Acidic Wine Plus Asian Food

Filed in archive Food and Wine on January 24, 2007

I think one reason I tend to shy away from many white wines is due to the acidic taste. Sometimes it works for me, but very often it's just too tart and too dry. Food, however, can be a big influence on my choice to go tart and dry or not, and that's especially true when it come to Asian foods. This article by Chicago Tribune writer Bill Daley offers a few suggestions when it comes to acidic wines and food which are worth noting:

citrus fruits and flavors are increasingly on the plate as Americans experiment with dishes inspired by Asian, Latino and Mediterranean kitchens. But an age-old question remains: What to drink with these oft-colorful and sassy ingredients?

White wine is the answer for many Chicago-area wine sellers, and sauvignon blanc or riesling are classics. Efrain Madrigal, wine director of Sam's Wines & Spirits, goes for a more unusual one, a torrontes from Argentina.

"I recently had a 2005 Parrillada Torrontes with chicken and preserved lemons and it was the perfect wine for that entree," he said. "It was definitely dryer than a lot of rieslings but a little more exotic. It has an almost viognier-like body and a streak of acidity." (Viognier is a rich, aromatic wine with fruit-forward flavor.)

Acidity is important. It's a bracing, zippy quality that can make wines, especially whites, seem so crisp and alive. Acidity also balances out sweet, meaning you could drink a wine with surprisingly high sugar levels and never feel you are stuck with a liquid lollipop. And acidity plays really well with food, cutting through fatty, rich flavors like a clean spritz of lemon.