Doing the desi hic
It is a quirk of behaviour that, while we all know that wine goes best when consumed with food, experts would be horrified if one suggested having anything to eat when tasting wines. So, most wine tasting exercises are conducted with only crackers and water to refresh the palate.
Wine, crackers and water is the daunting prospect facing me next week when I’ll be sitting down to taste some 100 wines in 12 hours for the Sommelier India Wine Competition, which is being held at the ITC Grand Central, Mumbai, on November 19-20, 2009.
I am one of a panel of 16 wine experts led by Steven Spurrier, well-known wine critic and writer, and we’ll gather together to judge both Indian and international wines in what promises to be a ground-breaking exercise. Check out www.siwc.in for details and results. Interestingly, most wine consumers are confused — even intimidated — by the numerous wine brands now available in India and will welcome an impartial ranking of wine quality. Watch this space for an update.
Of course, the actual taste of a wine changes according to the cuisine it is paired with: witness many Italian wines, which show up as being acidic and tannic on their own (think of a Chianti or a Valpolicella) but pair wonderfully well with the local food — particularly, preparations having loads of tomatoes and cheese.
Pairing wines with Continental cuisines is a lot easier than trying to do so with Indian or Oriental dishes: the latter have a lot more spices and chillies, which clash with the tannins in red wines. Conventional wisdom recommends unoaked Chardonnays or Rieslings with spicy food, although, for the really hot stuff — Konkani preparations like vindaloo or xacuti already come to mind — the best drink would probably be a cold beer!
Part of the problem in matching wines with Indian food is the sheer variability of our cuisine. India is, after all, a myriad of cultures and lifestyles: while rice and dal (or macherjhol, or sambar) goes poorly with any wine, tandoori-style cooking is dry and much more amenable to being washed down with wine.
One laudable initiative in pairing Indian food with wine has just kicked off at the Taj West End hotel in Bangalore. The Masala Klub restaurant’s sous chef Rishikesh Rai, and Kripal Amanna of Food Lover’s magazine have come together to create Daawat-e-Khaas, a pairing of traditional Indian cuisine with imported wines that promise to — once again — break new ground in this area.
So there’s dum ki nalli and gucchi pulao (lamb shank curry served with morel rice) paired with a Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 from Sonoma County, and tandoori fish along with a Castello Banfi Chardonnay 2006 from Tuscany. Vegetarians can feast on mirch ka salan aur gucchi pulao (green pepper dumplings with morel rice) and quench the fire with a Bodega Norton Malbec Reserva 2005, Mendoza.
Wines I’ve been drinking: The Rolf Binder Halliwell Shiraz-Grenache 2006, Barossa Valley (89 points, Rs 2,088 in Bangalore) we drank with the main course at the Bangalore Wine Club dinner at Olive Beach was terrific: a Rhone Ranger type of wine with cherry, blackberry and pepper flavours, full-bodied, soft balanced tannins and a nice long finish. Lovely!