The Asian style noodles that accompany our salmon and bok choy are fried in a sesame-chili paste, making them quite hot and spicy. The general wine pairing suggestion for spicy food is to stay away from red, high alcohol, tannic wines and go instead with low alcohol off-dry whites, usually riesling and gewurztraminer.
So we picked up a Dragon's Hollow Riesling, which claims to be the first premium wine produced in China. The bottle has netting on it and a Chinese coin, which made us suspicious, because we are generally suspicious of such things on wine bottles. The wine is ok, but it didn't taste much like a German riesling, and it didn't pair with the spicy noodles as well as we hoped. Dragon's Hollow riesling has some green apple (sour) flavor but in general tastes like a generic white table wine.
The Ventana Gewurztraminer, on the other hand, is full of lychee fruit flavor and is a good example of California Gewurz. It's a good pairing for this type of food. According to their chalkboard, the PA Wine and Spirits store at 19th and Chestnut is having a tasting of this wine tonight from 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Dragon's Hollow Riesling He Lan Mountain 2008
Luxury Item
PLCB Code: 18571
Size: 750 ML
Price: $10.49
Ventana Gewurztraminer Arroyo Seco 2009
Chairman's SelectionTM
Description from PLCB web site
PLCB Code: 32288
Size: 750ML
Price: $9.99
Compare to prices on wine-searcher.com: (Avg $13, Min $9, Max $19)
Availability in Pennsylvania:
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