Guide to Pairing Wine with Chinese Cuisine

Chinese cuisine is by far one of the most favourite takeaways here in Australia! The love for Chinese food has been one of the OG’s in takeaways, the wonderful flavours from carefully picked out ingredients create such a balance, giving you a chance to pair it with wine! The complex flavours of Chinese dishes and wine? Yes, please! If you don’t know much about pairing your fav Chinese takeouts with wine, here are our top recommendations! Make sure you read this through so you have an idea for your next takeaway! 

Ordering Multiple Chinese Dishes

For those days where you order more than one dish, taking at least more than 5 dishes off the menu, you may wonder if there is a wine that can be paired with all of them. This may be a bit difficult because each dish has its different flavours and spices! Ranging from sweet, spicy, tangy, umami, and bitter. So what do you do in this type of setting? Well, a great option would be to get a universally flattering wine that will complement all the flavours with just one type of wine! German Kabinett Riesling is a great option for this, the aromatics, subtle sweetness, high acidity, and lighter body help enhance every flavour in Chinese food without being too overpowering! For specific dishes on the other hand there are many options you can opt for.

Beef and Black Bean Stir Fry

Also one of the favs is the beef and black bean stir fry! Its sophisticated flavours with hints of sweetness will create a great combination alongside spicy red and savoury tannins! Pair it with Shiraz. Sangiovese, or Barbera.

Sweet and Sour Pork

This huge favourite has lovely and flavourful notes, to balance the assertive flavours of this dish, go for fuller whites with bright acidity! Such as Chardonnay, Verdelho, or Arneis.

Szechuan Chicken

Who doesn’t love a spicy Chinese dish with the bold flavour of garlic and Sichuan pepper? This dish should be paired with a white that has a lot of sweetness and will create balance with the spiciness and help tone it down! Pair it with a Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, SSB Blends, or a Pinot G.

Peking Duck Pancakes

These duck pancakes are gamey and sweet because of the hoisin sauce, more lighter and fruitier wine would work well with this dish. We suggest Pinot Noir, Grenache, GSM Blends, or Off-Dry Riesling.

Mongolian Lamb

This dish is a balance of spicy and fat because of the lamb! Its flavours are ideally better with a silken, medium-weight red. Specifically, avoid a red with heavier tannins because it won’t taste great with this spicy dish. We suggest having Grenache, GSM, Nero d’Avola, or Merlot with this dish.

Creating a great pair of Chinese Cuisine with Wine may sound complicated at first, but hopefully, this article has been helpful to you! If you want to see more wine and food pairings, make sure to check out our foodie pages for more! 

See our other Wine and Food Pairing Guides below: