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Riesling
Off-dry, with Thai curries and noodles
A touch of sweetness is the cheapest fire extinguisher in wine. The residual sugar in an off-dry Riesling tempers chili heat, while its sharp acidity keeps each mouthful of green curry or pad thai tasting fresh. Lower alcohol helps too, because chili amplifies the burn of a strong wine. Look for a bottle labeled off-dry or medium; a bone-dry Riesling loses the trick.
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Gewürztraminer
With creamy, gently spiced Indian curries
Gewürztraminer smells of lychee and sweet rose before you have even taken a sip, and that perfume meets the warm spice of a curry house order head on instead of being flattened by it. It also tends to taste sweeter than it really is, which flatters a creamy chicken curry. Keep it for the gentler end of the menu: it is usually fairly high in alcohol, often 13.5% or more, and a fierce vindaloo turns that into a burn.
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Lambrusco
With pizza, especially meaty or extra-cheese ones
A red that fizzes and goes in the fridge sounds like a party trick, but it is exactly what a pizza needs. Lambrusco comes from Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, and its bubbles and lively acidity cut through melted cheese while its fruitiness brings out the natural sweetness of the tomato sauce. It ranges from dry to sweet, so pick a secco bottle for pepperoni or sausage; the drier styles suit oily, savory toppings best.
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Grüner Veltliner
With sushi and sashimi
Grown mostly in Austria, Grüner Veltliner makes a dry, crisp white whose acidity works like a knife on oily fish. It slices through the richness of salmon nigiri or an eel roll without muscling the delicate flavors out of the way, which is more than most bigger, oaky whites can manage. A sushi platter for two and a chilled bottle is a cheaper night than it looks.
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Beaujolais
With fried chicken
Beaujolais is made from Gamay, a red with high acidity and low, soft tannins, so it refreshes between greasy, crunchy mouthfuls instead of turning bitter against the salt and spice. Give the bottle a short spell in the fridge, because it is best served slightly chilled, and a cool, juicy red with a bucket of wings is a better idea than it sounds. Plain Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Villages does the job; the pricier named crus are not needed here.
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Cava (Spanish wine)
With fish and chips
A dry sparkling wine does to battered fish what a squeeze of lemon does: the acidity and bubbles cut through the fat of the batter and reset your palate for the next chip. Cava is made the same way as Champagne, with its second fermentation in the very bottle you buy, but usually costs far less, which makes it the sensible way to bring fizz to a fish-and-chips supper. Choose a Brut for this.
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Pinot noir
Young and fruity, with crispy aromatic duck and pancakes
Duck and Pinot Noir are an old partnership, and the Chinese takeout version works as well as any. A young, fruit-forward Pinot from the New World copes with the sweet and salty pull of hoisin sauce, and its light body suits shredded duck rolled in thin pancakes better than a heavier, more tannic red would. A young New Zealand Pinot is a good place to start, and there is no need to reach for Burgundy.
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Chenin blanc
Off-dry, with lemon chicken, sweet and sour and other sticky Chinese dishes
The sticky, citrusy sauces of a Chinese takeout can make a bone-dry white taste tart and thin. Chenin Blanc keeps its zingy acidity whatever the style and is a natural match for food with a sweet and sour element, so an off-dry or demi-sec bottle meets the sauce with a little sweetness of its own and still stays fresh. That makes it a handy single bottle when the order is a mixed bag of lemon chicken, sweet and sour and egg fried rice. Check the label: plenty of Chenin is bottled dry.
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Malbec
Argentine, with burgers
A fruit-forward, medium-bodied Malbec is about as close to a burger's natural partner as red wine gets. Its tannin and acidity cut through fatty beef and melted cheese, and its ripe plum fruit suits a charred patty and smoky sauces. The grape is most closely associated with Mendoza in Argentina, where the riper, plusher style is made with grilled beef in mind, and an everyday bottle is all a double cheeseburger asks for.
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Vinho Verde
With peri-peri chicken
Vinho Verde is not a grape but a protected Portuguese wine region, and its whites are young, fresh, often lightly fizzy and pleasingly cheap. That fruitiness stands up to the spice of a peri-peri marinade, while the gentle prickle keeps a hot, smoky plate of chicken and fries feeling light. Serve it very cold and do not save it: these bottles are made to be drunk young.
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Zinfandel
As Italian Primitivo, with a doner or shish kebab
A kebab with chili sauce needs a big, bold red that will not be knocked flat by the spice, and Primitivo is just that. It is the same grape as California's Zinfandel under a different name, ripe and generous, with enough fruit to handle lamb fat, garlic sauce and pickled chilies in one wrap. It is the bottle to have in reserve for the late finish.
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Rosé
Dry, with tacos and other Mexican takeout
Mexican takeout is often spicy, greasy and cheesy all at once, and a dry rosé with high acidity and tart red-berry fruit handles all three. The acidity cuts through melted cheese and slow-cooked pork carnitas, and sits happily alongside tomato salsa and lime. It is the most flexible bottle here when the order is a spread of tacos, nachos and quesadillas.
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