Green Curry × Aromatic Wines

Key facts

Green curry’s dominant tastes

Hot, rich coconut, aromatic, sweet

Style that fits

Aromatic white, slightly sweet

Grapes

Gewürztraminer, off-dry Riesling

Gewürz in German

Spice

Avoid

High-tannin reds

What green curry tastes like: hot, rich, fragrant, sweet

Green curry leads with four things: heat from green chilli, richness from coconut milk, fragrance from the curry paste and Thai basil, and sweetness from palm sugar.

Unlike tom yum, green curry is not very sour, so the challenge moves from lime to coconut and chilli. The wine needs enough aroma not to vanish into the paste, and enough sweetness not to taste sour next to the coconut.

Why the wine needs to be aromatic

Green curry is strongly scented, and a neutral wine disappears beside it. An openly aromatic wine holds its ground.

The paste combines green chilli, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime zest and dried spices. With Thai basil and coconut on top, the aromas build in layers. A wine with floral, tropical-fruit or spicy aromas echoes the curry back instead of being covered by it.

Gewürztraminer and off-dry Riesling

Gewürztraminer brings the stronger perfume; off-dry Riesling brings more acidity. Both carry enough sweetness for coconut and chilli.

Gewürztraminer is an intensely aromatic grape. Its wines smell of lychee and rose, because they share aroma compounds with lychee fruit. Gewürz means spice in German. Its classic home is Alsace in France, and the wines are often off-dry.

The catch is that Gewürztraminer is fairly low in acidity and some bottles are high in alcohol. If the curry is very hot, check the alcohol percentage on the label and choose a lower one.

Off-dry Riesling has higher acidity and usually lower alcohol, so it suits a fiercely hot curry, or one finished with lime and plenty of kaffir lime leaf. The acidity also lightens the richness of the coconut.

Avoid high-tannin reds

High-tannin red wine does not suit green curry, because tannin against chilli turns bitter and drying.

Coconut does not fix this. Tannin with coconut fat still feels coarse, and heavy reds tend to be high in alcohol, which turns up the heat again. If you want a red, choose a light, low-tannin one and serve it slightly cool.

Other curries in the family: phanaeng and massaman

Other coconut curries follow the same rules, with the wine style moving according to heat and sweetness.

• Phanaeng: thicker, with less sauce, sweeter and with peanuts. An aromatic, slightly sweet white such as Gewürztraminer handles the sweetness and richness.
• Massaman: mild, led by dried spices such as cinnamon and cardamom, often made with beef or chicken and potatoes. With little chilli, it can take a light to medium red with soft tannin.
• Red curry with coconut: close to green curry, and the same off-dry Riesling or Gewürztraminer works.

The simple rule: the hotter the curry, the further you move towards a slightly sweet white. The milder the curry and the more it leans on dried spice, the more room there is for a light red.

Questions people ask