Kori’s Sauvignon Blanc is versatile enough to take on tofu, but can easily stand on its own.

When you think about it, the popularity of tofu and fine American wines share a quite similar timeline. The Book of Tofu by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi published in 1975 and proved to be wildly successful. A year later, at the famous Judgment of Paris, California wines took down notable French chateaus in a blind taste test.

So the two items are on the same arc – to a point. The notion of pairing wine and tofu simply hasn’t kept pace. The problem, according to Ashlee Jansen, manager at The Wine House in Carmel Valley, are the many interpretations of bean curd. Yet it’s not impossible to find a wine to go alongside.

Jansen recommends the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc from Kori Wines. A tropical fruit basket drifts from the rim, trailing heartier impressions of beeswax and baked apple. Sip the wine and you drop into a hammock surrounded by fresh passionfruit and sliced guava. On the finish the wine grows deeper, with an earthy must that does not foil the fruity reverie. It’s a glass that can be enjoyed by itself, with no tofu involved.

The Kori Sauvignon Blanc is, however, versatile enough to measure most presentations. The fruits brighten tofu with teriyaki sauce from Sushi Time in Seaside, picking up on a faint mellow trace from sesame seeds. With the more aggressive “Jungle Tofu” – a curry version served at Hula’s Island Grill in Monterey – the wine takes on a more opulent character that brings a flicker of heat in the sauce to a warm fireplace glow.

KORI WINES, Mission between Ocean and 7th, Carmel. 877-0888, koriwines.com