Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a crisp, breaded pork cutlet served with a sweet, fruity-savoury brown sauce and shredded cabbage, so the wine must cut the fried fat and have enough fruit or gentle sweetness to meet the sauce. An off-dry aromatic white is the sweet spot. Avoid tannin and oak.

Pairs Perfectly

A Pinot Gris from Alsace, off-dry, France. Its weight stands up to the fried pork while the orchard-fruit richness answers the sweet-savoury sauce.

Pairs Well

An off-dry Riesling, Mosel Kabinett, Germany. The acidity cuts the fat and the touch of sweetness mirrors the sauce, and it costs little.

A Torrontés, Salta, Argentina. Floral and gently off-dry, it lifts the sauce and brings a New World fragrance to the plate.

Avoid

Tannic reds and oaked whites, which clash with the sweet sauce and the umami.

Failing That

A Vouvray demi-sec, France.

If All Else Fails

Pinot Grigio, Italy.

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