No stranger to adventure, globe-trotting sommelier turned winemaker Brad Hickey of Brash Higgins will be touching down in Thailand next week. And what better way to show off Brad’s spectrometric assortment of wines than paired with the brightest and fieriest dishes from Bangkok’s favorite Ekamai-based Issan institution, Zao!
Intrepid and bold dishes make a home at Zao, as they serve up some of the purest distillations of Issan food and drink culture that we have the pleasure of finding further south here in Bangkok. Their food is unapologetically spicy, sour, funky, and deeply authentic, begging for wines with jovial sensibilities and structure to highlight everything on the plate from nuance to intensity. We’ve found a perfect match in Brash Higgins, whose wines are made under the same philosophy of non-conventional charm and creating engaging, downright fun flavors for all those willing to savor.
Expect to find exciting dishes like Laab with river snails paired with fresh, acid-driven Chenin Blanc; smokey, grilled Nam Tok Neua alongside spicy, amphora-raised Nero d’Avola; Yums with fresh watermelon dripping in salty, funky fish sauce & chilis to be slurped down with a glass of aromatic, skin-contact Zibbibo. Safe to say, there will be a mouthwatering myriad of flavors to dive into headfirst including a rare wine of Brad’s new to our neck of the woods.
These cuvées will be available both by the glass and as a flight of wines:
- Brash Higgins CHN 2022, Chenin Blanc, McLaren Vale, Australia – ‘A pale straw in hue, the wine is heady with Chenin perfume of honey, straw, celery, real lemonade and water chestnut. Soft entry with trim acidity, the wine tightens as it flows across the tongue revealing a lick of saline and oyster shell. Good natural acidity with a delicate chalky, lemon pucker and notes of liquorice on the finish that pull you back for another look.’
- Brash Higgins ZBO 2022, Zibbibo, McLaren Vale, Australia – ‘Cloudy and a diaphanous, pale copper in appearance. The wine is dry yet exudes tantalising herbal, spice and stone fruit aromas. Complex nose of apricot, graphite/pencil shavings, cut ginger, cloves, elderflower, white pepper, Belgian white ale, and wild honey leaps from the glass. On the palate, the wine has a soft entry but with good grip, an earthy sweet chalk/clay element with notes of lemon oil, tangerines, tea and cinnamon apples.’
- Brash Higgins NDV 2020, Nero d’Avola, McLaren Vale, Australia – “Dark ruby in colour, with hints of black cherry, Indian spices and stem ginger. Orange peel also present which is usual in this wine. Reminiscent of a Negroni cocktail, angostura bitters and all. A pomegranate, bright dark raspberry and morello cherry mid-palate balanced by a refreshing sweet and sour red cherry acidity. The wine finishes with fine grained, chain link tannins as well as some savouriness.”
- Brash Higgins CBSV 2020, Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale, Australia – ‘Perfumed nose; caraway seeds, floral, sweet mint, blueberries and cassis, with spicy notes of Earl Grey tea, and Dutch liquorice. On the palate the wine is smooth and rich with the sweet earthiness of roasted root vegetables, the acidity of rhubarb and the dark lusciousness of black currants. Layered and complex, the 2020 finishes with lovely sweet notes as well as that typical cabernet tannin keeping the wine taut.‘
All food and wines will be available a la carte with a special flight of all four of Brad’s wines for 900thb++ and the option of a pairing with two of Zao’s signature dishes for 1500thb++ altogether. To book please message @zaoisan on Instagram or call Tel 063-246-9545. To get there, view the map here.