Oenologist and wine buff Ed Soon, co-author of Wine with Asian Food: New Frontiers in Taste, picks the perfect vino to match your meal each month

Thai food
Some like to wash down spicy food with ice-cold beer, while others prefer sweet, milky coffee to pacify frazzled taste buds. But which wine will make Thai food tick? 

Consider the composition of a typical Thai meal first. Whether it’s a meat, seafood or vegetable dish, it’s the bright, zesty herbs – lime leaf, basil and lemongrass – that set Thai food apart from other Asian cuisines. Tangy turmeric, mint, nutmeg, ginger, garlic, cloves, coriander, peppercorns, sweet shallots, spring onions and chilli complete the spectrum of flavours, all topped off with the texture and taste of salty fish sauce and silky coconut milk. 

In essence, Thai cuisine represents the balance of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy. But with so many tastes hitting the palate, and so many types of wine available, pairing Thai food and wine can be simple. Sweet wines always work with chilli. Pick a Spätlese (late-harvest) Riesling, Muscat or even an ice wine or Sauternes. Sweetness in the wine envelops the chilli, making everything taste smooth. 

Coconut-based curries taste, well, nutty. Complement them with an oakaged white wine – Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc. The wine’s smokiness will mirror the coconut flavour, while citrus and white-fruit nuances in the wine set off most curries. If you must have vin rouge, avoid robust, tannic reds. They become more astringent when interacting with spicy foods, herbs and fresh vegetables. Go for a Merlot, generic Shiraz-Cabernet blends or Sicily’s Nero d’Avola. If you must make a statement, have port on ice.