Riesling with Chinese Food, in China

Pairing German Riesling with Chinese food is almost a cliché, but doing so with friends at a seafood restaurant on Lamma Island in the South China Sea brings it to a new level. We drank a bottle of the 2007 Fürst Riesling R at the Rainbow Seafood restaurant, where almost all the fish is live before you order. You walk over and point to the various fish and crustaceans in aquariums that you want to try. We opted for steamed abalone, deep-fried squid, razor clams with black bean sauce, steamed scallops with garlic and ginger and steamed grouper with soyo sauce.

The dry ("trocken" in German) Riesling stood up to every dish. Its mineral, petrol and fruit aromas and flavors seemed to make the various dishes sweet and more intense, and the wine had the weight to stand up to the strongly flavored spices. I gave it 93 points, non-blind. It was so hot a文章来源中国酒业新闻网nd humid sitting in the simple outdoor restaurant, where we ate with chopsticks at a plastic table with a paper tablecloth, but the cool Riesling made the Sunday lunch special. I have to thank my friend for bringing the bottle. It was certainly much better than drinking a simple iced beer.

WineSpectator.com members: Read the original blind-tasting review for Rudolf Fürst Riesling Qualitätswein Trocken Franken Bürgstadter Centgrafenberg R 2007 (90, $90).

• Plus, get our quick list of Top Values in German Riesling.

Rainbow Restaurant allows customers to pick their dinner from the live fish in tanks.