Alsace Pinot Gris – the perfect partner for the richer Asian flavours
Pinot Gris is
one of Alsace's key grape varieties, but I sometimes think it comes
across as a bit of an eminence grise. It's a variety that
grows in other parts of the world, but outside Alsace it mostly
produces light, rather neutral white wines, whereas in Alsace it's
rich, full and aromatic. It can have a hint of lychees and rose
petals, like Alsace
Gewurztraminer, but usually the fruit flavours are more
reminiscent of white peach or apricot, sometimes with a little
mango, pear or citrus. A gentle smoky or nutty taste is
characteristic too, together with a hint of spice, and even the dry
wines can be honeyed in flavour.
Like all Alsace wines, Pinot Gris has a purity and freshness,
but it's generally lower in acidity and therefore softer and
rounder tasting than Alsace
Riesling: where Riesling can be taut and mineral, Alsace
Pinot Gris has a creamy quality. Compared to Alsace Pinot Blanc, it's fuller, more
opulent and assertive, and it's quite different from the vivid
grapey flavour of Muscat d'Alsace. Most Alsace Pinot Gris is dry,
but some medium-sweet and lusciously sweet wines are produced.
When it comes to
matching Asian and spicy fusion dishes, Alsace Pinot Gris is a
perfect partner for the fuller, richer dishes, whether these come
from India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia or anywhere else, and whether
they're based on meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables. It's one of
the few wines that can be matched to satays and the peanut dipping
sauce which emasculates most wines. Try the richly
perfumed Pinot
Gris
Réserve
Cave de Hunawihr 2007
(£10.99, The Secret Cellar; for more stockists, contact Liberty
Wines) with chicken, beef or pork satay.
Pinot Gris goes with many of the curries cooked with coconut
milk. Pinot Gris Réserve Cave de Beblenheim 2008 (£8.99
Waitrose) is a successful match for a westernised chicken korma,
but it could equally accompany an authentic Vietnamese cari chay
(vegetable and tofu curry) or western India's kalvan (a coconutty
fish curry) - provided they're not too hot, of course. (The hotter,
coconut-infused curries are best left to to Alsace Gewurztraminer.)
Pinot Gris is also very good with China's various braised and
barbecued pork dishes, pork dumplings and the so-called drunken
dishes of Shanghai, in which crab, prawn, chicken or tofu is cooked
in rice wine. A particularly fine Pinot Gris to finish is
Domaine Pfister Pinot Gris Tradition
2007 (£14.99, Harrogate Fine Wine; for
more stockists, contact Liberty
Wines), which comes sealed with a contemporary glass
stopper (called a Vinolok), rather than a
cork, to preserve the wine's fruit and freshness.