Indian food and wine

[Dr Vino]

I am a wine enthusiast. And a fan of Indian food. If you can bear the thought of setting aside beer for an Indian meal, I'd be interested in hearing what are some favorite wine matchings with Indian food?

[Carolyn Tillie]

I love dry, Alsatian-style Gewurztraminers (not the sickly sweet kinds). Less than .75% residual sugar.

[JeanMarie]

Shiraz goes well with spicy dishes.

[LOS]

German wines at the Kabinett and Spatlese levels often work very well, as does a semisweet basic Vouvray (Champalou's, for instance). I've never tried it, but I think that Moscato d'Asti would be wonderful. Any semisweet bubbly would probably work.

Lee

[victornet]

We recently gave a party at Tabla (not strictly an Indian restaurant), and served a Cousino-Macoul cabernet from Chile. It went perfectly, though we did not have any very spicy dishes. I often order an Oregon or California Pinot Noir at this restaurant (they get great things I can't find in stores), and the Shiraz recommendation seems right as well.

[Mark Sommelier]

There is a long and interesting thread about this subject in the India folder. I am in the drink cold beer or cold water camp on this one. There is no long standing tradition in India of drinking western style wines with meals. Personal assessment: nothing goes with Vindaloo.

[budrichard]

I agree with Mark 100%. When in an Indian restaurant it's either an Indian beer or a mango Lassi. The yogurt helps to tame the fire! -Dick

[Monica Bhide]

Here is the thread from the India Forum Wines and Indian Food

[budrichard]

Monica, thanks for the thread! We eat quite often on Devon St in Chicago and I don't remember any wines being offered. What I remember is great food with a fabulous array of spices. After I was introduced to the Mango Lassi along with the 'healing' properties of dairy, that is my beverage of choice. -Dick

[traminer]

Am a newbie to the wine forum here.. based on my 27 years of starting the day with a crispy prata with curry and a tender tandoor for dinner, I agree with the sentiment that wine does not go with spicy Indian food. Well at least not in the classical food-wine pairing sense. A cold beer or riesling will wash the spice down better, but the food does not bring out any new flavors. And sipping a tannic shiraz after a spicy mutton curry only invites a fast and fiery death to the taste buds.

Having said that, there are plenty of non spicy Indian foods.. am thinking of a nice dhal or mutta paneer that may be excellent with a chilled chenin blanc or riesling. Gerwutz is way too flowery and overwhelming.. my choice will be lime juice or plain lassi.

[davidbdesilva]

I love Indian food and I love wine, sometimes a tough marriage but I think it can work. Personally, I cannot drink red wine (which is my preference over whites) with Indian food, both end up tasting strange in my opinion. I like a nice Sauvignon Blanc from NZ, a sweeter reisling, vouvray, and yes moscato d'asti (which went very well).

[Andre]

For Indian food I would pick a wine with as low alcohol content as possible.

Since alcohol tends to bring out the flavor in food, it will maginfy the typically already dominant spices and sauces.

Try these:

Fruit wines 8.5%-9.5% alcohol.and would prefer them dry. Kiwi, Pears. apples, strawberries [ Fragolino] etc.

I might add the Portuguese Vinho Verde to the white wines already recommended [ up to 10% alcohol and the Santo Adriaho could be a good example, even though medium dry, it has enough acidity to cover its sweetness].

Reds:

An Italian lambrusco [ I would go for dry rather than amabile ], Australian sparkling Shiraz etc. Aged Portuguese red wine with up to 11.5% alcohol can also be an option.

A dry Rose' like the Lebanese Bkea style would also run along quite pleasantly.

This is a generalization to a broad aray of flavors - to be taken into consideration.