There are a few pairings in this world that really get me going. French fries and a chocolate milkshake. Cheap tacos and a Mexican coke. Scotch and Red Dead Redemption! These are all true examples of the sum being greater than the two parts. In the end one pairing in particular takes the cake for my dining dollar. Thai dishes and German Riesling!
I can only imagine how the first person to pair these felt. It must have been tantamount to the feeling of discovering nuclear fusion or waking up to discover you now posses the power of flight. It’s an epiphany, it’s a form of alchemy, it’s delicious.
I’m a big fan of the Dr. Loosen brand. Chiefly the “Dr. L” Riesling. It’s a beautiful wine and the $9 price tag doesn’t hurt. Recently I stepped up to the Kabinett Blue Slate. It retails at $20 so I was interested in how it performed against the Dr. L. It has a very crisp, clean green apple on the nose as well as lemon and fresh green grapes. On tasting I found green apple and huge, mouthwatering acid. Behind that there was a nice fruit cocktail syrup thing happening. The wine was incredibly balanced. Sweet, but just so.
We whipped up two Thai entrées for pairing with the Dr. Loosen Kabinett. Chicken satay with a great peanut sauce and a pork larb, my favorite Thai dish! The wine and all of its wonderful acid cut perfectly through the spicy, cool larb. The round and warm peanut flavors of the chicken were equally well paired with the chilled wine. It became a balancing act of sipping and nibbling. Here a bite of cabbage and larb, a bit of satay off the skewer followed by a cool draft of liquid gold. Repeat, repeat, repeat…
Here is a link the official Dr. Loosen site.