A glass with Indian food

The Mud House Pinot Noir 2016 is a medium-bodied wine with soft tannins, a good finish and nice notes of cherries, berries and spice/herbs

It is an axiom that wines don’t go with Indian food — one that needs to be examined in some detail lest we fall foul of anyone espousing the cause of being Indian.

First, what food are we talking about? Indian cuisine varies enormously from north to south and east to west. Coastal cuisine is again different from what’s eaten inland, and changes with where it’s being prepared.

Two key differentiators of our cuisine (when compared to “continental” cuisines) are curries and spice. Indian cuisines use many more spices (not just chillies) in complex and varied ways, and Indian foods almost always have dishes with gravy.

Then there’s how Indian food is consumed. In the North, we tend to start with roti or parantha with a potpourri of side dishes and follow up with rice soaked with daal and perhaps a gravy dish, which could be either vegetarian or meat-based. In the South, people eschew the roti/parantha bit and go straight to rice with rasam, sambhar or curd. Of course, this is all highly simplified — there could be many more dishes served in a sort of “dégustation” manner.

Last, there’s the spice-tolerance level of the average Indian, which, after a lifetime of eating spicy foods, is much higher than, say, someone from the West. This enables an Indian's palate to not react negatively to the way tannins in red wines impact spice or chillies in Indian cuisines.

Consequently, there would be two separate lists of wines that could pair with Indian foods. The one for consumers from the West would include Riesling or Gewürztraminer, Grüner Veltliner, rosé’s, and light reds like Beaujolais (served cold). The one for Indians would also feature more robust reds from a variety of grapes — we have no problems quaffing “big, hearty reds” with our tandoori chicken.

Of course, one wouldn’t want to try pairing Premier Cru Burgundies (or any complex and expensive wine) with spicy Indian food — that would not be fair to either the wine or the pocket of whoever is paying for the repast. But given that in India one should cool the reds when serving to the room temperature of Europe — about 16 degrees Celsius — a whole range of reds can be enjoyed with most Indian cuisines. 

And, of course, when having really spicy dishes (think xacuti, vindaloo, chilli chicken and the likes), the only thing that will douse the fire is cold beer or water.

Wines I’ve been drinking: “Globe in a Glass” is the Sula Vineyards' roadshow for its entire range of products and includes both its Indian as well as imported wines and spirits. It was this week in Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

There were three wines that stood out.

• A sparkling red Grenache from Sula Nashik. Dark red, lovely mousse, and perfectly balanced despite its 60 g per litre sugar (the brut version has a mere 15 g per litre). Available at present only in Mumbai, priced at Rs 1,800 and well worth the price.
• The Mud House Pinot Noir 2016 from the Central Otago region of New Zealand (88 points, Rs 2,210). Nice cherries, berries and spice/herbal notes; medium-bodied, soft tannins and a good finish. Don’t get stymied by the brand name — there's no mud in the Mud House.
• Bouchard Ainé & Fils Chablis 2017 (Rs 2,850): An unusual bouquet of tropical fruit and almonds; light, crisp, mineral taste with a nice finish. (Not to be confused with Bouchard Père & Fils.)

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant