinese cuisine or not drinking wine at all, our results highlight that these styles are particularly compatible with a range of classic Chinese dishes.
“Significantly, the trophy winning wines in the Chinese food and wine pairing awards, particularly the trophy for the best wine with braised abalone awarded to the Jacob’s Creek sparkling rosé, show that pairing the perfect wine with fine food doesn’t have to be expensive.
“We hope these awards will give people the tools and confidence to order wine when eating Chinese food.” Less significant for the purposes of matching with food, and introducing some less well-known Australians (another way of saying big surprises), were: Best Pinot noir and best New World pinot – Wooing Tree pinot noir 2007 (NZ); Cabernet sauvignon/ cabernet blend – Quarisa Treasures cabernet sauvignon 2006 ( Coonawarra); Shiraz and best Australian shiraz Eden Springs High Eden Shiraz 2007 (Eden Valley); Tempranillo & blends – Mr. Riggs Yacca Paddock tempranillo 2007 (Adelaide Hills); Sauvignon blanc and best New Zealand sauvignon blanc Saint Clair Pioneer Block 3 43 Degrees sauvignon blanc 2009; Chardonnay and New World chardonnay Stella Bella chardonnay (Margaret River) 2007; Riesling and New World riesling Petaluma Hanlin Hill riesling 2009 (Clare Valley). Best value wines for HK market included Eden Springs High Eden riesling2009 and Barossa Valley shiraz 2007.
Competition director Simon Tam said: “The Asian consumer wine market is a valuable segment of the international wine industry, growing at more than seven times the rate of any other region. So it’s about time the millions of Asian wine lovers had an authoritative guide to the best wines, suited to their unique taste and consumption patterns.
“Because of our pan-Asian panel of judges, there were some surprises among the results. Contrary to popular belief in the international wine industry that Asia is a sponge for hugely concentrated wines, the panel awarded the majority of medals and trophies to those wines displaying subtlety and delicate structure.”

braylin@bigpond.net.au