Contributor: Tersina Shieh

The old saying is that red wine goes with red meat and white wine goes with white meat. However, this is at best only half correct. Think about chicken – we can cook chicken dishes in so many ways from steamed (白切雞), with ginger and sauce (沙薑雞), crispy chicken (炸子雞), with oyster sauce (蠔油炆雞) to with chestnut in clay pot (栗子炆雞煲). I don't think any single wine can go with all these different chicken dishes, let alone just white wine. Similarly, stir-fried pickled ginger with beef (子薑炒牛肉) has a very different weight and intensity compared to the simmered beef with hot chili pepper broth (水煮牛肉). Even in western cuisine, grilled salmon is oily and meaty but grilled cod is light and delicate.

Food and wine pairing, therefore, should not be based on color but the intensity and weight of the dish and the wine.

Steamed chicken is light and delicate, so logically it will go with an equally light and delicate wine such as a Riesling or Chablis. On the other hand, the sauce and flavored meat of chicken marinated in ginger may overpower a delicate wine. A richer white Burgundy, however, would be able to stand up to the flavor. Other alternatives would be Pinot Gris, a Rosé or a light red such as Valpolicella or a German Pinot Noir.

Moving to the heavier flavored braised chicken in oyster sauce. It is much richer and more intense, so we would need a heavier Napa Chardonnay. You may also consider a Viognier or a white wine from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. There are also a lot of reds that can go with this dish, such as Merlot, a medium-bodied Bordeaux, Central Otago Pinot Noir or a South African Syrah.

How about chicken with chestnut in clay pot? To be honest, a red would be much better with this dish than a white. The clay pot style is hearty with a sense of warmth. Drinking a white wine, no matter how heavy it is, would be like drinking water. Go with a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, a South African Pinotage or a Barossa Shiraz!

You see the point? There is no precise right or wrong answer in food and wine pairing. It is all down to personal experience and culture. For example, it’s common in Asian culture to share a few dishes and present them all at the same time (as opposed to dish by dish). It could very well make sense to have more than one wine open on the table, or at least a light option and a heavier wine option. What we have to do is experiment and explore. We may not like a particular pairing,  but by trying it we will refine our taste and discover interesting matches along the way. Just don’t be afraid of diving in and taking a risk. We don’t need people to teach us what to eat, so why would we need people to teach us how to drink, or what wine to drink?

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A marketer turned winemaker, Tersina's mission is to promote a stronger wine culture in Hong Kong and China, explaining wine in a no-nonsense way.

This post was created by a Jubee contributor. Views represented are not affiliated with Jubee.