Fine Wine with Chinese Food: The Whole Table Arrives at Once

In short

• Western pairing advice matches one wine to one dish. At a Chinese table the dishes are shared and arrive together, so you match the table, not the dish.
• Open two or three bottles in order of weight: a Champagne, a white made for freshness, a mature red with soft tannin. Each one carries several dishes.
• A few dishes beat any fine wine. We say which ones, and what to pour instead.

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Before any of it: drink the wine you like with the food you like. A glass you enjoy, in your hand for as long as the meal lasts, beats a correct pairing you do not enjoy, and a sip of water between dishes does more for the palate than any rule on this page. The rest is for the nights you want to get it exactly right.

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Why the usual advice fails at a Chinese table

A Western dinner arrives one plate at a time, so one wine can be chosen for each plate. A Chinese dinner does not work that way. The dishes come to the middle of the table, often all at once, and everyone eats a little of everything. The glass in your hand has to get along with the steamed fish, the roast duck and the braised pork in the same ten minutes.

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The sauces make it harder. Soy and dark sauce flatten a wine built on new oak. Chilli makes tannin taste harsh and alcohol taste hot. Sweet glazes make a dry wine taste thin. The vinegar and plum sauce in yusheng fight almost anything.

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So the method is different. Instead of one bottle for one dish, you open two or three bottles in order of weight and let each carry a stretch of the meal. Think of it as a short flight for the table. The rest of this page is that flight, dish by dish, from wines on our list.

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The flight: three bottles, in order

Open first: a blanc de blancs Champagne

The first bottle has the hardest job. It meets the cold dishes, the fried ones, the sweet and sour ones and the raw fish, and it has to taste good on its own while the table fills up. A blanc de blancs Champagne does this because it brings acidity and bubbles, which cut through oil, salt and sugar, and no tannin at all. It also survives chilli better than any red.

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We would pour Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008. It is Chardonnay from the five grand cru villages of the Côte des Blancs, aged ten years in Taittinger's Gallo-Roman chalk cellars in Reims. Taittinger's own pairings for the cuvée are sea bream ceviche with citrus, oysters, sea bass tartare and sole meunière, and it says to serve it at 11°C. Those are the flavours of the first half of a Chinese meal.

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For a table that leans to seafood, Rare Champagne 2012 adds a little weight: 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, ten years on its lees. The house pairs it with scallop carpaccio and grilled sea bream, and says it will stay lively until 2044.

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Then: a white made for freshness, not oak

Steamed fish, prawns, scallops and chicken rice want a white with acidity and no heavy oak. The oak is the trap: a buttery, toasty Chardonnay turns bitter against soy sauce and ginger.

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We would pour Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay 2020. Mayacamas grows it high on Mount Veeder, between 1,800 and 2,200 feet on weathered volcanic rock, picks early to keep the acidity and ages it in neutral oak, so the wine tastes of the vineyard rather than the barrel. It is the white for the steamed fish.

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Where the seafood is richer, abalone served on its own in a light sauce, Kongsgaard Chardonnay 2023 has the weight to meet it, from the Hudson and Hyde vineyards in Napa and made, in the Kongsgaards' words, the archaic, low intervention way.

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Then: a mature red with soft tannin

Roast duck, char siew, braised pork and the dark sauce dishes are where a red earns its place. The red has to be mature or naturally soft, because young tannin and new oak fight soy, and it has to be served cool, not at Singapore room temperature.

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For the roast meats we would pour a Pinot Noir. Beaux Frères Pinot Noir The Beaux Frères Vineyard 2016 comes from a single vineyard on Ribbon Ridge in Oregon, first planted in 1988, its oldest vines on their own roots. Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard 2019 is the more perfumed, fuller choice; Aubert credits the clay of the UV site for its aromatics and texture.

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For the braised dishes we would pour an old Bordeaux. Château Cos d'Estournel 1996, 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot, was one of the most structured and concentrated wines the estate had made when it was young; thirty years on, that structure has become the savoury depth that braised pork belly and pen cai call for. Cos d'Estournel says to serve its wines at 15 to 16°C and, for vintages from 1982 to 2015, to open the bottle about two hours ahead and let it breathe without decanting.

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For a table of eight or ten, one big bottle beats two small ones. Artadi El Carretil 2015 in magnum comes from a single plot in Laguardia with vines planted in 1930, 1975 and 1988 on poor clay rich in limestone. If you want the same idea in a glass of Grenache, Domaine la Barroche Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pure 2020 is 97% Grenache from century old vines on pure sand, aged 18 months in large old casks and bottled unfiltered; only 2,958 bottles were made.

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If the meal ends sweet

Red bean soup, almond cream and tang yuan are sweeter than any dry wine, and most dry wines taste thin beside them. The answer is a sweeter wine, in a small glass. Dal Forno Romano Passito Vigna Seré 2004 is a passito, a wine made from grapes dried after the harvest, in a half bottle that pours eight small glasses.

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Dish by dish

Yusheng. Raw fish, shredded vegetables, crisp bits, oil and plum sauce, tossed standing up. Champagne, and nothing else: the sweetness and vinegar would flatten a still wine. Taittinger's pairing of ceviche with Comtes de Champagne is the same idea with more crunch.

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Dim sum. Steamed dumplings go with the fresh white; anything fried, and the whole basket of mixed flavours, goes with the Champagne.

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Teochew steamed fish. Pomfret steamed in the Teochew way, a cuisine built on fish sauce, preserved radish and pickled mustard greens. The fresh white: Mayacamas. If the Rare is open, the house's own pairing with grilled sea bream suggests it will do just as well.

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Braised abalone, sea cucumber and pen cai. Layers of abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, roast pork, prawns, scallops and dried oysters in one braise. This is the old Bordeaux's moment: Cos d'Estournel 1996. Abalone served on its own, in a light sauce, is better with the Kongsgaard.

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Cantonese roast duck and Peking duck. Pinot Noir. The fat and the crisp skin want fruit and acidity, not weight. Beaux Frères for roast duck; Aubert for Peking duck with its sweet bean sauce.

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Char siew and roast pork. The sweet glaze on char siew meets the ripe fruit of the Barroche Grenache; the crackling on roast pork is a Champagne pleasure.

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Hainanese chicken rice. Steamed chicken, fragrant rice, light soy and a garlic chilli dip. Mayacamas, or the Champagne if the chilli dip is your main event. Not a red.

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Chilli crab. The gravy is sweet, savoury and spicy at once, and it defeats every still wine we know. Pour the Champagne, or pour tea, and keep the red for another night.

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Dark sauce dishes: braised pork belly, soy sauce chicken, braised duck. Soy, sugar and long cooking want a red with savoury depth and soft tannin: Artadi El Carretil, or the Cos d'Estournel.

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Stir fried greens with garlic. Any of the whites. Greens are not a red's friend.

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Mala and steamboat. Mala numbs the palate and no fine wine survives it; tea is the honest answer, with a glass of Champagne in the pauses. A clear or herbal steamboat broth is different: dip the meats and drink the Pinot Noir.

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The sweet end. The passito. If dessert is fruit and only lightly sweet, the Champagne also works: Taittinger itself pairs Comtes de Champagne with a poached apricot tart.

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Setting the table

For four to six people, two bottles do it: the Champagne and the red, with the white added if the table leans to fish. For eight to ten, open all three and make the red a magnum. A standard bottle pours six proper glasses or ten small ones; a magnum pours ten proper glasses.

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Open the red two hours before the guests arrive and stand it upright the day before so the sediment settles. Chill the white and the Champagne fully before the first guest rings the bell; Serving and Keeping Wine explains how to hold the temperature through a long Singapore evening.

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One glass does the whole table. A universal glass such as the Zalto Denk'Art Universal or the Spiegelau Definition Universal serves the Champagne, the white and the red in turn, and saves three sets of stemware and a sink full of washing up at midnight.

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Chinese New Year has rules of its own, from the colour on the table to the numbers in the vintage, and it gets its own page.

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Taking a fine bottle to a Chinese restaurant

Many Chinese restaurants in Singapore welcome a bottle from home for a corkage fee, and some waive it on certain days. Three habits make it work. Call ahead and ask about corkage and whether they have decent glasses; if not, bring your own in a box. Chill the bottle at home and carry it in a sleeve, because a restaurant fridge will not catch up in time. And order the dishes around the bottle, one steamed fish and one roast for a white, the braised dishes for a red, rather than asking one bottle to cope with twelve dishes.

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Your questions answered

What wine goes best with Chinese food?

No single wine does, because a Chinese meal puts many dishes on the table at once. The best approach is two or three bottles opened in order of weight: a dry Champagne for the cold, fried and spicy dishes, a fresh white without heavy oak for steamed fish and seafood, and a mature red with soft tannin for roast meats and braised dishes. Each bottle carries several dishes rather than one.

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Red or white wine with Chinese food?

Both, white first and red later. Whites and Champagne suit the seafood, steamed dishes and anything with chilli, which makes up most of the table. Reds suit roast duck, char siew, braised pork and dark sauce dishes. The red should be mature or naturally soft, served cool at 15 to 17°C, because young tannin and new oak clash with soy sauce.

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What wine goes with dim sum?

A dry Champagne or sparkling wine is the safest match for a dim sum table, because it handles steamed, fried and sweet items in turn and refreshes the palate between them. For a table of mostly steamed dumplings, a fresh white without heavy oak, such as a Chardonnay from a cool, high vineyard, works just as well. Avoid tannic reds; they turn bitter against soy and vinegar.

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What wine goes with Peking duck?

Pinot Noir is the classic choice for Peking duck. Its bright fruit and acidity cut the fat of the skin, and its soft tannin does not clash with the sweet bean sauce and spring onion in the pancake. A mature Pinot Noir from Oregon, Sonoma or Burgundy, served cool, is ideal. A dry Champagne is the alternative if the table is drinking white.

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What wine goes with spicy Chinese food?

Chilli heat makes tannin taste harsh and alcohol taste hot, so avoid big reds. A dry Champagne or a fresh white with good acidity copes best with Sichuan and Hunan dishes. Mala, which numbs the palate, defeats fine wine altogether; tea is the honest match, with a glass of Champagne in between courses. Chilli crab is best with Champagne or tea rather than a still wine.

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What wine goes with chilli crab?

Chilli crab's gravy is sweet, savoury and spicy at the same time, and it overwhelms still wines: tannin turns harsh against the chilli and a dry white tastes thin against the sugar. A dry Champagne is the one fine wine that holds up, because its acidity and bubbles cut the richness and reset the palate between mouthfuls. Otherwise drink tea with the crab and save the wine for the next dish.

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What wine goes with Hainanese chicken rice?

A fresh white with good acidity and no heavy oak. The chicken is delicate and the rice is rich with chicken fat, so the wine should refresh rather than add weight. A cool climate Chardonnay or a dry Champagne both work, and the Champagne copes better if you use the garlic chilli dip generously. Avoid reds; their tannin clashes with the light soy and ginger.