Pairings | Japanese cuisine

Top pairings for dry and off-dry Alsace whites

Posted by Fiona Beckett on April 15 2014 at 07:53

On a recent visit to Alsace, I had the pleasure of rediscovering the region’s diverse wine offerings, from crisp Rieslings to Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. What struck me during this trip was how integral sweetness is to perfecting a food and wine pairing—a nuance that can vary greatly between a youthful bottle and a more aged vintage.

In Alsace, we focused on traditional local Alsatian cuisine, because I always prefer to eat local when I visit a wine region. This region’s wines, particularly the off-dry varieties, are famously well-suited to spicy dishes—a testament to Alsace’s global culinary influence. While the French may not always excel at Asian cuisine, Alsace wines undoubtedly do. They shine brightest when paired with bold, flavourful dishes, and I’m convinced they have untapped potential with Scandinavian fare as well.

Intriguingly, a new sweetness indicator is appearing on the back labels of many Alsace wines, offering a helpful guide to their style—an invaluable tool for any wine enthusiast looking to enhance their dining experience. But to truly appreciate these wines, one must delve deeper into the unique pairings they complement. Let’s explore some of the top pairings that make Alsace wines truly unforgettable.

Top Pairings for Alsace Riesling

Riesling is my favorite Alsace wine. While Gewürztraminer has its charm, Riesling’s versatility, especially in its drier forms, makes it a standout. Here are some of the best pairings:

In Alsace:

Creamy sauces with fish: Particularly with zander, plaice, or sole, where a dry Riesling cuts through the richness.
Choucroute: A traditional Alsace dish that pairs beautifully with both dry and off-dry Rieslings.

Other Great Matches:

Scandinavian seafood dishes and smorgasbord: Dry or off-dry Riesling complements the delicate flavours.
Japanese seafood dishes: Especially sashimi and sushi, where dry Riesling’s acidity enhances the freshness.
Raw seafood: Think fish tartares, carpaccios, and ceviches—dry Riesling is the perfect match.
Asian-inspired seafood: Oysters with an Asian twist, seafood cocktails, lighter Thai dishes like crab cakes and salads are all lifted by an off-dry Riesling.
Fish dishes in general: Fish terrines, simply cooked sea bass, and seafood salads all suit a drink Riesling.
Dry spiced chicken dishes: For example, chicken tikka and tandoor chicken are both ideal with an off-dry Riesling.

Top Pairings for Riesling Blends

One of the styles I was most impressed by on the trip, particularly Domaine Pfister’s Cuvée 8 (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürz and Muscat) and Marc Kreydenweiss’s Clos du Val d’Eleon a 50/50 blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris. By and large I’d follow the pairing suggestions for dry to off-dry Riesling rather than those for Pinot Gris or Gewürz. Riesling blends, such as Domaine Pfister’s Cuvée 8, are equally impressive. These blends often include Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and Muscat, creating a symphony of flavours. Follow the pairing guidelines for dry to off-dry Riesling, keeping in mind the additional depth the blends offer.

Top Pairings for Alsace Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris from Alsace can be a bit of a wildcard—sometimes dry, sometimes rich and verging on sweet. Here’s what I recommend:

In Alsace:

White meats in creamy sauces: Especially when mushrooms are involved, a dry Pinot Gris is sublime.
Hot pâté en croûte: A brilliant match we enjoyed with an older Pinot Gris at Leon Boesch.

Other Great Matches:

Smokey foods or sauces: Pinot Gris handles these with ease, particularly when off-dry.
Richer fish like monkfish and salmon: Both dry and off-dry styles work well.
Thai curries with coconut: The off-dry Pinot Gris balances the spice and creaminess perfectly.

Top Pairings for Alsace Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is almost synonymous with spicy cuisine, particularly Chinese and Indian dishes. However, it’s important to choose the right dishes to avoid overwhelming the palate.

In Alsace:

Foie gras: The off-dry Gewürztraminer is a classic, luxurious pairing.
Munster cheese: Another regional specialty that matches well with both dry and off-dry versions.

Other Great Matches:

Washed rind cheeses: Like Epoisses or Maroilles, which pair beautifully with dry or off-dry Gewürz.
Szechuan and Korean dishes: The spicier, the better—Gewürztraminer’s sweetness cools the heat.
Apple desserts: Off-dry Gewürz works wonderfully with apple crumble or strudel, enhancing the cinnamon and fruit flavours.

Best Pairings for Alsace Pinot Blanc

Often overlooked, Pinot Blanc is a versatile and underrated wine from Alsace. It’s an excellent all-rounder, particularly with light, simple dishes.

In Alsace:

Onion tart or Tarte flambée: Both are classic Alsace dishes that pair effortlessly with Pinot Blanc.
Quiche Lorraine: A perfect match, especially with a creamy filling.

Other Good Matches:

Risottos and pastas: Especially those with creamy sauces or spring vegetables.
Simple seafood dishes: Fish pie or fishcakes are enhanced by the smoothness of Pinot Blanc.

Best Pairings for Alsace Sylvaner

Many of the dishes that go with a dry to off-dry riesling will go with a dry Sylvaner though it generally doesn’t have Riesling’s purity and minerality. Again it’s regarded as an inexpensive wine in Alsace though the best examples e.g. from Ostertag really show the grape’s potential.

In Alsace:

A winstub (wine bar) wine drunk with light snacks such as salads, cold meats and tarte flambée

Other Good Matches:

You could drink it with similar dishes to a dry Riesling. It’s a good match for Westernised versions of dishes like stir fries or noodles that have an Asian influence but are not particularly spicy or authentic.

Best Pairings for Alsace Muscat

Alsace Muscat is aromatic and fresh, but not as versatile as Gewürztraminer. It’s best enjoyed as an aperitif or with a few select dishes.

In Alsace:

White asparagus: Served with a buttery sauce or smoked ham, an off-dry Muscat shines.
Smoked cheeses: Another excellent match for the off-dry style.

Other Good Matches:

Fresh fruit salads: Particularly those featuring tropical fruits, where Muscat’s fruitiness complements the flavours.

If you have other favourite matches do leave a comment!

Image credit: Alberta Studios

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Is Koshu the best match for Japanese food?

Posted by Fiona Beckett on January 14 2010 at 13:37

I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot about Koshu this year. No, it’s not some unfamiliar aspect of Japanese cuisine but a white wine made from a grape of the same name. A campaign to promote it in the UK was launched at a lunch in London yesterday by a VIP line-up of Japanese goverment officials from the Yamanashi prefecture where most of the winemakers are based.

So what’s it like? Well, I think it’s fair to say it wouldn’t stand out in a large consumer tasting. The wines - well, the unoaked ones at least - are fresh and clean with a fierce aciidity - not particularly to the current British - or American taste. For nearest comparison think Aligoté, Muscadet-sur-lie, bone dry Riesling. and young Chablis which the Japanese have always liked with food. The oak-aged examples are slightly fuller and rounder but nothing like as rich as a barrel-aged Chardonnay. Viura was the nearest comparison that came to mind.

Apart from a couple of wines which I’ll mention later there weren’t any stand-out examples or perhaps it was simply a question of adjusting ones palate to a new wine style. But it was with Umu’s kaiseki menu*, with which we tasted them in flights of three, that their virtues really became apparent. The cooking at Umu, which has a Michelin star, is in the opinion of many, the best Japanese food in London. I’ve certainly not tasted better outside Kyoto and the chef Ichiro Kubota certainly excelled himself yesterday.

The meal started with the most spectacular array of Iwaizakana (above right) a special New Year selection of dishes which was as beautiful as it was delicious. - a riot of different colours and textural contrasts. With ten components in all, each intricate, each unfamiliar, it’s hard to recall let alone describe each element accurately, but it included a amazing dish of squid and sea cucumber, a prawn, a tiny poached mandarin and I think, stuffed kelp with herring and extraordinary black beans topped with poached carrot and gold leaf. (Each element had some relation to water whether it was the river, pond or ocean) No flavour was intrusive but it encompassed a complete range of tastes - salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. And the koshu was as good an accompaniment as you could have chosen, refreshing the palate between each bite and allowing you to appreciate each new texture.

It also worked well with the next course of sashimi, especially some unctuously creamy pieces of squid - though not quite so well with the tuna toro which would, we felt, have probably been better with sake.

The next course was a rich seafood dumpling in a delicate white miso soup. Here the lighter wines showed better with the slightly glutinous casing of the dumpling and the fuller more rounded style of the Marquis Koshu (a 2009 tank sample) harmonised with the miso, showed off the rich seafood flavours of the filling and picked up with the umami-rich scattering of bonito flakes.

The wines struggled a little with the next dish, a savoury-sweet dish of sea bream ( I think) with pickles which again I think a sake would have taken better in its stride. The most successful pairing was again one of the fuller styles, the oak-aged Yamato 2009. It also created what I thought was the only discordant note of the meal - the combination with an intensely fruity almost Sauvignon-like wine (the Katsunuma Jyozo, I think) which was ironically the one that would have probably have paired best with a Western menu.

The savoury courses finished conventionally with a bowl of soup and rice but, needless to say, no ordinary soup, no ordinary rice: a fine dashi broth with some fine slivers of white fish and some delicately spiced rice topped with a steamed egg yolk, a tricky dish which defeated most of the wines except the 2007 Suntory barrique. (Actually it wasn’t dissimilar in texture to eggs benedict which also goes well with oaked whites.)

The meal ended with a red bean curd dessert with dumplings which the organisers wisely did not attempt to match with any of the wines.

So, the overall verdict? A meal of this sublime quality underlines that texture is as important as taste with Japanese food and the Koshu wines certainly respected that. Their crisp acidity worked particularly well with the raw and pickled dishes though there were some individual preparations I thought would have been better with sake - or vintage Champagne which I’ve found in the past goes really well with high-end Japanese cooking. The fuller-bodied, oaked Koshus came into their own with the richer dishes.

But there’s also an interesting cultural aspect at work here. I think a lot of people are going to be intrigued at the opportunity to drink Japanese wine in a Japanese restaurant and the fact that so many of the wines are modest in alcohol gives them an extra edge in these health-conscious times. (They would also go with lighter Western dishes). If the prices are reasonable I’m pretty sure they’ll take off.

* Kaiseke is the Japanese version of haute cuisine.

For more information about the wines check out the Koshu of Japan (KOJ) website
For Umu’s address, telephone number and menus visit their website (Prices for this level of cooking are actually very reasonable by Japanese standards)
For a good explanation of how kaiseki meals are structured read this piece on The Atlantic website

I attended the Umu lunch as a guest of Koshu of Japan.

Photo by Vinicius Benedit