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by Manos Angelakis
Personally, I have had great difficulty in matching wines to specific Chinese dishes. Chinese cuisine is usually so flavor-intensive that few wines developed for European-style cooking match well with most dishes, especially in the spicy Hunan or the Fukienese cooking styles. On the other hand, the few Chinese and Korean wines I have tried, did not taste well on my Occidental-wine-trained palate.
In an attempt to combine my passion for good wine with my like for good Chinese cooking, I decided to do a Chinese Banquet, matching sparkling wines with the dishes. Sparkling wines and champagnes can be forgiving when it comes to food pairings, and the acidity of the drier types gives a crispness that can cut through the oiliness of Cantonese and Peking cookery. So I called together some of the “gang of the usual suspects” for a leisurely Sunday afternoon meal.
We had 10 dishes that we matched with a vintage Champagne, a Chilean sparkling wine, an Australian sparkling Shiraz, and a demi-sec Champagne at the end. The entire exercise proved to be very successful, most of the pairings worked very well, and a good time was had by all.
The starting point was a 1998 Piper-Heidsieck Brut (LWM92 points) paired with Peking Duck. This pairing worked very well as the medium acidity of the Champagne became a counterfoil to the sweet Hoisen sauce and the highly flavorful duck. Piper-Heidsieck displayed classic floral overtones with toast, almond, and melon flavors on the long finish.
The second pairing was also the 1998 Piper-Heidsieck Brut paired with Shrimp with Honey-Roasted Walnuts on a bed of Melon surrounded by Broccoli Florets. Also a successful pairing, as the champagne complemented well the homemade mayonnaise that was used as sauce for the dish and the hint of melon flavor in the wine melded with the melon on the dish. The acidity of the champagne also mitigated the intense sweetness of the honey-roasted walnuts.
The next pairing was Peking-style Pork Chops with Miguel Torres Reserva De La Familia Pinot Noir Brut (LWM85 points) from Chile. Here we got a bit in trouble. The extreme sweetness of the pork chop glaze could not be counterbalanced by the acidity of the sparkling wine; the intense sweetness of the dish also imparted a slightly bitter aftertaste to the wine that was not evident with the next dish, Fresh Mixed Sauté of Mushrooms and Fried Bean Curd. That pairing was much more successful. Successful was also the pairing of the Torres Pinot Noir Brut with the next dish, a Pan Fried Flounder. The crispness of the wine worked well with the crisp edged, tender fleshed flounder.
The next pairing following also worked beautifully. Hardys Sparkling Shiraz (LWM89 points), an Australian import, a little reminiscent of a Piedmontese Brachetto d’Acqui, just a bit more effervescent, a little less aromatic, and much drier, matched perfectly the Sautéed Baby Clams In Black Bean Sauce. This sparkler also worked well with the next dish, Beef with Pepper Sauce Chow Fun.
By now, we were coming near the end of the meal and I thought the non-vintage Piper-Heidsieck Cuvée Sublime (LWM90 points) would be the perfect ending for a very good meal. Therefore, the last two dishes Young Chow Fried Rice and Cold Red Bean Soup with Fruit were served with the Cuvée Sublime. The Cuvée Sublime is a demi-sec champagne that was brought to market by Piper-Heidsieck for the first time a couple years ago. The creamy aroma of dried sweet fruits and lively bubbles heralds to a style very popular in the earlier years of champagne-making with European Royal Courts. It is mostly promoted around St. Valentine’s Day, but I like it as a dessert accompaniment any day of the year.
So, Chinese food with Champagne or other sparkling wines? Why, not? Try it, you’ll like it.
© April 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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