Matching wine with Asian food

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”.

Simon thinks the most astute local wine-lovers are beginning to discover German Rieslings, especially gently sweet Kabinett wines. But by far the biggest number of imports coming into Hong Kong are from France, followed by Australia and the USA. Restaurateur and gifted chef Lau Chun, 29, suggests that although some restaurants take wine seriously, they are only a tiny minority and mostly cater for Westerners.

“I tend to concentrate on wines with not too much tannin. We have so many spicy and sour flavours and tannic wines don’t work well with them.”

He uncorked a bottle of red Burgundy for us. “You’ll find that it’s a good match with spicy Sichuanese cooking.”

I was surprised how well it stood up to a very spicy dish of chicken and shredded leek.

John Hepple, the Australian manager of Watson’s Wine Cellars, Hong Kong’s biggest chain of specialist wine shops, says the locals “drink wine in a different way to Westerners”.

Most of his customers are under 45. “They really don’t associate food and wine; they drink it regardless of whether it goes with food or not,” he says. Two-thirds of his sales are of red wine. James Rowell, who has been selling wine in Hong Kong since 1992, says his Asian customers prefer red wine with upfront fruit, soft tannin, low acid and a bit of residual sugar. But he was surprisingly reluctant to admit that an Asian palate really exists.

For what it’s worth, my money is with Lau Chun and Simon Tam, but in a week in Hong Kong, I never saw anyone drinking wine in a restaurant.

Tea rules – and will still arrive on the table even if you do order a bottle of wine.

Wine bites

WITH just one week to go to Red Nose Day, the wine trade has come up with a fun way of raising money through Big Nose red and white wine, widely available in supermarkets at £4.99 each (£1 from each bottle sold will be donated to Comic Relief).

The label featuring Damien Hirst’s specially-donated picture of a red nose is easy to spot. Both wines come from South Africa. The white is a zesty, fruity Chenin Blanc and the red a well-judged blend of South Africa’s own Pinotage and Shiraz.

It’s very juicy and soft, with bags of plum, bramble and banana fruit. Spoil yourself – buy both and do a bit of good at the same time.