The Absolute Best Wines To Pair With Thai Food

Fresh, fragrant, spicy, and deliciously complex — Thai food is remarkable in the way it combines the best aspects of Asian cuisine to produce some of the tastiest and most unique dishes on the planet. Thai cuisine is also incredibly diverse, featuring countless traditional Thai recipes that differ up and down the country, as well as plenty of modern twists tailored to Western palates. If there's one thing that can make any meal better it's a perfectly paired glass of wine; however, when it comes to Thai food, it can be a little tricky to find the right vino to match.

Learning to pair food and wine properly is actually fairly simple. There are essentially two types of wine pairing — we can match contrasting characteristics that harmonize and balance each other out or we can match similar flavor notes to amplify and enhance their impact. I spent much of my lengthy hospitality career in cocktail and wine bars and high-end restaurants figuring out how flavors interact with one another. I can see why the intricacy of Thai food and its myriad ingredients can make wine pairing seem daunting. Fortunately, I've also spent many years living and working in Thailand — it's where I am right now — and I've experimented with a huge variety of wine pairings to discover which styles work best with the local cuisine. Below, I'm going to share with you my favorite wines for accompanying Thai food and the dishes that'll give you the most mouth-watering results.

One of the easiest wines to pair with Thai food is riesling, a style of white wine originating from Germany. You'll also find some superb rieslings from neighboring Austria and northern France, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Riesling grapes are highly aromatic, and the style typically showcases flavors of orchard and stone fruits, as well as notes of citrus.

The fragrance of rieslings is superb for emphasizing the deliciously pungent flavors of Thai food, particularly ingredients like lemongrass, garlic, and ginger. Plus, riesling is known for its high acidity, so it's excellent for cutting through richer dishes and ingredients like noodles or meaty seafood. Lastly, rieslings can vary in sweetness, often coming in dry or off-dry varieties. Thai food is also notoriously spicy — it's arguably the hottest cuisine I've come across in my travels — so you will want a wine that can temper some of that heat. A little sweetness is perfect for making piquant dishes more bearable and allowing more flavor to shine through. While riesling makes a solid choice for most Thai dishes, I recommend matching it with a hot bowl of Tom Yum Goong, a stunningly aromatic hot and sour shrimp soup. It's also a great pick for pairing with papaya salad — Som Tum in Thai — as it can make the spice more bearable and highlight the bright dish's fruitier notes.

Sauvignon blanc is arguably the most popular white wine in the world, maybe just behind chardonnay. Originating from France's Bordeaux and Loire Valley regions, the grape variety is grown all over the world to produce a stunning selection of wines that exhibit their own uniquely mouth-watering characteristics. The U.S. is also gaining some worthy recognition for its sauvignon blancs, and New Zealand's offerings are always in high demand.

I've found that people often mistake sauvignon blanc for a sweeter wine. However, it's normally quite dry — the prominent fruit notes tend to be incorrectly conflated with "sweetness." It's worth knowing the difference because Savs aren't as great at countering extreme spice as an off-dry riesling, for example. The fruit notes will vary from bottle to bottle, ranging from slightly sharp flavors of green apple and gooseberry to tropical flavors like white peach, passion fruit, or even mango. There's often a touch of citrus in there, too, complementing the wine's moderate acidity, often lime or grapefruit. I recommend pairing these fruitier Savs with light Thai salads, like glass noodle salad or a mild Som Tum. Sauvignon blancs can also be pretty herbaceous with a character that's often likened to fresh-cut grass. For these, try matching them up with an equally fragrant dish like Pad Krapow — a holy basil-based stir fry.

Pinot gris is a somewhat neutral wine but I don't mean that in a negative sense. Its medium acidity and body make it an extremely versatile style of wine, so it's a great option for pairing with complex cuisines, like Thai. It's worth noting that pinot gris is the French name for the grape and wine style, whereas the Italians refer to it as pinot grigio.

Pinot gris are less herbaceous and grassy than sauvignon blancs and usually fruitier. Ranging from dry to off-dry, they can boast flavors of stone fruit, such as peach and nectarine, orchard fruits like apple and pear, and even citrusy lemon or lime. Some pinot gris might have a slightly honeyed aspect, while others can be notably floral or have hints of spice to them. The more robust body and moderate acidity make pinot gris excellent for pairing with one of Thailand's many rich coconut milk-based curries, particularly less intense varieties. A classic Thai green curry is a great choice, as the fruit notes in the wine interplay wonderfully with ingredients like kaffir lime and galangal. If you prefer a milder dish, go for the creamy, tangy coconut Tom Kha soup instead.

While it can be somewhat easier to match white wines with Thai food, you don't have to avoid red wine altogether. Full-bodied, highly tannic reds are generally too intense, increasing the spiciness and clashing with the cuisine's complex flavors. However, the right style of red can completely elevate a dish, and a lighter-bodied pinot noir is an excellent place to start.

Pinot noir and the grapes that give the style its name traditionally hail from the Burgundy region of France but there are plenty of new world wine-makers that produce stunning bottles. The flavor of pinot noir can vary but often you'll typically be met with a bouquet of red fruit notes, like cherry and strawberry, sometimes plunging into deeper fruits, like blackcurrant. Depending on the specific wine, you may also find earthy and oaky notes. The right pinot noir works wonderfully with Thai dishes that include darker meats, like grilled beef skewers or a robust red curry with roasted duck. A lighter-bodied variety will let the flavors play off each other without competing for space on your palate, while its moderate acidity will cut richer foods and help temper the heat.

Another highly versatile white wine, Chenin blanc originated in France's famous Loire Valley. While it's never quite reached the popularity of chardonnay or sauvignon blanc, it's finding more and more fans across the world. In part, this is due to the increasing popularity of South African wines. The grape was first introduced to the Cape in the 17th century, and it's since thrived thanks to a variety of terroirs and the oversight of increasingly experienced winemakers.

Chenin blanc's inherent sweetness and high acidity make it an excellent pick for oilier Thai food, and you can opt for less dry variants when you want to reduce the spiciness of a particular dish. It's my go-to style for dishes like Pad See Ew — a stir fry with extra thick noodles — or the classic Khao Pad – Thai-style fried rice. The style's fruity notes are not dissimilar to sauvignon blanc; however, Chenin blanc tends to be more floral than grassy. It's also possible to find Chenins that have been matured in oak, like chardonnay, adding an extra dimension to the versatile wine.

Nearly as fun to say as it is to drink, gewürztraminer is a unique wine style from northern France that's now produced all over the world. Gewürztraminers are typically sweeter than wines like sauvignon blanc or pinot gris, so they're already well-prepared to cut through the heat of zingy Thai food.

Gewürztraminers usually offer fragrant flavors, like lychee and rose petals, combined with juicy tropical and stone fruits, like pineapple and nectarine. However, what really sets the style apart is its spice notes. Gewürztraminer literally means "spicy Traminer" — Traminer wine being a close relative of gewürztraminer. This means you'll experience some piquant elements that combine superbly with aromatic Thai ingredients, like ginger, chili, coriander, and turmeric. While not particularly acidic, they have a robust body that means they can still stand up to rich, creamy dishes, like Thai red curry. The wine's profile is still light enough to work with less-intense meats, like chicken, but I prefer to match it with wild boar, a rich and gamey local favorite. Alternatively, give it a shot with Thai Massaman curry, a milder dish loaded with potatoes that boasts a deliciously nutty profile.

Although grüner veltliner wine is en vogue these days, you'd be forgiven for being unfamiliar with the style. Although grüner veltliner is often seen as an Austrian wine due to how much of it the country drinks and produces, the jury's still out on its true place of origin. Either way, it's been enjoyed on the continent for hundreds of years. Interestingly, it was pretty much unknown in the rest of the world until the early 2000s, when a grüner veltliner stole the show at a blind tasting in Vienna. Nowadays, you'll find the style being produced in Eastern European countries like the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as in vineyards across the United States.

Grüner veltliner stands out as an exceptionally food-friendly wine thanks to its balanced flavors, lush texture, and fresh profile. It features prominent, tangy citrus flavors with mouthwatering acidity, as well as a peppery herbaceousness that makes it a superb match for rich, spicy, and complex foods. Grüner veltliner is great with Thai veggie dishes like stir-fried morning glory doused with soy sauce and liberal amounts of fresh garlic. It's zippy enough to cut through fattier meats, too, so I heartily recommend trying it with kale and crispy pork or a crispy catfish salad.

Over my years in the bar and restaurant business, I've often encountered the misconception that white wines are made with white grapes and red wines are made with red grapes. In reality, white wine is made with the skins removed, while red wine is made with them in. Rosé falls somewhere in the middle. It gets its vibrant hue and complex character from just a small amount of skin contact — more than white wine but less than red.

The result is a style of wine that can display a vast array of qualities. The fruit flavors can range from light berries up to rich jam, while the body, acidity, and minerality can also vary. Rosé can be noticeably sweet or bone dry but for Thai food, I suggest sticking with the latter. Dry rosés are most often associated with regions like Provence in France or Rosado in Spain, where they're usually made with grape varietals like grenache, cinsault, or Mourvèdre. That said, California has been producing some superb dry rosés recently as well. A light-bodied, fragrant variety is excellent with grilled Thai food, like seasoned pork skewers, and lighter dishes, like an aromatic larb salad. The wine's clean profile will let the food's flavors shine through while fruitiness should help temper excess spice.

Sometimes referred to as "pink champagne," sparkling rosé is an effervescent wine that combines the diverse and fruity characteristics of rosé with the beautifully bubbly texture of sparkling wine. Technically, it's only pink champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France but you can find variants of the style in almost every wine-producing country. The grapes used will vary depending on the wine region, so while French styles may rely on chardonnay or pinot noir grapes, a prosecco rosé from Italy will use glera grapes.

The bubbly texture of sparkling rosé makes it a highly effective palate cleanser, so it's excellent for Thai meals that feature multiple dishes or courses. That same texture can also help create a uniquely lively mouthfeel when matched with the crunchiness of fried food. When you factor in the fruit-forward character of the grapes, you end up with a style of wine that's a worthy match for Thai appetizers. Try popping open a bottle next time you tuck into a plate of deep-fried spring rolls, Thai fish cakes, or fried wonton dumplings.

Argentina's reputation for quality wine hasn't always been as strong as it is today. By the early 1990s, they were among the top 10 wine-producing countries in the world; however, the majority of it was mass-produced plonk reserved for the domestic market. Fortunately, the Argentinian attitude toward wine began to change, and high-quality, globally marketable wines became a priority. Although malbec is traditionally a French wine, it's probably the style we most associate with Argentina. The country also produces a criminally underrated wine made with its very own grape varietal — torrontés.

Torrontés is an incredibly smooth white wine with moderate acidity and has a reputation for being fruity and floral. Fragrant notes of orange blossom and rose petals intermingle with zest lemon and juicy stone fruit, like ripe apricot and peach. Although torrontés tends to be pretty dry, the aroma is sweetly perfumed, and it's a wine that's delicate yet well-structured. All-in-all, these features make torrontés an ideal wine to pair with one of Thailand's many fantastic seafood dishes. I suggest pouring a glass to enjoy alongside some crispy Thai crab cakes or, if you're near the coast, a whole-steamed fish, liberally seasoned with local herbs and spices.

Named after the French region of the same name, Beaujolais is a red wine that's often passed over for more well-known styles. Made with Gamay grapes, it's minimally tannic, relatively acidic, and has a light body, making it a versatile choice for pairing with Eastern cuisines.

Beaujolais' are famous for having bright red fruit flavors and a subtle spice, and they're also slightly unusual in the wine world. Traditionally, we only chill white wines; however, it's pretty common to chill a Beaujolais. The style's profile means that dropping the temperature boosts the fruity notes and reduces the alcohol heat. For food pairings, this makes it a great wine for balancing out intense spice and matching with lighter, sweeter meats like pork. I'd pop a bottle in the fridge and pull it out to quaff with a few of northern Thailand's signature sausages, the incredibly aromatic Sai Ua. Kao Moo Dang is another solid option. I don't mean Thailand's famous tiny hippopotamus but the juicy red pork and rice dish she's named after.

As I mentioned earlier, matching a big, bold red wine with Thai food can be a bit tricky. However, that doesn't mean it can't be done. Thai cuisine does include dishes that aren't overly spicy or complex, and these are where the right red can really shine. For me, Zinfandel is a wine that fits the bill.

Zinfandel technically comes from Italy – where it's known as primitivo — but these days it's most strongly associated with California. The smooth, rich style is moderately tannic with oodles of jammy red and black fruit flavors. It's considered dry but has a subtle sweetness that's often cut with touches of gentle spice. These are all hallmarks of a great wine for pairing with barbeque food. Places like South Africa and the southern United States certainly deserve their reputation for world-class barbeque food but I'm yet to experience any as delicious as Thailand. Trust me, you'd be astounded by what can be done with a few sticks of sharpened bamboo, some fresh pork, and an open fire. Zinfandel is also a tasty choice for complementing some of northern Thailand's rich, regional curries, like the sweet-sauced pork dish, Kaeng Hung Ley.

While you could definitely pair a good champagne with certain Thai dishes, I find Italian prosecco to be a far more suitable — and affordable — option. Made with glera grapes and hailing from the northeast of Italy, sparkling prosecco is generally a touch sweeter, fruitier, and floral than its high-class French cousin.

Once again, prosecco's effervescence makes it a superb palate cleanser and a unique pairing for crunchy fried foods. The high acidity and extra sweetness are excellent for cutting through the oily rich flavors of dishes like spring rolls and deep-fried chicken or fish. It'll also do a refreshingly good job of tempering heat if you're a fan of Thailand's famously spicy dipping sauce, Nam Prik. Unlike sparkling rosé, prosecco's fruit notes lean more towards green apple, pear, melon, and white peach, so it's a wonderful match for some of Thailand's iconic desserts. You can't go wrong with a glass of prosecco and sweet mango sticky rice, or perhaps a bowl of fruity and savory Loy Kaew.