Continuing my wine pairing education, I attempted to do the (near) impossible by cooking a spicy Asian seafood dish and pairing it successfully with a wine of my choosing.

I am happy to admit that I failed miserably.

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.

Depending on who you ask and when you ask it, the line German-French border is either the Rhine river or the Vosges mountains, 25 km west. German winemakers believe that a greate wine achieves a natural balance between the residual sugar and the its acidity. They tend to be on the low side when it comes to alcohol content. And though grape varieties and the town names -- in fact, much of the region's language -- may be German, the wine is most definitely French. That is, it's made with more lusciousness and body that pairs it well with food.