Rainbow nation

Synesthesia, confusion of the senses, is a rich well for drink-speak. The tasting notes for Johnnie Walker Blue Label 1805: “Whispers of long-forgotten autumns with opulent fruits and creamy vanilla laced with hints of moss and fallen leaves,” confuses sound and taste while the very brand name ‘Blue Label’ is a visual confusion of colour and flavour.

Visual synesthesia is brilliantly deployed to match wine with Chinese food by Simon Tam, auctioneer Christie’s man in Hong Kong, through a new iPad/iPhone application called Flavour Colours.

The sales bumph highlights important social issues: “You’re in a Chinese restaurant and you’re thinking of ordering chicken in clay pot. But what wine will go with it? In a few seconds you can select chicken in clay pot in Flavour Colours and it will give you a list of five suggested matching wines. If the restaurant doesn’t have those wines, tap a button and another five will be listed.”

Adapted for the SA scene: “You’re in a supermarket and you want to buy a young Pinotage. But what dishes might you prepare that would match it? Again, you can rapidly look up the wine in Flavour Colours and it will give you five suggested matching dishes.” So far, so techie trendy.

But the breakthrough comes in the way Simon associates food and wine – through colour. The rich patrimony of the Chinese kitchen is divided into four subtle colour schemes – no primary gauche Andy Warhol treatment here but rather a muted Zen palate.

As Si explains, “The principles of Flavour Colours consider taste holistically: not just the science of four basic flavours but also seasonality, our mood and our individual expectations of what will make a good match. Flavour Colours divides wine and food flavours into just four categories: blond, ivory, tan and brown.”

SA is a fully fledged (if not yet fully paid-up) member of BRICS (the emerging economic grouping Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA) and when it comes to marketing wine in Asia, colour matters.

How ironic, for SA has an infamous history of classification on the basis of colour, so dividing wines into four group areas should be a doddle. First up is ‘blond’, which “brings to mind the zestiness of fresh lemon, delicate white flower blossoms, an invigorating sunny day with gentle sea breezes”. Blond foods include “steamed fish with heady ginger or the penetrating freshness of green peppercorn” and blond wines are clearly Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, Riesling, exotic cultivars like Viognier and Verdelho and unwooded white blends.

Ivory “brings fresh core flavours that are extended and layered with other flavours’ freshness. Shredded ginger with steamed pork dumplings and garoupa fillets with sweet corn are perfect examples. The ivory Flavour Colour is seamless and easy to love” and wooded whites such as Chardonnay, barrel-fermented Chenin and white blends as well as fresh and youthful Méthode Cap Classique are appropriate matches.

“Tan is sensual and real. The flavours are as deep as they are wide, but never intense. Tan Flavour Colours are also very textural,” hence Pinot Noir and vintage MCC are indicated.

“The brown Flavour Colour offers warmth, a sense of safety and comfort. It is fulfilling and satisfying. It is a heartiness that feeds the soul. A matured old red, dark chocolate truffles, braised oxtail, the scent of an old leather Chesterfi eld and exotic spices of cigars are all brown Flavour Colour.” A category which speaks to rich Shiraz, Bordeaux blends and fortified wines.

Desmond Tutu memorably dubbed the new SA, ‘the Rainbow Nation’. A new WOSA slogan for the East, perhaps?