Wine and Dumplings: An Overlooked Match?

When I’m out for Chinese food, I don’t think twice about my drink order: it’s almost always a Tsingtao. But cooking school owner/author Jen Lin-Liu says beer doesn’t have to be the default accompaniment every time you pick up chopsticks.

For a piece in the New York Times, she recently convened a group of Chinese tasters and found that semisweet Rieslings were the best all-around choice for spicy dishes with strong flavors, while a Pinot noir paired well with twice-cooked pork.

Food blogger Diana Kuan has her own take on the issue. She’s in agreement on the Riesling, but also recommends Spanish Tempranillo for mildly spicy Sichuanese food. I’m tempted to try both next time I get take out from Washington DC’s City Lights.

I have to add that the funniest line in the Times article is the throw-away comment at the end about mixing Sprite with Chinese wine. I actually saw a Chinese colleague do this once, in Shanghai several years ago, with a glass of the awful but ubiquitous Great Wall wine. Sadly, it probably improved the taste.

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