Pls recommend versatile red & white with Chinese banquet (<$15)

"Catherine Ng" wrote .......

Catherine, you pose an interesting question because, whereas the traditional winemaking regions of Europe have a history of wine and food matching, China's complex regional cuisine lacks an equivalent regional wine culture.

This presents a challenge, because often, the complicated mix of flavours and textures often present within one dish can cause even the most avid wine/foodie "confusion" when asked to match one or more wines to accompany a Chinese meal.

The old rule that white wine goes with fish, red wine with meat does exists for sound reasons.

High tannin red wines drunk with oily fish can cause unpleasant metallic flavours to develop, while the same wines drunk with something like a rare steak will have their tannins softened, allowing wine and food to work in harmony.

So, to accompany a Cantonese seafood dish, I may look at a white wine such as an (unoaked) French Chablis in preference to an oaky New World Chardonnay.

But my No 1 choice would be Sauvignon Blanc from either the Loire (Sancerre) or New Zealand (Marlborough).

A Riesling which is light bodied and has a strong backbone of acidity would be suitable in balancing the oiliness of some fish.

Red wine can sometimes work well with fish, generally the best matches being reds which are high in acidity, light to medium bodied and low in tannin.

Pinot Noir is the first choice here, either a fairly simple Burgundy or its equivalent from Oregon or California.

Beaujolais (not Nouveau) is a reliable source of wines whose fruity bouquet, light body and cleansing acidity make them worthy partners.

Lighter Italian reds such as Valpolicella or Bardolino are good alternatives.

And please, do not overlook Champagne - perfect for a wedding!

Good luck

I'd endorse St. Helier's suggestions, with a couple additional comments;

For the red wines, you might want to go with some wines that are 'spicier' in character, to avoid the wine being overpowered by the Cantonese food. Some suggestions; CA Central Coast and/or Oregon Pinot Noirs Cotes du Rhone blends

Agree completely on the white wine recommends. Would add to that (St Helier is being modest) - New Zealand unoaked Chardonnays (arguably amongst the best in the world, and range $14 to $20 in the US), village level Burgundy vin blancs. Harder to get in your price ranges.

Having just spent four days in Shanghai eating seafood banquets every night accompanied by French red plonk rebranded for the Chinese market, I agree in spades, milud!

My thoughts perzackly. A good QbA Riesling from the '04 vintage in Germany would do very nicely, as would an '05 Muscadet from a quality producer (the Rieslings being far more available, though).

This would be my first choice: a decent Bojo-Villages from '04.

Bang on. A decent sparkling wine is about as versatile as it gets.

Mark Lipton

White Zinfandel.

cng545 wrote:

While the suggestions by St Helier, Ric and Dr. Lipton are good as far as type, there are good and bad examples of each of those wines. Are you shopping in an area with good wine shops, or are you at the mercy of grocery stores or state stores? If we knew where we could make specific suggestions (not all wines are distributed everywhere)

cng545 wrote:

Thank you to all who have responded. These suggestions are an excellent resource to me.

DaleW- I am somewhat limited because the banquet will be in Massachusetts which has restricted shipping status. However, if I find a good deal I may find a way to ship it to a friend in a neighboring state to drive it in. I currently live in Chicago.

Specific examples would be great. I do have to keep it below $15 per bottle if at all possible. Thank you again!

DaleW wrote:

Mass. isn't so difficult. Some NYC retailers ship there (unsure of actual legalities). You could try chambers st wines in NY

Lots of good under$15 choices in categories previously mentioned: NZ SB: Cairnbrae the Stones Muscadet: Pepiere! German Riesling: Darting Kab, Hexamer Quartzit QbA Beaujolais: Brun VV Burg: Pernot Plus cheap fun stuff like Iche Heretiques or Oupia Minervois. If they can't ship to MA ask re states where guests are driving from.

Only store I really know in Mass is Table and Vine, pretty good store. A quick look at website shows things like Boniface Apremont, '04 Bourgognes from Drouhin and Faugeray. Dr Loosen '04 QbA, etc.

One other thought. If it were me, I wouldn't have just one red and one white. Crisp food-friendly reds and whites are indeed the way to go. But I like to have an alternate for the people who are most comfortable with what they know. I'd find a decent California Chardonnay and a bigger red (Cline Zin, Bogle Petite Sirah) as an alternative. I don't think they match with food especially well, but some people like to stay in comfort zone.

Have a great time!

Dr. Lipton am I now?? OK, MR. Williams! We'll see where that takes us... ;-)

Mark Lipton (back safely in the US and ready for sleep)

NZ Pinot Noir wouldn't be a bad idea at all, IMO. If you do find any, please let me know where - I'll be back in Chicago in a couple of months' time, and I've had some difficulty finding shops with a good range of NZ wines.

I'm not that familiar with Cantonese food, but if it's anywhere near as spicy as Sichuan cuisine, then I'd definitely suggest some Gewurztraminer.

Sam's has a decent range of NZ wines, especially SBs, but I've also found the 2000 Martinborough Vyds Pinot Noir there, so some reds are represented.

No, true Cantonese cooking is far less spicy, relying more on ginger and garlic. Cantonese cooking also features far more seafood since it's a coastal province, as opposed to landlocked Sichuan. One aspect of Cantonese cooking with which many are familiar is dim sum. Other famous dishes are dry-fried prawns in salt, crab with ginger and scallions, shark's fin soup and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.

Mark Lipton

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Sorry to respond so late, but I just saw this post.

If you could bump the white budget up slightly, my recommendation would be Caymus Conundrum. It is a SB-based wine with Chard, Muscat and Viognier. The label now reads Conundrum - Caymus has been removed, though it appears that it is still part of their portfolio. (As an aside, many folk still attribute the demise of the Caymus name on this wine to the divorce between Chuck Wagner and his wife, but that seems to be a Napa myth)

For a red, I'm a bit at a loss. I did a tasting with Mark Miller (Coyote Grille and many others) some years back, and the fare was all Oriental dishes for several countries and provences, covering most of the spectrum. We tasted with some of the usual suspects: Riesling, SB, Chard, Beck's Ale, Pinot Noir, but the hands-down winner (actually #1 with 10 of 12 dishes and #2 on the others) was Iron Horse Brute Rose sparkling. This would likely be above the price point, but it was the ultimate winner.

Within the stated budget, I'll look to maybe a domestic Sauvignon Blanc (a bit more fruit, and not so many herbal elements as with a wonderful NZ SB).

Hunt