Happy Chinese new year! Or lunar new year or spring festival. Call it what you want, we’re now in the year of the rat! And the year of the Beijing Olympics!
China is getting a thirst for wine. But is pairing the cuisine with wine…impossible?!? Rather than an Americanized dish such as chop suey or General Tso’s chicken, let’s go for the real deal: Peking duck!
Hit the comments with your suggestions!
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On February 7th, 2008 at 1:30 am ,Jill wrote:
White Chateauneuf-du-Pape would be my pick. Though I don’t eat duck so what do I know?
On February 7th, 2008 at 5:24 am ,Henrik wrote:
I would go with a chilled dry sherry, probably a fino. Perhaps even a palo cortado. I think the nutty flavours of the sherry should pair well with the richness of the duck.
Sherry is usually my first choice with sweet meat dishes. It’s lack of acidity pairs up nicely with sugar.
On February 7th, 2008 at 11:14 am ,Dr. Debs wrote:
Burgundy, probably a Corton-Renardes if I could find it. I like the slippery duck and the silky texture of the red, and duck and pinot noir are (IMHO) made for each other.
On February 7th, 2008 at 12:34 pm ,boyce wrote:
Is the duck to be eaten alone or in traditional style? The latter involves wrapping pieces of the duck in a flour tortilla-like wrapper with plum sauce and thin slices of onion and cucumber, that makes pairing a bit trickier.
Cheers, Boyce
PS I’m in Beijing and Year of the Rat fireworks are going off as I type.
On February 7th, 2008 at 1:56 pm ,Faye wrote:
The richness of the duck really could stand to be cut by some acidity. My go-to wines for anything Chinese will always be a dry sparkling, dry Riesling (try Austrian) or the fallback bright food wine — sauvignon blanc.
On February 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm ,Ross Wassermann wrote:
Just two days ago, Pacific Rim Winemakers, a Northwest winery obsessed with Riesling, addressed exactly this question at a press dinner held at New York City’s Chinatown Brasserie. Three wines were served with the Peking duck, Pacific Rim Dry Riesling (0.7%residual sugar), Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc (1.2 % RS, about the sweetness of a “sec-tendre” Vouvray) and Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling (7% RS and only 9% alcohol). A case could be made for all three, but the Dry Riesling was the favorite. It cut the fat of the duck, which made one want to eat more of it.
On February 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm ,Michael wrote:
This screams for a good Chinon. Try Couly-Dutheil ‘Les Gravieres’ — its verticality and structure (and the plentiful food-friendly acid) make it a natural pairing for roast duck, and will not upset the plummy hoisin.
On February 7th, 2008 at 8:49 pm ,Chris C wrote:
Pairing wine with Peking duck has been one of my passions. I have paired probably around twenty wines with Peking duck over the past eight months, maybe more. Riesling is great but with the sweeter versions the sweetness sometimes conflicts with the hoisin and annoys me. Red Burgundy can be good but generally is a crap shoot. Smaragd Gruner is probably my favorite white, but white burgundy can be quite good as well if it has some age. Whites that are in the style of Gravner also work very well, I just had a malvasia that was of the charts with the duck. Jura whites are great too but the reds handle the fattiness well but lack the stuffing to really keep up with the duck. Cote du Rhone works well but CDP totally overpowers the duck. If you have one with age it may be very good but I have never tried. Cru Beaujolais is good but isn’t as impressive of a pairing as I always hope it will be. Madeira was a big surprise hit, both dry and sweeter versions. The best pairing that I have found in my experimenting is Cab Franc from Chinon with some age on it. It is an amazing pairing that I discovered accidentally the first time. It is one of my go to wine pairings to impress my wine geek friends. You’re right on Michael. Henrik I have got to try a dry sherry now, never done that before but I like the idea. I could go on but I will stop. Cheers all!
On February 10th, 2008 at 1:29 am ,Tyler wrote:
A good, brut Champagne comes to mind, preferably a one with a high percentage of chardonnay (but not a blanc de blancs, probably); I’d want the acidity to cut through the sugar and fat, but it’d need a little pinot (of both kinds) to have enough ‘oomph’ to stand up to the richness of the duck. I’d go for something in the 80/20 mix range, though it could vary from there (90/10, 70/30, depending on your tastes).
Or, as a slightly nontraditional choice, perhaps a rich Muscat; pair sugar with sugar. I’ve always thought that the skin of Peking Duck was close enough to dessert to make it un-necessary, so why not have a dessert wine with it?
On February 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pm ,Chris C wrote:
How could I forget Champagne?!?!
On February 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pm ,michael wrote:
@chris, glad you agree. i have tried a Fleurie and that did just fine, but the Chinon kicks them all up and down the line. it just supports the food too damned well.
oh, and champagne? my only beef (if you can call it that) is that bubbly can be too much of a “focus” than a complement. that said, i love the Alsacian roses for their decided strawberry profiles (think: Lucien Albrecht Creman d’Alsace Brut Rose).
On February 10th, 2008 at 9:23 pm ,Tyler wrote:
@chris, in fairness, I tend to like sparkling wines a lot with everything anyhow; bubbles in my glass just make me happy, I suppose. But, I’d also say that the versatility of a good sparkling wine is often overlooked when people try to pair food with wine, so it’s a refreshing change to see if a good sparkler can go with the meal (as it can in this case, IMO).
On February 11th, 2008 at 1:22 am ,edward wrote:
Tyler,
Good question. I find Peking Duck fairly easy to match with wine. Maybe it’s being an Aussie and having ready access to Sparking Shiraz (which I think is the perfect match). Pinot as mentioned is a good choice as well.
The main clash of ingredients – tends to be the sweet hoi sin sauce that is used and the condiments (spring onion etc). Go easy on those and the wine match is even better.
The last time I had Peking Duck I had a bottle of tannic cabernet and this was also fine.
On February 11th, 2008 at 7:14 pm ,JF wrote:
Muga Rioja Rosado.
On February 12th, 2008 at 10:22 am ,wendy c wrote:
I’d go for one of the fuller bodied Rose wines coming out of Italy. Maybe the nebbiolo Il Mimo.Just enough fruit with a touch of tannin and acid to cut through the fat.
On February 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm ,Ted wrote:
A floral viognier with a dry finish.
On February 12th, 2008 at 9:04 pm ,New Mexi-cow wrote:
Everyone’s already said Champagne, so my second pick would be Caymus Conundrum. For fun, I’d love to try a nice Tavel or the wonderful Chateau Musar Rose from Lebanon.
On February 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
I’d just like to point out that 17 comments into this thread, nobody has mentioned beer yet–fantastic! I think this is the deepest we’ve ever gone on one of these “impossible” pairing without suds coming up…
Chris, in particular, thanks for sharing your extensive experience!
On February 16th, 2008 at 7:29 pm ,Belinda wrote:
I totally second Edward’s call on the sparkling shiraz! I’ve enjoyed that pairing many times. In fact, my family is celebrating the Year of the Rat in Princeton tonight with my mom’s Peking Duck and the red bubbly stuff.
On February 18th, 2008 at 11:18 pm ,Andrew H. wrote:
Sorry all, but the best pair with Peking duck, especially if you eat it with raw scallion & Hoisin sauce, is Brandy. As a matter of fact, Armagnac works really well.
The firey characteristic and deep fruit flavor will add another dimension to this dish.
On March 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm ,Foodiewino wrote:
I’d go for a Cru Beaujolais, like Fleurie. I love Gamay with Duck!
On October 19th, 2009 at 9:16 am ,bill wrote:
How about Wan Foo ?
On October 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm ,Jacques Morin wrote:
Woow, everything under the sun. Most seem to prefer white or bubly how about a nice malbec??
On January 23rd, 2012 at 3:54 pm ,Esteban wrote:
Sherry wines are a winners! Not just the light Fino/Manzanilla but also the Oloroso and Amontillado. Avoid the Creams and PX, the sweet ones.
Esteban
On January 24th, 2012 at 9:43 pm ,Mike wrote:
An IPA rather than wine. A light-bodied and crisp IPA like Tower 10 from Karl Strauss. The strong hop presence and inherent carbonation will cut through the duck’s natural oil and heavy grease to cleanse the palate, while the citrus notes in the beer will complement the deep-fried duck skin and the sweetness in the traditional hoisin dipping sauce.
On February 14th, 2012 at 7:54 am ,SteveB wrote:
Some interesting suggestions, especially brandy. My favourite is hot Sake as it has enough similarities with dry sherry to cut through the fattiness, but not compete with the sweet plum sauce. Second vote is with dry Reisling, then dry sherry. Reds often disappoint as the sweetness overwhelms anything delicate.