CurrySimple: Wine Pairing Tips
The Basics of Pairing Wine with Thai Cuisine
Think about the sauce: The old adage “white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat” doesn’t carry much weight anymore, especially with a cuisine as flavorful as Thai. Consider the main ingredients in sauces—coconut milk, spicy red or green chilies, lemongrass, garlic and tamarind—when choosing a wine.
Residual sugar in wine will offset a dish’s spiciness: If you are serving a spicy dish like red or green curry, consider pouring a white wine with a hint of sweetness, such as an off-dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer, or a demi-sec Champagne or sparkling wine. The sugar will tame the heat and quench the fire of the dish, allowing you to return for bite after delicious bite.
Tannic wines can fuel the fire of spicy Thai dishes: As delicious as they are, highly tannic red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Bordeaux and Barolo can be difficult to enjoy with spicy Thai cuisine. The wine’s warm temperature, alcohol content and mouth-puckering quality can exacerbate the heat of already spicy dishes. If you are a red wine lover, try sipping something lower in tannins, such as Pinot Noir, Beaujolais or Rioja. You can even chill these reds in the fridge for fifteen or twenty minutes to make the alcohol content less apparent and the wine more refreshing.
Don’t underestimate the food-friendliness of sparkling wine: Often selected only for special occasions, bubbly is a fantastic choice with a variety of foods, including Thai cuisine. Sparkling wines such as Champagne, Prosecco and Cava can cut the richness of coconut milk-based Thai curries, and they also refresh the palate after a highly seasoned dish.
Try aromatic wines with fragrant dishes: The aromas of some wines just jump out of the glass; the mango and orange blossom fragrance in Viognier; Riesling’s peach and apricot notes; Sauvignon Blanc’s distinctive gooseberry, lime and herbaceousness; and the hint of violet in Cabernet Franc. Thai curries and stir fries are often equally aromatic, with the inclusion of ingredients like Thai basil, cilantro, ginger, limes and lemongrass. For a memorable meal, pair a bottle of aromatic wine with a fragrant Thai curry or stir fry.
When in doubt, think pink: Dry rosés from Spain, France, Australia and the United States are a smart choice when can’t decide on a bottle of white or red with your Thai dinner. Full of the vibrant acidity of a crisp white, rosés also have bright strawberry flavor and some of the weight of a red, and they are versatile enough to pair with chicken, shrimp, pork and seafood curries and stir fries.
Wines for Specific Curry Sauces
Yellow Curry Sauce
Savory, mild and full of zesty lemongrass flavor, dishes made with our yellow curry sauce can be enjoyed with a variety of wines. The citrus flavors in a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc pair with the sauce’s lemon notes; while the wine’s bright acidity will counter the rich creaminess of the coconut milk. Red wine and red meat lovers will want to try a fruity Spanish Rioja with yellow beef curry. And the aromatic quality, soft tannins and berry and plum flavors of Cabernet Franc are a perfect match for shrimp or chicken yellow curry.
Masaman Curry Sauce
Mild and sweet, with the distinct flavor of tamarind, our Masaman sauce is the perfect introduction to Thai curries, and its versatility and not-spicy-but-full-of-flavor quality lets you experiment with different wines. Floral and fragrant Viognier from France or the United States is an exotic choice with chicken Masaman curry. A dry or off-dry Vouvray from France’s Loire Valley is a terrific partner with richly sauced seafood dishes, so open up a bottle to drink with shrimp Masaman curry. And the tropical mango and pineapple flavors of an Australian or Chilean lightly-oaked Chardonnay are a match made in heaven for our Masaman Pineapple recipe.
Green Curry Sauce
Spicy, yet with a slight touch of sweetness, our green curry sauce calls for a wine to tame the heat. If you like sparkling wines, try a Demi-Sec Champagne—the bit of residual sugar will quench the fire of the chilies, while the bubbles will cleanse and refresh the palate. Gewürztraminer means “spicy grape” in German, and an off-dry style from Germany or the United States will offset the heat, and match the spices, in the curry sauce. Not sure whether to go white or red? Think pink and select a dry rosé from Spain or France, which offers bright berry flavors, crisp acidity and some of the weight and complexity of a red.
Red Curry Sauce
Spicy and delicious on its own, the addition of peanut butter to our red curry sauce makes a nutty and savory Penang curry sauce. Either way, try a German Kabinett Riesling—while considered a “dry wine,” the hint of residual sugar in the wine, along with its vibrant acidity, will cut the richness of the peanut butter as well as the fire of the dried chilies. It pairs especially well with seafood or chicken red curries. Portugal’s Vinho Verde, a light, crisp, refreshing white with a bit of fizz from the addition of CO2, is another great partner for red curry dishes; and French Beaujolais from Brouilly is aromatic, jammy and soft—the perfect accompaniment to beef or pork red curry.
Pad Thai Sauce
Pad Thai is a dish full of flavors and textures—the crunchiness of the peanuts and bean sprouts; the softness and mild flavor of the scrambled egg and rice noodles; the tenderness and briny taste of the sautéed shrimp; and the savory, sweet tang of the Pad Thai sauce. Italian Prosecco is a sparkling wine that is full of inviting lemon and crisp apple flavors, great acidity and loads of bubbles—It will refresh the palate and call you back for another bite. If you prefer red wine with Pad Thai, sip a soft and fruity Oregon or California Pinot Noir, which will not overshadow any of the dish’s signature ingredients.
Kelly Magyarics is a wine writer and educator in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Her company, Kelly Magyarics Wine Consulting, provides interactive, educational wine tastings for private and corporate events. Kelly is a frequent contributor to Wine Enthusiast as well as other publications and websites. Kelly can be reached through her website, www.trywine.net
Phone: 703.203.9463
Email: kmagyarics@gmail.com
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