Curried beef brisket is cooked slowly with spices to ensure flavourings permeate the meat. There are many possible spice blends and each cook has a different recipe, so it's impossible to suggest a wine that will match every version. These wines taste good on their own, but what's also important is even though they're complex they won't dominate the beef's spicy taste. The brisket is often cooked with beef tendon, which gives a rich, sticky texture that should be taken into consideration when matching it with a wine.
Louis Latour Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru 2005, Burgundy, France
This wine goes best with the versions of curried beef brisket made with sticky tendon, while its sister premier cru, the Chassagne-Montrachet, is better with meatier versions. Both wines have enough complexity to sit alongside the curry spices. The key link for seamless flavours is the turmeric sweetness of the curry and the wine's malolactic creaminess.
Available for HK$474 from Maxxium (tel: 2845 5995)
Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2006, Marlborough, New Zealand
This pinot noir is useful on the Cantonese table: it's delicious with salt and pepper seafood, Chinese roast meats and goes especially well with black bean sauce and oyster sauce. Marlborough pinot noirs are filled with pure cherry and soft red fruits thanks to the strong New Zealand sunshine. This Cloudy Bay pinot is the perfect match with aromatic, rather than spicy, beef curry. The dish's fragrant nature means it has a wide selection of spices that will nicely carry the wine's many flavours. Serve the wine cool to the touch.