It was a packed house at Lady Chu in Sydney’s Potts Point on April 9 to launch a new-style event on The Real Review calendar, with Aaron Brasher and myself going head to head in a food and wine matching showdown. With the votes being tallied from every diner on the night, the pressure was on us both.

This was a night to unpack not only what the best wines were but how they worked alongside the bold and punchy Asian flavours served up from the Lady Chu kitchen. Both Aaron and I had to look at not only the weight and flavours but the structural and textural components of the food and wine to come up with what we thought was the winning combination.

Our first bracket saw a wasabi leaf filled with a sashimi of kingfish with an Asian-style dressing. There was a strong riesling lean from both of us, with Aaron selecting the Otherness Skuld Eden Valley Riesling 2020, and I threw two options at the diners, Pepper Tree Stone Mountain Single Vineyard 2024 riesling from Orange and the Nick O’Leary Flying Fox 2024 riesling from Canberra District.

It was a dish that carried all of the wines very well. The delicacy of the fish was lifted by bright acidity across all three wines, the aged riesling showing a deeper note that worked with some umami in the dressing while the fruit-forward 2024 wines exploded with vitality and lively citrus fruits. In the end the Nick O’Leary narrowly took the win.

Next up was a classic Vietnamese dish, Bánh Xeo, a crispy pancake with prawns and a dressing based on fish sauce. Again I had two runners in the race: Pirie Tasmania Traditional Method NV sparkling and Broad Arrow Pinot Gris 2023, both wines from the ‘apple isle’. Aaron kept it local with the Chateau Pato Oakey Creek O.V. Semillon 2023 from the Hunter Valley.

I approached this from two different directions, the Pirie offering a freshening cleanse from acidity and bubble but good weight from lees ageing versus the Broad Arrow which had a richness and texture to it, leaning into the deeper parts of the dish. Aaron was focused on the clean, crisp, herbal lift in the dish to work well with the Chateau Pato semillon. The Pirie was the winner on the night, making a great point for the way we should look to drink sparkling wines and their adaptability to being served with food, not only prior to the meal.

Our third course was salt and pepper quail, and it really was a stunning dish with flavour turned up to 110%. Aaron and I were at polar opposites with our approach to this wine, and that’s what makes these things so much fun—to see how two completely different wines can still work well with the same dish. Aaron went with the Prancing Horse Estate 2022 chardonnay from Mornington Peninsula while I went rogue, with a lightly chilled Hollydene Mudgee Muscat 2023 (a dry table red style—not fortified).

This is where things got very interesting. The Prancing Horse was clearly the superior wine in a stand-alone comparison, offering classic Mornington Peninsula power and a lean towards Burgundy in its savoury notes, but alongside food the Hollydene was the bolter. It picked out the anise and Sichuan pepper notes of the dish and elevated them to new heights, with the audience giving the win to the muscat.

The penultimate course was whole steamed flounder with ginger and Shaoshing wine. A dish that had everyone stopping to admire its presentation, and testing my rusty silver service skills at my table. A wine each for matching saw myself offer up the Vella Wines Harvest Widow Chardonnay 2020 against Aaron’s Singlefile Great Southern Rosé 2024.

Both wines were gorgeous, both alone and with the food. The richness of the 2020 Adelaide Hills chardonnay accented against the ginger notes was a delight while the lift and freshness of the rosé ensured the dish stayed light on its feet. I thought Aaron had me here, my vote was with the rosé by a whisker but the crowd saw it the other way, the chardonnay narrowly being the favourite.

To close out the evening, the final battle saw a delicious twice-cooked duck with plum sauce paired to three wines, Aaron choosing Ocean Eight Aylward Pinot Noir 2023 from Mornington Peninsula and Scotchmans Hill Shiraz 2022 from Geelong. I took to the duck with the Glandore White Label Red Vines 2023 from the Hunter Valley—a blend of shiraz, tempranillo and touriga nacional.

The Ocean Eight was a wonderful wine, and pinot noir and duck is always a fantastic combination, but the dish’s spice levels ran slightly over the fruit in this case. Glandore’s Red Vines blend had spice and lift in spades, working alongside the duck nicely but the tannin profile rode over the richness of the duck and dried the palate slightly. This left the wonderfully spice-laden and fragrant Scotchmans Hill shiraz to triumph. Its balance of white peppery spice, medium weighted fragrant blue fruits and supple yet persistent tannins melded beautifully with the duck and plum sauce, offering a rapturous mélange of flavours and textures that was greater than the sum of its parts.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening, gentle competition always keeps things exciting and it was a great exercise in looking at how food and wine matching can work with combinations that can surprise and delight. It was great to chat about the various wines and hear people’s thoughts on them, both alone and with the dish, and I look forward to doing it again soon. I’m confident Aaron is keen for a re-match!