Since my wine class is over, I've been attempting to use my newfound "expertise" by pairing my weekday meals with wine based on what I know.  I've successfully paired several meals lately, but those meals have primarily been classics: California Cabernet with steak, Chablis with shellfish. I wanted to try pairing wine to notoriously difficult to pair cuisine: Thai food.

I invited an inquisitive friend over for dinner, ordering take-out from the award-winning House of Siam, conveniently located around the corner. (It should be noted that for a Thai restaurant, HoS's wine list is not to be scoffed at: the last time I ate on the premises, I had a delicious Sipp Mack Gewürztraminer -- the same Sipp Mack that produced this). I went down to get my Panang Duck and on the way back picked up another  Gewürztraminer -- the 2005 Schoenheitz Holder, and an Argentine white from Salta, the 2006 Deneza Torrontes.

Gewürztraminer is the universally recommended best-bet wine when it comes to Asian curry. "Gewurtz" means "spicy" in German, and it is known for a spice notes, along with lychee and rose petals. The Schoenheitz Holder, an off-dry version of Gewürtz, had a great lychee, apricot, and rose-petal nose to it, but the low acidity couldn't stand up to the sweetness. It wasn't terrible with the curry, but I think it needed a bit more acidity to compete with the coconut milk in the dish.

The Deneza, with its unassuming straw-green color and its nose of faint cut grass and apple, faired better on its own -- the higher acidity balanced out the apples and gun-flint flavors -- but the slightly bitter finish, while nice on its own, seemed to clash with the gamey flavors of the duck.

While it wasn't a success, it wasn't a total failure, either. A Gewürztraminer on the dryer side, with some acidity to balance the sweetness, would be a great pairing. If you don't have any around, a cold lager is your best bet.