Pairing Off: Pho is popular, wine is popular—what happens when the two meet?

Should we credit “the best and the brightest”—hawks like the Dulles brothers—for introducing pho to the American palate?

After all, the architects of the calamity in Southeast Asia set the stage for an influx of Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. Before 1975, bowls of broth and noodles were either Campbell’s or boxed ramen. By the early 2000s, however, speculation was stirring that pho might one day overtake pizza in popularity. In 2015 some 8,700 Vietnamese kitchens dotted the culinary landscape. A few years later, pronouncing the dish correctly became almost routine.

While it would be wrong to suggest wielding foreign policy for culinary purposes, the war and the way America’s role in it ended is certainly responsible for the wave of immigrants who would soon introduce their favorite dishes.

So in the scope of dining history, the thought of pairing wine and pho is relatively new—and a bit daunting.

“There are a lot of different flavors going on,” says Ashlee Jansen of The Wine House in Carmel Valley, referring to the soup. “You wouldn’t want to overwhelm the palate.”

Pho bo from Chopstix in Monterey is a medley of beef, mellow rice noodles, onion and cilantro, with bean sprouts, jalapeño and sprigs of basil to add at will. The composition is herbal with slender teeth—a prick of grassy anise, a pinch that is sweet and sharp—over the earthy savor of meat and sprouts, all of which cling to the broth.

Ideally, Jansen would pair this with a Muscadet of Vinho Verde, grapes unfamiliar to the AVAs of the Central Coast. But she has a ready substitute.

“Monterey County Sauvignon Blancs are not so super grassy,” she explains. “That would work.”

Jansen recommends the Musque clone prepared by winemaker Adrien Valenzuela at Carral Wine Co.—a wise selection, as the winery’s current release met neatly with spring rolls from Zab Zab in an earlier Pairing Off.

The 2019 Corral Sauvignon Blanc reveals rich pineapple, whole peaches and a nip of fresh pear on the nose, with a comforting mineralic calm resting underneath. Allowing it to breach room temperature on this occasion also brought a sharp, almost spicy grapefruit zest to the bouquet.

It’s a dry wine, with rich fruit and a cheerful tropical note and a warm notion of sunbaked hay. But the pineapple and stonefruit pleasantries take the lead, with the bite of pith and stolid minerality present in the background.

The wine is arm in arm with this particular pho. The fruits keep pace, the hint to spice kicks up just a notch, adding dimension to slices of jalapeño in the soup—wine and food in stride.