Helen Savage Matching wine with Asian food is an art in its infancy(1)
THERE have been a number of attempts in recent years to find the ideal wines to
match Asian cuisines.
The canny folk of Alsace have staked a claim for their wines with an advertising
campaign called Eat Asian, Drink Alsace. But I’m not aware that they’ve asked
Asian people themselves what they prefer. And, of course, it makes no sense to
talk about Asian cuisine as if it was just one style or tradition of cooking.
I’ve just come back from a week in Hong Kong, where there’s a lively debate
about matching wine with local food.
Although Hong Kong has the lowest wine consumption per capita of any major
developed city, the regional government is keen to promote the city as a hub of
the wine trade. Wine drinking is on the increase, especially among younger
professionals who have spent time studying abroad.
Wine shops are doing good business and a relatively small number of
exceptionally well-heeled businessmen from Hong Kong and mainland China are
prepared to pay staggering amounts of money for old and rare vintages,
especially from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Twelve months ago, the regional
government scrapped all duty on wine in an effort to boost trade and despite the
credit crunch, known locally as the financial tsunami, the local wine trade
remains, for the most part, cheerfully optimistic.
Next November at the second Hong Kong Wine Fair, the Hong Kong International
Wine and Spirit Competition will be launched, which will reflect the unique
sensibilities of the Asian palate. As well as voting on the best wines, the
panel of judges will be asked to suggest which best match a range of Chinese
dishes, including braised abalone, Peking duck, Cantonese dim sum and Kung Pao
chicken.
I met the competition director Simon Tam. Hong Kong-born, but Australian-raised,
he embodies an East meets West attitude to food and wine. He rather coyly claims
that his mission in life is to bring the delicious West to the thirsty East. He
then continues: “I’m a cultural marketer. My aim is to make wine indispensable
to Chinese life.”
I asked him if there is an Asian palate. “Oh, there definitely is,” he insisted.
“This is the right time to broadcast that Chinese taste is different. At the
competition, we’ll certainly recognise quality, but it’ll be interesting to see
what gets a gold medal and what gets a trophy. My guess is that the results will
be 60% to 70% different from those awarded by a European panel.”
What do Chinese wine drinkers look for? “They don’t go for tannic red wine
because they drink tea (as some people like to suggest). They look for harmony,
and can be much more exacting than Westerners – but we’re just learning to have
the confidence to stand up to Western experts and say that we don’t always agree
with them.”
He believes the potential for the wine market in Hong Kong and China hasn’t
really evolved yet. But the rate at which people are taking up wine drinking
“has been pretty scary”
