29 Apr How To Choose Wines To Pair With Peking Duck

Although Peking Duck is a dish that originated in China hundreds of years ago, no one has ever made a definitive statement about what to drink with it. This dish, which is now popular in Chinese restaurants in the United States, features crispy skin, abundant flesh, and sweetened fat.

One thing that most diners agree on is that standard Asian flavors of salty, sweet, and hot pair especially well with Peking Duck. The matter of Peking Duck wine pairing with this classic dish comes down to a matter of preference.

Factors To Consider For Peking Duck Wine Pairing

Before selecting a specific wine from the menu, diners should stop to consider the strongest flavors in Peking Duck and how to balance the bitterness, heat, sweetness, and saltiness with a chosen wine. Despite the complex, fatty, and rich taste of this dish, the most important thing to consider is its plum sauce. It tends to have both sweet and sour components with sweet edging out sour by just a bit.

White Wine Can Make A Great Choice

A somewhat off-dry white wine pairs well with Peking Duck and other types of Chinese food with a lot of sweetness to the flavor. Some specific things to look for in a white wine include a bright acidity factor, a small amount of oak or no oak, and a moderate to low alcohol content.

If the process of preparing Peking Duck makes it sweeter than expected, choosing a white wine with higher amounts of alcohol, oak, and acidity can make a better match. Some specific white wines to consider include Efeste Riesling Columbia Valley, Pacific Rim Columbia Valley Chenin Blanc, and von Hovel Riesling Kabinett.

Pinot Noir A Popular Choice To Go With Peking Duck

Food bloggers have frequently noted the excellent flavor combination of Peking Duck and this type of wine. However, much depends on the cooking style of the chef since this impacts which flavors will stand out the most.

Red burgundy, for example, is an excellent complement for plainly cooked roasted wild duck. Duck with Asian spices included or duck breast pairs better with a riper style of Pinot Noir.

Other Red Peking Duck Wine Pairing Options

Some people are not fans of white wine and find that red wine makes a better combination to please their taste buds. Red wines such as Zinfandel, Shiraz, and Grenache all have the fruity flavor of berries and jam that help to draw out the flavor of the sauce. The creaminess and richness of red wines act as a buffer for the rich, spicy, and sweet flavor of Peking Duck.

Tannin-rich types of red wine typically don’t make a good pairing with this meal since the wine’s characteristics can actually cover the flavor of the roasted duck. Some red wine considerations include Layer Cake South Australian Shiraz and Stolpman Santa Ynez Valley Grenache.

Of course, flavor combinations go beyond red wine, white wine, and Pinot Noir. True wine connoisseurs and lovers of Chinese food may other Peking duck wine pairing options by experimenting on their own.