Virtually tasty: pairing wines with Thai cuisine

(Rohit Seth)

On June 21 The Wine Library TV, a renowned wine vlog with host Gary Vaynerchuk, devoted a post to Thai food and wine pairings. Here are his recommendations as well as some helpful tips to select the best wine to enhance your favorite Thai dishes.

Vaynerchuk recommends this crisp white to highlight rich green curries, spicy vegetables:
2007 Loimer Gruner Veltliner Terrassen (biodynamic), Wachau White, Austria $27.98 (€22.72)
To watch his tasting notes, go to: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2010/06/21/thai-food-and-wine-pairing-episode-878

Pim Techamuanvivit, food blogger (ChezPim.com) and the author of The Foodie Handbook, agrees the go-to wines to enhance Thai dishes are sweet and floral white wines (Rieslings and Gewürztraminers) and offers these five tips to help you narrow down the search:

1.  Look for a little sweetness, as it balances out the spice and hot chili.
2.  Find the tropics in the nose, if the exotic scent of the Thai ingredients are in the nose of the wine, it should be complementary.
3.  Tannins are a no-no with Thai dishes, and only a little oak .
4.  Bubbly works to cleanse the palate and cut the fat.
5.  Acidity is a good thing, but not if you lean towards sweet Thai dishes

For Chez Pim's selection of the best white, red and sparkling wine varietals and regions to pair with Thai cuisine, visit: http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2006/05/wine_and_thai_f.html