Thai cuisine and wine might not have a solid tradition but they surely share an important principle: it’s all about balance.

Balance it’s probably the most important condition in wine, and despite the personal taste or individual preferences, drinking a well-balanced wine should always be a pleasant experience. Thai food is recognized as one of the tastiest cuisine worldwide thanks to the capacity of achieving the perfect harmony between all the sweet, spicy, sour and salty ingredients, which are usually mixed all together in a single dish. Sharp fresh herbs flavors and overpowering spice aromas are tempered by sweet pastes and empowered by salty and sour ingredients. In this explosion of flavors the right wine can add even more complexity bringing the overall experience to another level, on the other hand choosing a wine not able to cope with this flavor intensity could lead to a poor matching where pungent sour and bitter aromas are exaggerated.

Fiano di Avellino DOCG I Capitani 2018

The bottle chosen today is a Fiano di Avellino with intense ripe fruit aromas well-balanced by good structure, rich body and crisp acidity. Aromas of Mediterranean herbs, tropical fruits and vanilla lead the nose. The round creamy palate offers orange candied notes along with pineapple, passion fruit, ripe pear, honey and vanilla. A rounded palate, rich body and decent acidity make the mouth feeling soft, warm and rich followed by hazelnut hints and a subtle smoky finish.

Stir-fried pumpkin with crab meat, salted eggs and Thai basil.

This delicious dish combines the delicate sweetness of pumpkin and Thai basil with the saltiness of the eggs, the unique sweet mineral taste of crab meat and a spicy sour element from the side sauce. This umami bite brings out the crisp acidity of Fiano and a more intense smoky sensation, the pear now is the only evident fruit aroma while the mouth became richer and smoother. The pairing enhances the level of flavor intensity of both the food and the wine, adding more layers at any bites and sips.

Lamb Massaman Curry with Roti.

An exquisite tender leg of lamb, marinated and 48-hours stewed in a rich massaman curry, with caramelized onions and tomatoes served along with a tasty roti and a sour cucumbers sauce. This curry is not really spicy but full of flavors and spices resulting in a juicy and flavorful combination. The meeting with the wine is a delightful discovery, especially when the fatty sauce of the dish is cutting off by the fine acidity of the wine and the caramelized notes of the onions merge with the smoky sensation in the glass.