What wine goes with Chinese food?
Off-dry Riesling
Grappi pairing score: how well the match works, on a 100-point scale. Grappi's own assessment.
The best wines for chinese food
Off-dry Riesling
White (off-dry)
A little sweetness cools the chilli and balances soy and sugar, while high acidity keeps everything fresh, the single most versatile choice.
Gewürztraminer
White (aromatic)
Lychee and spice notes echo five-spice, ginger and aromatic dishes, with the body to handle richer sauces.
Pinot Noir
Light red
Low tannin and bright fruit make it the red that suits Peking duck, char siu and other roast meats.
Why it works
Chinese cooking is not one flavour but many at once: the sweetness of hoisin, the salt of soy, the heat of chilli, the tang of vinegar. Tannic, dry wines struggle here, because chilli and salt make tannin taste bitter and harsh. The reliable answer is an aromatic white with a little residual sugar, which cools the spice and meets the sweet-salty sauces head-on. Acidity keeps the pairing from turning cloying. Roast and barbecued meats, like Peking duck or char siu, are the exception that welcomes a light, low-tannin red.
Grappi scores every pairing out of 100 against a reference of 185,000 wines. Sweet-and-sour dishes with off-dry Riesling rate 90.
Serving tips
- When a dish is spicy, a little sweetness is your friend: an off-dry Riesling or Gewürztraminer cools the heat far better than a dry wine.
- For a shared, mixed table, a crisp sparkling wine or an off-dry Riesling flatters the widest range of dishes at once.
Not sure what you've got? Scan it.
Point Grappi at any label and get the wine, the tasting profile and the right dish to serve it with, in seconds, free.