Asian Food and Wine

Hello, everybody.  Welcome back to Cèpage et Cuisine.  Today, I'm talking about pairing Asian food and wine.  I find that white wines, especially the wines of Alsace, are ideal for this cuisine.  My favorite is Riesling.  Whether paired with the spicy food of Thai cooking or other traditional dishes such as sushi, shashimi, or stir fry, Riesling is right for the job.  Mary recently whipped up a simple shrimp stir fry with whatever vegetables we had in the house.  I picked a straightforward Alsace Riesling by Domaine Trimbach to pair with the dish.

Looks delicious, doesn't it?  Well, it is!  Here's Mary, talking about this easy dish, perfect for a weeknight when you want to get something on the table quickly.

I buy shrimp already peeled and deveined at the seafood counter. I sauté it very quickly over high heat in a little olive oil.  Same thing with veggies of your choice.  This particular night I used asparagus, onion, and sliced water chestnuts. I made a sauce of lemon juice, lemon zest, and soy sauce.  We really prefer Nishiki sushi rice over regular long-grain white rice.  That's it!  Couldn't be easier (unless I send Brian out to fetch me a really nice wok!).  I love Riesling with this dish!  Here's Brian talking about it ~

Riesling is produced in a variety of styles around the world.  The typical style of Riesling from the Alsace region in extreme northeastern France is bone dry.  It retains a lovely freshness with citrus and tree fruit qualities and is perfect for the light and spicy flavors of Mary's stir fry.

Trimbach is one of the oldest and most well-known producers in Alsace.  They offer a variety of traditional Alsace whites such as Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Gewürztraminer.  The Riesling typically sees no oak barrel, so freshness and purity of fruit are preserved.  Here are my notes on the wine:

Domaine Trimbach Riesling Alsace 2006.  The 2006 vintage was considered mediocre in Alsace, but we really enjoyed this wine.  Built in a dry style with refreshing mineral notes of a nicely balanced Riesling, the wine had lovely peach, lime citrus, and minerality on the nose.  The palate was clean, refreshing, had bracing acidity, bone dry, and mostly citrus fruit flavor characteristics, lemon and lime.  Light-bodied, well balanced, very fresh, modest complexity, medium finish, enjoyed completely with shrimp stirfry.  12.5% alcohol.  We paid $20 for this wine, which is widely available in good wine shops.

That's it for today.  Check back for more blog posts on wine and food.  In the meantime...

Cheers!
Brian♥Mary