Match of the week

Tongdak (rice-stuffed chicken) and orange wine

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on August 20 2024 at 08:40

Continuing in the spicy food vein of last week, this time I was eating at a Korean restaurant called Bokman in Bristol.

I started with a Korean lager called Cass and could happily have carried on drinking that but was tempted by the orange wine which was available by the glass.

It was a Vincent Stoeffler, Feu Follet from Alsace, a blend of muscat, gewürztraminer and pinot gris ‘aromatics dialled up to the max’ as the wine list nicely put it.

Aromatic varieties like this that work particularly well in orange wine (which is white wine made by leaving the juice in contact with the skins as you do with a red) and it really was delicious, full of tropical fruit flavours and a touch of sweetness that took the the hot/sweet dipping sauces with our Tongdak (rice stuffed roast chicken) in their stride.

It was, if anything, even better with the sensationally good Bokman salad which consists of Chinese leaves, toasted seaweed, pine nuts and a ‘house dressing’ which I’m guessing was based on kimchi or kimchi brine. Which suggests that orange wine would be good with kimchi provided it wasn’t too hot.

You can find the wine between £22 and £28 in the UK (e.g. £25 at Victor Indigo November which is a great name) though if you’re lucky enough to live in France you can buy it off the producer’s website for €13.60.

For other orange wine pairings see here

If you’d like be able to check out all the food and wine pairings on the site you can buy a bundle of credits here to access my premium content.

And/or for regular updates on what and where I’ve been eating, drinking and travelling sign up for my weekly newsletter Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.