Figuring Out Chinese & Wine

Filed in archive Wine News on May 10, 2007

Right now, according to a few articles I've read lately, the Chinese and the western wine industry are pretty much like oil and water - they don't mix. Yes, the iron curtain may be up now, but that does erase years of space - literally and figuratively - between east and west. California winemakers, in particular, are working hard to figure out his puzzle, and one piece may have been put in place as reported by this article from Decanter.com, American wine producers 'ignorant' of Chinese culture:

Speaking at the Taste3 conference at the Copia centre in Napa, California, food writer Olivia Wu said that despite the 150-history of Chinese cuisine on the west coast, Americans still barely understood it.

[...] American wine producers enthusiastically promote their wines in the 'chaotic and unpredictable' Chinese market, 'but they ignore Chinese culture and cuisine,' she said.

Wu, who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and spent most of last year in Shanghai, also said Cabernet Sauvignon, although the worst possible match for Chinese food, was the 'status grape' in China, and the most planted in the domestic industry.

The Chinese use no dairy, and do little roasting and baking. There are none of the sauces, nor the caramelized styles of roasts, that play such a major part in French cuisine and which have evolved along with its wines.

Cabernet 'is just so wrong,' she said, although it is drunk at official occasions and private banquets because it is the most revered of the noble varieties. 'State officials will make sure they get the best wines, whether they like them or not,' she said.

This, Wu says, is the reason for the much-mocked Chinese custom of mixing fine wines - and the whisky and brandy which they import in huge quantities - with carbonated drinks like 7-Up.

'If once you drink brandy and 7-Up you will understand. It is a combination that works all the way through the meal.'

The varieties that work best are the Riesling in all its forms, Albarino, Gruner Veltliner, she said. The 'slightly maderized' styles of Mediterranean whites also work, and some dishes could be matched with Pinot Noir.

She cited San Francisco's Slanted Door, a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant, as having one of the best wine lists for Chinese cuisine. It has a wealth of aromatic whites including dozens of Rieslings and five or six Gruner Veltliners.