OUR FOCUS LIES IN NATURAL WINE AND LOW-INTERVENTION WINE

[#Unfined101] WINE PAIRING (P.2)
Once you’ve got the basics, pairing stops feeling like homework and starts feeling like a road trip. You start taking detours and discovering new views.
Some of our favourite finds lately:
 
▪️Be careful with sweetness
Sweetness doesn’t just mean dessert. It sneaks into savoury dishes too: caramelized onions, berry sauces, sweet fish sauce for bún chả, a sprinkle of sugar in gỏi, or even the lychee & mango that’s tucked into ceviche. All of that sweetness can make the wine taste harsher, bitter, or overly acidic. The trick is to choose wines that naturally have plenty of ripe, juicy fruit and round texture to balance it out. White grapes with skin contact for gentle grip, fruity reds like Grenache or Blaunfrankisch, or wines that carry a little residual sugar to soften the edges. And when dishes tip into stronger sweetness or for dessert itself, that’s when more off-dry and sweet wines join the list.

▪️Think about texture as much as flavour.
Texture is how a wine feels in your mouth (like creamy, grippy, fizzy, sharp,...) and it can completely change how food tastes. A lightly fizzy pét-nat lifts creamy burrata, a high-acidity white with a crisp edge cuts through fried fish and refreshes your palate, and a red with soft tannin feels like velvet next to roast veg. Matching (or deliberately clashing) textures makes pairings more exciting.
 
▪️Widen the spectrum and loosen the “rules”
Don’t lock yourself into boxes like “red”, “rosé”, “white”. Natural wine opens a huge playground: chillable reds as refreshing as dark rosé, skinsy whites with gentle grip for earthy or spicy dishes, pét-nats slicing through briny, fried or creamy bites, silky vibrant reds gliding from charcuterie to grilled fish. Try, taste, swap glasses and see what happens in your own world.

▪️Build on your own experience.
We recently learned the hard way that unseasoned lobster with Gewürztraminer is an absolute horrifying disaster. Who says white must go with seafood? Serve them that combo - it’ll change their mind.
 
And that’s how pairing turns from theory into fun. The tips are on the table, it’s your turn to test them. We’ll catch you in the next 101!

#UnfinedSpace can take many shapes and shift into whatever you need for your celebration - a cozy workshop, a mingle-around event space, a team-bonding hang, or an intimate private party! Standing capacity up to 40 people, kitchen is always ready, and wine is obviously more than available. Slide into our DMs with your special event idea and see how we can bring it to life!

P.S. We always give extra love & support to like-minded people doing cool things for the community. If you’ve got an idea brewing, just drop us a DM. Let’s chat and see how we can make it happen together.

We’re ready to kick off our #UnfinedClub! This is where you meet like-minded wine lovers, share good drops, and be part of a genuinely growing wine community in Vietnam.

For our first Unfined wine buddies, we’ve got a little sweet treat lineup:
▪️ 10% off wine workshops & tasting events
▪️ 10% off merch hunts
▪️ (and more perks in the making - we’re still cooking)

Joining is super easy (and free!): 𝙬𝙬𝙬.𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙.𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙖/𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙-𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗 (#linkinbio)

We’ll be announcing the first club activities very soon - stay tuned!

We’re giving these @partidacreus buddies a little special offer as we are letting go of our last bottles (to soon welcome new vintage!), let’s see whose hands they end up in!🍷

You can now pick them up at #UnfinedSpace, or stay cozy at home and shop via www.unfined.asia/wines - totally your call!

(Check out the comment section for wine deets!)

In the spirit of our #UnfinedTravels cellar tours, we have brought you to the visionary playground of Milan Nestarec, and to the artistic home of Pittnauer. Now it’s time to step into something older, quieter - the ancient cellar of 𝗚𝘂𝘁 𝗢𝗴𝗴𝗮𝘂 @gutoggau.

Back in 2007, Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe bought an abandoned 17th-century winery in Burgenland, Austria - complete with a crumbling cellar, a 200-year-old screw press, and surrounding vineyards - simply because they felt the place had “a good spirit.” And that’s how Gut Oggau was born.

This visit, their eldest daughter Magdalena guided us through the cellar. Walking down there felt almost spiritual - the air thick with age, the walls built over centuries. You can really feel the energy of the place (watch the video and you’ll see what we mean). Inside, we once again met the Rolls-Royce of barrels - the legendary 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿. Gut Oggau age their wines in these neutral Austrian barrels, allowing the wines to rest without picking up flavors from the oak. What you taste is pure, living character - energy unfiltered. We also got to see their 200-year-old beam press that came with the winery purchase. This antique beauty is still in use today, exclusively for their grandparent cuvées. The gentle pressing allows for delicate extraction of juice, preserving fine aromas while minimizing bitterness from seeds and skins. It results in wines that are full of depth and structure.

Off to the vineyards, hard to believe these thriving vines were once abandoned for years. But neglect accidentally became a chance for reborn: time washed the soils clean of old chemicals, leaving a blank canvas for a new life. Gut Oggau now follow strict biodynamic principles, with minimal intervention so each wine can express its own personality. Every bunch is hand-harvested, slowly and intentionally. That quiet devotion is what gives their wines such soul. Beside vines, Eduard and Stephanie co-plant other trees and herbs in the vineyards, creating a little ecosystem for each plot, enriching the soil and biodiversity for each.

(keep reading in comment section)

Sài Gòn ơi, Unfined wine & dine is back after a long wait!

This round is a sassy and down-to-earth edition with @ezzyboyy from Singapore. He’ll be taking over our #UnfinedSpace kitchen, bringing Singapore-inspired flavors to your tables for the last time that he is in town (yup, he will be off to a new adventure after this!) . We’ll be curating wines you’d never expect to pair but somehow they’ll hit right.

À la carte menu. Wines by glass/by bottle. Fun all night.
(We’ll make sure you leave full and happy)

Our small kitchen can only host up to 25 pax per night. Lock in your favorite spot at #UnfinedSpace before it’s taken!

UNFINED x EZZY Wine Dinner
📌 Date: Oct 31 (Friday) & Nov 1 (Saturday)
📌 Time: 5PM – Late (Last order at 10PM)
📌 Location: Unfined Space - 51 Trần Ngọc Diện, Thảo Điền, D.2, HCM
*cash & bank transfer only*

#Unfined_HOMEMEAL is back this Saturday (04/10)!

This time: a battle of instant-noodle legends - 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝘆𝘂𝗻 𝘃𝘀. 𝗠𝗶̀ 𝗛𝗮̉𝗼 𝗛𝗮̉𝗼! Choose your team and join the fan war haha.

We start from 5PM with noodles & wine at #360k (#combo_only). Bowls are limited and all homemade with real toppings. #Wines_by_glass are flowing all night, so stay late for more pours!

And pleaseee give us a heads-up if you’re joining so we can prep enough bowls, chinchin! 🧡

📍 Unfined Space - 51 Trần Ngọc Diện, Thảo Điền, D.2, HCMC

P.S: We`re still bank transfer & cash only for now

People often ask us how to pair wine with food. There are definitely some guiding rules, but no fixed formula - and that’s part of the fun. We learned the basics the way we do most things: tasting our way through dinners (all kinds of it), afternoon snacks and random food encounters. Here are a few lessons that stuck with us:

1️⃣Lightly seasoned food can feel happier with light wine. Fresh cheese, poached fish, spring veg - they often click with something crisp and lively.

2️⃣Big, rich dishes could be even better with a wine that has some weight to it (but not too much, otherwise the whole meal will be too heavy!). Slow-cooked beef, stews, roasts - they tend to shine with a bottle that can stand up to them. On that note, sometimes a light fizzy red can bring a pleasant surprise to the table.

3️⃣Acidity can work like a squeeze of lemon. A bright wine can cut through cream, oil and fat and wake the dish up.

4️⃣Tannins should be softer with protein. Steak, duck, charcuterie - that’s why they often taste so right together.

5️⃣Tiny flavour echoes can make magic. Peppered lamb with peppery Syrah, lime zest ceviche with citrusy Pinot Gris. Like harmonies.

And the best part is that the natural wine blows the doors wide open. We’re no longer stuck in the old “big red” or “clean white” lanes. There could be light reds, skinsy/orange whites with texture, pét-nats that carry a spark of wildness,... And for that, it should be some exceptions. Skinsy whites with curry? Can work sometimes. Chilled light red with spicy noodles? Can work too! You can swipe right for some suggesttions we come in mind with natural/lo-fi wines.

So that’s the groundwork. We’ll be back real soon with an extension on this pairing stuff, chinchin!