Finding the right wine to drink with your food is easy, relatively speaking, if you’re dealing with European flavours. A recipe’s origins should give you a clue as to the kind of wine that will work with it. Imagine a dish of long, slow-cooked lamb, then add Mediterranean flavours of rosemary, tomatoes and garlic. It doesn’t take much effort to dream up an accompanying bottle of Spanish tempranillo or a herby grenache blend from southern France. Spaghetti alle vongole suggests a dry Vermentino, while the same pasta cloaked in rich ragu cries out for a sangiovese or a barbera. But what do you do if you’re eating Asian? After all, it’s not as if there’s a long tradition of drinking (or producing) wine in countries like India, Japan, China or Thailand.

 

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be making a few suggestions to help you get the most out pairing wines with Asian flavours. I began this series by looking at Indian and Thai dishes, and this time round I’m going to consider Japanese meals.

 

Until relatively recently, as far as most of us were concerned, Japanese food started with sashimi and stopped at sushi. There’s a growing awareness, though, that there’s far more to Japanese cuisine than raw fish and rice. Ramen, gyoza, yakitori and tempura are now firmly on the British menu, as are dishes in which vegetables feature prominently.

 

Let’s consider the fishy stuff first, though. Although it takes a sashimi chef several years of training to acquire the necessary knife skills for the preparation of raw fish, matching sashimi to wine is a fairly simple option. Despite the fact that some fish have more robust flavours than others, or have more oiliness, there are plenty of wines that will happily work alongside a diverse sashimi platter. If you’re splashing out, sparkling wines are a good option, particularly Champagne styles or Cavas, as these have plenty of acidity to cut through any richness, while having enough restraint to allow them to avoid overshadowing more delicate flavours. A dry riesling would also work well, as would a crisp Soave or Albarino, for similar reasons. I might make an exception, though, for tuna or salmon sashimis, where a light, fruity pinot noir (hold the oak) or a gamay would work well. If you want to head off the beaten wine track, you might even consider a fruity frappato or a Cerasuola di Vittoria from Sicily.

 

Sushi is a far trickier proposition. While you have to consider the fish, you also need to take into account the sweetness of the rice, the umami nature of soy sauce and the fiery bite of the wasabi. All of these flavours, considered together, make a bite of sushi a rather complex balancing act. Champagne (and other fizz) is still an option, but consider selecting a richer style of wine with sushi than you might with sashimi: a bottle of vintage fizz or a Blanc de Noirs, perhaps, rather than a Blanc de Blancs or a zesty non-vintage sparkler. If you’d rather opt for a still wine, you need something that will have a bit of richness and mid-palate weight, as well as a bright burst of acidity. My favourites include marsanne-roussanne blends from the northern Rhône and elegant New World chardonnays (think Californian coast, Australia’s Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley or New Zealand) – if they’ve got a touch of creamy oak, all the better, but you don’t want a high-alcohol oak bomb, which will swamp the complexities of the sushi. If you’d rather live without the oak, try an Italian vermentino – the wines have some rich fruit flavours, but also the requisite amount of acidity to balance the food.

 

Ramen bars have been popping up all over London over the course of the past two or three years, but I’ve yet to find one that offers much interest in the wine department, so you’re probably better off sticking to the beers, teas and cocktails favoured by these establishments. Making your own ramen at home is a bit of an enterprise – a good ramen stock needs hours of preparation. If you can be bothered, though, your wine choices may well be dictated by the garnishes you use. Soups favouring the porky end of the spectrum love the cosy warmth and modest tannins of a primitivo or zinfandel, while if you’re heading into seafood territory, the zingy flavours of a New World sauvignon blanc or a Spanish verdejo will add zest to each mouthful.

 

Tempura offers you two alternative routes. Either you opt for a brisk, fairly neutral wine that will provide a counterpoint to the batter, or you could choose a wine with some aromatic richness to complement the vegetables or seafood. In the first instance, Muscadet or Chablis should fit the bill nicely. If you’re deep frying ingredients like squash, mushrooms, sweet onions or red peppers, I’d be more tempted to open a bottle of Alsace-style pinot gris, especially one with a touch of sweetness (the wine of choice, too, I think, with gyoza). Leafier, greener vegetables, on the other hand, suggest a punchy, grassy blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon from Margaret River or Bordeaux (a herbaceous Loire sauvignon blanc would be good, too.

 

And then there’s yakitori, tiny little two-bite skewers of deliciousness. The key factor here, I think, is the rich yakitori glaze, a sweet-savoury blend of mirin, sake and soy – as well as the hint of charred smokiness you get from the grill or barbecue. Rich reds work well in this context – grenaches and grenache-based blends from south Australia, spain or  southern France will all complement the sweet-savoury flavours of the skewers. A simpler dish of teriyaki-glazed salmon will make beautiful mouth music with a lusciously fruited New World pinot noir.

 

Vegetable dishes with rich sauces – grilled aubergine with miso sauce, for instance – love a corresponding richness in the wines, so consider a fruity Australian viognier (or even a Condrieu, if your budget stretches that far). Alternatively, an off-dry rosé will fare well, not only with these dishes but with the teriyaki skewers.

 

Wines to avoid with Japanese food: Actually, Japanese flavours are far more adaptable in terms of wine matching than those of many other Asian cuisines. The styles I’ve suggested above are probably your best bet, but if you really want to drink something else with your Japanese meal, you’ll probably find that the food rubs along quite happily with a wide variety of wines.

 

Click here for my article on matching wine to Indian dishes, and here for more information about Thai food and wine.