Pairing Chicken Curry with which wine?

Chicken curry fans

We have had a bit of fun and here is our share.  

First up we sourced three pre made chicken curry sauces in the shop and tried how they paired with UMAMU wines. Next up we prepared an actual chicken curry recipe and tried to see which wine paired best.

We went to Kong’s Asian supermarket in Perth and selected three the pre made sauces. Then had fun one evening putting them together and tasting them with various UMAMU wines. The final matching list was SBS 2010, Chardonnay 2018, Shiraz 2019 and Cabernet Merlot 2017.

The development of the SBS with more complex characters with time in the bottle allows it to hold up to the curry. Note, a young fresh SBS wouldn't have the developed complexity to match the curry as it would be leaner and not had the opportunity to develop.

Shiraz I always find goes well with spiced food, as a varietal of grape it is naturally predisposed with and hence to spice. Albeit gentle spice given Margaret River is a cooler climate it still has spice nonetheless.

Chardonnay is a ‘fuller’ grape and we oak ours to give further texture and the richness enables it to pair well with chicken curry.

Cabernet Merlot surprised me! The wine was so juicy.

One of my biggest pleasures is to mentally think through potential food wine pairings. I always say wine is personal and so are pairings as everyone's palate is different. We pick up different things and are more sensitised to different things. That is where the adventure comes in.

We then ventured into preparing a chicken curry from scratch.  Here is one by Clarissa Feildel that you would like to cook yourself. I call Clarissa, the Nigella Lawson of Asia. 

So far so good. And recalling when we first released our SSB05 back in 2007 I tried that with absolutely everything I ate and found it such a versatile wine - it went well with all sorts of cuisine and flavours and the only thing it didn't pair with was deep fried Shanghainese eel! Too much for the wine!

We created a food and wine pairing guide which I am always finetuning. 

Happy tasting & pairing,

 

Charmaine & Team UMAMU