Perfect Food Pairings: The Best Wines To Drink With Asian Cuisine

The foods of the Pacific Rim, especially Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese, have become much more popular in this country in recent years, but pairing wines at home with Asian take out has long been a challenge to many food lovers, especially for the spicier dishes.

I grew up on a steady diet of Pacific Rim cuisine and have traveled to China, Japan and Thailand repeatedly to do food stories, so this is a topic I have personally been pondering for decades. In general, with less spicy dishes such as most Japanese cuisine and many Chinese regional styles, I’ve found reliable success with fruitier New Zealand-style sauvignon Blancs, while hotter dishes, such as Thai, go better with German or Austrian Riesling, a classic sommelier pick, but the problem is that among American consumers, these are one of the least well known and understood wines, and the unfamiliarity scares many would-be buyers away. Gruner Veltliner is another Thai go-to that is a little easier to shop for, and Chenin Blanc also works well.

But all of these are broad brush recommendations that can be hit or miss depending on the dish and the actual wine choses. Now I’ve found a more consistent, dialed in way to choose what to drink.

Materra Cunat Family Vineyards is a well-regarded Napa Valley producer in the Oak Knoll region with a relatively new, state-of-the-art winery and tasting room. Family owners Brian and Miki Cunat are involved hands-on in the vineyards, and Brian has a background in farming, while Director of Winemaking Chelsea Barret is a local who attended the prestigious UC David Viticulture and Enology program, and has worked in Austria, Australia, for Opus One and for seven years for Joel Gott before taking over at Materra in 2019.

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Materra is known for its “normal” Napa wines, especially high-end cabernets, such as the 95-point 2021 Vine 1 and the 94-point 2019 Hidden Block and 2021 Diamond Mountain Reserve, along with a slew of 90-plus chardonnay, viognier, sauvignon Blanc and the critically acclaimed merlot-centric Bordeaux-style 2021 Right Bank, which garnered 95 points.

But what is really unusual—and very helpful to food lovers—is Materra’s Japanese series. Miki Cunat is from Shiogama, Japan, and her great grandfather, Shozaburo Dogura, was an early conservationist who invented a new way to manage the forestry for Japanese cedar, greatly increasing both the productivity and quality of the wood used for the best sake barrels. He is the inspiration for the series, and one of the wines, the Dogura Cabernet Sauvignon, is named after him.

Co-owner Miki Cunat collaborated with winemaker Chelsea Barrett to create a series of wines that pays homage to her heritage and were specifically designed to pair with Japanese cuisine, with attention to delicate flavors and umami (savory). Each is made in limited annual quantities, all have earned 90 points or more from top raters, and the duo tasted the wines with Japanese dishes at top local restaurants including the 3-Michelin starred Single Thread, as well Miki’s homemade sukiyaki. Miki also consulted numerous sommeliers in Japan for feedback on the wines with food. The bottles are very attractive, and each label was designed by her daughter, artist Amie Cunat.

My favorite was the Yoshino Rosé for its versatility, and it covers the Pacific Rim cuisine gamut very well, from spicier Thai and Korean dishes to elegant raw seafood sushi and sashimi and even heartier Japanese fare such as gyoza and fried dishes such as tonkatsu and tempura. This wine is named after Yoshinoyama (Mount Yoshino) in the Nara area of Japan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its 30,000 flowering pink cherry trees, and a holy pilgrimage site for practitioners of shinto and shugendo religions. The 2022 I tried was made from 100% estate grown malbec and is still available in magnums ($56) while the current 2023 is 94% malbec with 6% grenache ($27).

Chicken and broccoli? Yakitori? Miso salmon? Vegie Lo Mein? The Shinkan Chardonnay ($27) is a zestier than usual yet delicate expression of this ultra-popular varietal, more French Chablis than oaky California style, 100% estate grown chardonnay, with notes of tree fruit and apple. It is perfect with poultry and even pork-based dishes, all things vegetables, stir frys and richer seafood like salmon.

Seafood? The newest addition to the lineup of Japanese food wines, and the only one I have not yet tried, is their inaugural production of Spanish albarino. The 2023 vintage ($38) is 100% from a vineyard block planted in 2020. The Yamabuki albarino is named for a golden yellow Japanese flower base on the wine’s color, and according to Materra, “Full of vibrant aromatics, this wine is fruit-forward with notes of pineapple and citrus with a hint of rose. It has great minerality and crisp acidity. It is a fantastic wine to compliment seafood, especially dishes with a hint of spice, like a poke bowl. Pairing with sushi would also be ideal.”

Red wine is not the first thing that comes to mind when pairing with the Pacific Rim, but if you’ve got some wagyu beef, Korean barbecue or bulgogi, beef and broccoli, beef sukiyaki, negimaki or one of the many Chinese lamb dishes, the Dogura Cabernet Sauvignon is the way to go. Earning 93 points from the Wine Independent, the 2021 is 90% cabernet, 5% petit Verdot 4% malbec and 1% petite sirah. It’s big, bold and fruity, mostly black fruits with tannins that can cut through the fat of wagyu or the oil of fried dishes ($55).

Finally, there’s dessert, and in many Asian cuisines, those tend to involve fruits. The 2022 Amabie Late Harvest is low in alcohol (10.2%) and mostly sauvignon Blanc with a touch of semillon. It got 92 points from high-profile rater James Suckling, and while it is sweet, it is not as sugary sweet as many dessert wines, and rather fruit forward, perfect on its own as a post-dinner sip or with many fruity desserts.

I wish more winemakers focused on food first, and this is a great concept and turnkey way to pair wines easily with Japanese food, as well as many other Pacific Rim cuisines and dishes. All of the wines I tasted were both high quality and food friendly. Several online merchants carry the labels, and in addition to individual bottles, the winery sells the Japanese series as a set with the original four entries (not the albarino) for $175. They also offer a tasting flight of the Japanese series for visitors to the winery, along with other winery tour and tasting options.