Pairings | Natural wine

What wine - and other drinks - to pair with Korean food (NEW)

Posted by Fiona Beckett on April 2 2025 at 10:10

If you’ve developed a taste for Korean food - as so many of us now have - you may still be struggling with what drink to pair with it - and whether that should include wine.

The flavours are certainly not subtle. It’s richly spicy and umami, accompanied by fermented and pickled side dishes most notably kimchi, that present their own challenges.

Except in more modern Korean or Korean fusion restaurants dishes tend to be served at the same time so it’s useful to find a drink that will take them all in its stride.

That needn’t necessarily be wine which is just as well as many restaurants offer a limited selection, by the glass at least. But there are a wide range of Korean drinks including soju, which is apparently the world’s best selling spirit and makgeolli, a fermented rice-based drink.

Here are the beverages that you could drink throughout a Korean meal - or at least switch to half way through plus some pairings for popular Korean dishes you might eat on their own.

Wines that generally go with Korean food

Crisp, zesty whites tend to work with the small plates that appear at the beginning of a Korean meal. Sauvignon blanc - particularly New Zealand sauvignon blanc - would be the obvious choice but consider Rueda, unoaked white Rioja and Austria’s grüner veltliner.

Gewurztraminer and Gewürztraminer blends
Often too powerful for other Asian cuisines Gewürztraminer comes in handy with Korean - whether you drink it as a varietal or a blend with other aromatic varieties like riesling and pinot gris

Orange wines are particularly good especially those that fall into the ‘natural’ category and which are made from aromatic grape varieties like malvasia or pinot gris. Natural wines work well with fermented and pickled foods - take a look at this match with tongdak (rice stuffed chicken) which made my match of the week slot last year.

Strong, dark fruity rosés such as those from Rioja and Navarra in Spain
Better able to stand up to ingredients such as gochujang (the widely used Korean chilli paste) than Provence rosé. Again natural or low intervention rosés work well

Big full-bodied reds, especially cabernet blends. The standout pairing - somewhat to my surprise - but although Korean food is spicy it isn’t often searingly hot. See Korean barbecue below

Other drinks

Beer
The most obvious go-to. Generally a light lager though I’ve found darker beers go well with umami-rich Korean stews. Well known Korean brands are Cass and Hite.

Soju
Either as shots or lighter drinks like Jinro’s widely available Chamisul.

Soju is a high strength spirit as opposed to sake which is fermented and more delicate so you might not want to drink it throughout a meal but it does go well with the punchier dishes of Korean barbecue.

It’s also used in cocktails which is another popular way of kicking off a Korean meal.

Sake
Despite the above sake is a pretty good match for Korean food as is fino sherry.

Makgeolli
A refreshing cloudy mid-strength sparkling rice wine that makes a refreshing counterpoint to kimchi. Often flavoured though I prefer the plain version particularly if it comes from an artisanal producer like the one above.

Alcohol-free options

Tea, grain and herbal infusions such as barley tea and Solomons seal root tea are popular in Korea. The latter is slightly bitter, tastes of grilled nuts and toasted sesame. Japanese genmaicha would also work

Kombucha and other sparkling tea drinks.
Kombucha works in a similar way to natural wine while Saicho’s nutty Hojicha echoes the toasted sesame in many Korean dishes.

What to pair with popular Korean dishes you might eat on their own

Banchan
The Korean word that refers to small plates that are often served as sides to the main dish but may well arrive first. They often include kimchi and other pickles, gyoza-like dumplings (mandoo) and noodle dishes such as japchae but could also include fried chicken

If you’re going to drink white wine with a Korean meal this is the best stage to do so - zesty whites like unoaked white Rioja and New Zealand sauvignon blanc work well or skin contact whites aka orange wines.

If there’s a fried element like Korean fried chicken you could drink sparkling wine - champagne if you really feel like splashing out but cava or crémant would do perfectly well.

Kimchi
An obligatory side but also features as a light meal in its own right as in kimchi pancakes (above) and Kimchi fried rice for which you can find a recipe here. Makgeolli is a good choice to cool the heat of hotter kimchis but orange wine, natural wines, craft cider and kombucha are also good options.

Bibimbap
Korea’s iconic rice bowl dish can be mild (which it quite often is in a chain restaurant) or punchy. At the restaurant of the same name in London I recently had what was described as a Korean root tea (see above) which tasted of grilled nuts and roasted sesame and had a slightly earthy, woody flavour. A low strength soju drink like Jinro’s Chamisul fresh (17%) or a lager would be good too.

Korean barbecue/Bulgogi
Bulgogi is a dish of marinated steak either seared or cooked on a barbecue and typically served with with doenjang (soy bean paste or a dipping sauce and several sides.

This is where your full-bodied reds come into play in just the same way as they would in any steakhouse. I had a Journey’s End The Pastor’s Blend Bordeaux blend from South Africa with bulgogi at Chung’dam, a Korean BBQ restaurant in Soho and a Veronica Ortega Quite Mencia from Bierzo in my local Korean, Dongnae in Bristol so you can see it covers quite a range of styles. And if a Bordeaux blend why not more modern styles of Bordeaux come to that? Grenache I think would work well too.

In more contemporary Korean-influenced rather than traditional Korean restaurants such as Miga in Hackney the dishes may not be hot and spicy at all. I drank a 2013 Rioja from Lopez de Heredia with a dish of soy braised short ribs with mushrooms which was spot on.

Soju shots also go well with bulgogi and other beef dishes.

Hearty stews and hotpots

A slightly trickier to match main course option, often more like a soup than a stew and flavoured with a miso-ish soy bean paste called doenjang

I struggled to find a good wine match with it - it seems to have the effect of turning reds overly sweet but reckon it would be great with a dark lager or a dark, maybe Belgian Trappist beer.

Since this is my first dive into Korean food and I haven’t yet got to Korea I’d love to hear from those of you who are more familiar with it.

Top image © Kuba Puchajda at shutterstock.com

Tags: makgeolli soju natural wine orange wine Korean fried chicken japchae bulgogi kimchi Korean food food:world food noshow:highlight Kombucha
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Vegan Food and Wine Pairing: How to Pair Wine with Vegan Food

Posted by Monica Shaw on January 8 2025 at 08:58

With media interest in vegan food and vegan-friendly wine at an unprecedented high, you might wonder what sort of wines pair with vegan food best. Is it even OK to drink wine with vegan food? How do I know if my wine is vegan? And how do I craft plant-based wine pairings as good as their carnivorous counterparts? So here’s the lowdown.

What makes vegan wine vegan?

Vegans are only slightly more restricted than vegetarians when it comes to wine drinking. The issue is in the fining process which removes any solid particles from the wine. Some wines are fined with animal products like gelatin and isinglass (fish bladder) which rules them out for both vegetarians and vegans. Other producers, particularly of fine wines, use egg whites which would obviously be unacceptable to vegans. Some wines, however, are unfined for extra flavour and texture so those wouldn’t cause any problems.

How do I know if wine is vegan?

Fortunately most supermarket own label wines specify whether they’re suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Many online retailers give this information on branded wines too though in the absence of this it makes sense to check with the producer for reassurance. Retailers are also increasingly making it easy to find vegan wines online.

Vegan wine beyond just the drinking

That said veganism carries with it a whole approach to food which may affect your attitude to wine. You may well want to avoid wines made from vines that are treated with pesticides or to which products like enzymes are added. Organic and biodynamic wines are likely to appeal.

You may also be attracted by wines that are made from indigenous or wild yeasts or which use a minimum of or no added sulphur in which case you should look out for so-called ‘natural’ wines, a somewhat controversial description which basically refers to wines that are made with what is referred to as ‘minimal intervention’.

Vegan Wine Pairing Fundamentals

The style of food you’re eating will always have implications for the type of wine you drink. If your diet is largely plant-based you may find white wines are a better match though pulses like lentils and beans and richly flavoured ingredients such as aubergines (eggplant) and mushrooms can easily handle the tannins of a medium to full-bodied red. Raw dishes like salads tend to work well with crisp whites and rosés.

But as with meat, fish and dairy it’s more about the way you cook a dish than the base ingredient. Tofu, for example, has no significant flavour of its own - it depends what you put with it.

Five-spiced tofu nuggets by Elly Curshen; the pairing is more about the sauce than the tofu!

Spicy foods pair with wines with a touch of sweetness like a pinot gris or riesling while umami-rich Japanese dishes generally go with wines that are aged on their lees like white burgundy, muscadet and champagne, as well, of course, as sake.

Read on for more wine pairing ideas for various types of vegan cuisines and vegetables.

Vegan Wine with Vegan Food: The Plant-Based Pairings are Endless

Pairing wine with vegan food follows the same fundamentals as any dish; it’s all about pairing complimentary flavors and textures to create a harmonious balance that elevates both the food and the wine. To find the perfect vegan wine for your meal, start with the ingredients. To give you a head start, here are my wine pairing suggestions for popular vegan ingredients (and the dishes that are made from them):

Mushroom Wine Pairings - the king of umami, with wine pairing options as diverse as Champagne, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, depending on the dish.

Cauliflower Wine Pairings - Especially grilled or roasted cauliflower, in which case go for a white Rhône or similar blend or an oaked white rioja.

Eggplant/Aubergine Wine Pairings - Usually a hearty dry red! But for cold eggplant dishes, go for a dry rosé.

Zucchini / Courgette Wine Pairings - It’s more about the flavours you put with them than the ingredient itself, but typically we’re talking a crisp unoaked white wine more than a red.

Red and Green Pepper Wine Pairings - Again, it all depends on how they are cooked. Red pepper soup pairs well with a dry white like a picpoul or albarino, while rich and sweet grilled peppers goes better with a young rioja. You’ll find more wine suggestions for specific pepper dishes in the post.

Squash and Pumpkin Wine Pairings - An autumn favourite. Roast squash tends to favour rich white wines like oak-aged chardonnay whereas pumpkin or butternut squash soup would generally work better with an unoaked one. Similarly for squash salads.

Kale Wine Pairings - A slightly bitter vegetable which can make wines taste sweeter so you may want to choose a slightly drier fresher style

Brussels Sprouts Wine Pairings - Yes, sprouts! Particularly vegan recipes for sprouts that include citrus, where a white wine with tropical fruit goes well (think a sauvignon-semillon blend or a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc)

Vegan Wine and Popular Cuisines

Veganism is not limited to any particular cuisine, and neither should be the wines that accompany plant-based dishes. That said, there are several cuisines from around the world that lend themselves particularly well to vegan dining, and thus should influence your wine match:

1. Asian Cuisine: and I don’t just mean stir-fry. The flavors of Asian cuisine can vary greatly depending on the part of the continent you’re in. For aromatic vegan Thai or Vietnamese dishes, think aromatic or fruity whites like Gewurztraminer or Alsace Pinot Gris (see more wine pairings for Thai food). As for Chinese food, be guided by the most intensely flavoured dish - see my extensive list of Chinese wine pairings to guide you.

2. Middle Eastern Cuisine: a classic vegan option with its myriad fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors. Where a classic mezze involves such dishes from falafel to fattoush to vine leaves to hummus, my friend Sally Prosser suggests reaching for rosé (see more about what to drink with Middle Eastern food).

3. Mexican Cuisine: Mexican cuisine is full of bold flavors and vibrant spices. Of course, you could be tempted by a margarita or even a beer - both superb vegan drink options that go with Mexican food. But wine can work, too, particularly sauvignon blanc or a dry rosé. See my wine, beer and other pairings for Mexican food and six of the best drinks to pair with tacos.

4. Indian Cuisine: India has a long-standing tradition of vegetarianism with a cuisine rich in plant-based ingredients including pulses, grains, vegetables, and spice. It’s also one of the more challenging cuisines to pair as the dishes vary so wildly in both flavour, texture, and of course heat. Read my guide on what to pair with curry for some ideas.

Vegan recipes with wine pairings

Here’s a round-up of favourite vegan recipes I’ve collected which are really so good they deserve a suitable wine pairing. Click through the links for the recipe and wine pairing suggestions to match.

Roast Pumpkin with Savoury Sage & Pumpkin Seed Granola from Daniel Acevedo