Wine Pairing

[AlexBernardo]

In a few weeks I'll be hosting a wine dinner at a favorite Indian restaurant. For sure we'll be having vegetable pakoras and tandoori lamb with various naan for starters and continue on with a few curries with kashmiri biryani. For the starters I plan to go with whites, probably an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and a demi-sec Vouvray. But for the curry, I'd like to switch to some reds. Would Burgundy work? Cru Beaujolais? Amarone? Anyone tried a successful red wine matching with curry?

[jamiemaw]

In a few weeks I'll be hosting a wine dinner at a favorite Indian restaurant. For sure we'll be having vegetable pakoras and tandoori lamb with various naan for starters and continue on with a few curries with kashmiri biryani. For the starters I plan to go with whites, probably an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and a demi-sec Vouvray. But for the curry, I'd like to switch to some reds. Would Burgundy work? Cru Beaujolais? Amarone? Anyone tried a successful red wine matching with curry?

←

A few thoughts:

You might want to fit in a chilled and hoppy India Pale Ale. If anyone in your party doesn't drink alcohol, a lemon-ginger-soda is a good accompaniment; drinking chai through a multi-course meal gets rich quickly.

Other budget-friendly whites to consider:

• Balthasar Ress

• Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner-Veltliner

And some reds:

• A fruit-forward (young) pinot noir of your choosing

• Domaine Perrin Reserve

• A granache, such as Artazuri

• Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon

• Monte Sans Reis Boa Memoria

Each of these bottles will stand up to the food. Good luck with your dinner,

Jamie

Edited October 3, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[KatieLoeb]

A more general suggestion would be to find a wine that has low tannins and a lower alcohol content if the curries have any spicy heat whatsoever. If there's any capsaicin heat in the curry, than the alcohol in the wine will be like throwing gasoline on a fire. It'll set your mouth aflame.

There's a reason that people drink 5% ABV beer with Buffalo Wings rather than wine or vodka.

[muichoi]

Don't drink wine with Indian food, they weren't designed for each other. Spirits and beer are far better.

[CharityCase]

Don't drink wine with Indian food, they weren't designed for each other. Spirits and beer are far better.

←

Jamie "Gaping" Maw has a couple of good suggestions but I might make wine an option among other alcoholic and non-alcoholic bevvies because it's really quite a tough thing to match with Indian.

Funnily enough we had a bottle of the Réserve Perrrin with our meal the other night. It seemed like a nice fit with Lamb Dhansak which is creamier and slightly sweet and not dry.

I had a highly-prized Dogfish Head IPA with the tandoori and with spicier drier dishes and it was definitely a great match.

Edited October 4, 2005 by CharityCase (log)

[BrentKulman]

I was going to suggest an IPA as well, but I see others have beat me to the punch.

To be somewhat more authentic (ties to the British Empire and all that), you might consider an English IPA rather than an American. They tend to be less hoppy and a better choice unless your audience is familiar with and enjoys the American IPA style.

A handful of recommendations:

Fuller's India Pale Ale

Samuel Smith's India Ale

Bad Elf

Pride of Romsey IPA

[carswell]

Can only echo the advice others have given. The chiles will make big wines taste alcoholic and tannic and, in combination with the strong spice flavours, will overwhelm subtle wines. If you insist on a red, do as Katie suggests: choose a low-alcohol, not very tannic wine, nothing very old or fancy, and get the chef to tone down the heat. Another thing to bear in mind: red wines go with red meat, yes, but in Indian cooking meat is usually cooked until well done, i.e. no longer red. In France, white wine is sometimes recommended as a pairing for well-done red meat, and you shouldn't exclude that possibility here. Or compromise on a vibrant pink: last year, Bonny Doon's 2003 Vin Gris de Cigare — bursting with fruit and a bit sweeter than usual — proved a pretty good match with a rich and spicy lamb shank that had earlier stonewalled a sparkling shiraz.

In the end, though, ale rules.

[SBonner]

Try a South African Pinotage... lots of fruit and soft tannins.

Cheers,

Stephen

[wedwardes]

For me tannins don't work with red wine. They are mouth drying not mouth-watering and refreshing. Furthermore with a curry I want something cool to cold. And the tannin feel rises as temperature falls. So for a red wine you want to remove the tannin feel especially at low temps.

To remove the tannin feel from tea one adds sugar and milk. Same with wine.

Include some residual sugar. Notice that Australian sparkling Shirazes have quite a high dosage and still at low temps have a tannin mouth-puckering feel in the mouth.

Milk? That'll be a buttery wine with serious malolactic fermentation to introduce the lactic acid found in milk. Mix in some milky Semillon or Chenin Blanc. Viognier?

What's so special about my wines from Wine for Spice? Many of these points have been covered by others here.

My wines can be summed up in one word - REFRESHING - a refreshing alternative to a cold gas injected lager.

First, my wines are all naturally semi-sparkling. Carbon Dioxide enhances taste and adds natural acidity when dissolved thereby adds to the mouth watering feel. But a fully sparkling wine or beer has too much gas and lager has gas injected producing large bubbles leading to bloating with food.

Second, drink the wine cool to ice-bucket cold – So thirst quenching like a cold lager.

Third, a refreshing wine also should have a good level of mouth-watering acidity. Think lemon juice – the classic Indian “Nimboo Pani”.

Fourth, avoid mouth-drying tannin. Whilst tea is drunk in India with food, the tannin is softened with milk and sugar. Furthermore, tannin in both wine and tea is exaggerated at low temperatures.

Fifth, the wines are also free from oak, which clashes with spices such as cumin, corianders and ginger giving a bitter, harsh after-taste. I want a clean taste.

Sixth, moderate alcohol; a good degree of alcohol is required to provide body but excess alcohol over 12.5% can add to the burning sensation of chillies. Take a sip of vodka before and after biting into a chilli to feel this. Furthermore, the wines are so moreish that will find yourself drinking quite a bit.

Finally aromatics, fruitiness and sweetness in the range rise in relation to the chilli heat of the accompanying dish. This is based on my Goan Granny’s trick of adding some sugar to an over hot curry. Suck on a sweet before and after biting into a chilli to feel this. But unlike some wines like 100% Gewurztraminer or Muscat which can be over-aromatic and sickly after a glass or two, my wines are balanced with a coupage providing natural acidity and are additionally refreshingly sparkling through a second fermentation.

see http://wines.wineforspice.com

regards

Warren Edwardes, ceo, Wine for Spice Limited

Edited November 28, 2005 by wedwardes (log)

[fatmat]

Personally, I'd avoid both wine and beer, and go for a good cider. I think that cider makes the best accompaniment for curry, one that has sadly been overlooked.

Cider made with Kingston Black apples is sharp, fruity and ever so slightly bitter - almost like a liquid chutney.

Here is a link to a good one that I have tried... Sheppy's

[muichoi]

What an excellent idea!

[Milagai]

Don't drink wine with Indian food, they weren't designed for each other. Spirits and beer are far better.

←

What is the origin of this belief? Who's the "designer" here?

There's plenty of history of wine being drunk with Indian food,

e.g. Emperors of Delhi etc.

They used to ritually break their wine cups and forswear intoxication

before battles as a vow for success, but apparently afterwards went

right back to it, and had new cups made.

here's a link with a picture halfway down.

http://www.bhu.ac.in/kala/gallery_nidhi.htm

Who came up with the notion that wine and Indian food don't match?

Milagai

('ll cross post on the wine board too).

[fatmat]

Don't drink wine with Indian food, they weren't designed for each other. Spirits and beer are far better.

←

What is the origin of this belief? Who's the "designer" here?

There's plenty of history of wine being drunk with Indian food,

e.g. Emperors of Delhi etc.

They used to ritually break their wine cups and forswear intoxication

before battles as a vow for success, but apparently afterwards went

right back to it, and had new cups made.

here's a link with a picture halfway down.

http://www.bhu.ac.in/kala/gallery_nidhi.htm

Who came up with the notion that wine and Indian food don't match?

Milagai

('ll cross post on the wine board too).

←

No idea, but personal experience makes me agree that there are better combinations - why struggle to make wine work with curry when there are better options?

[ivan]

From here: click.

The marriage of Indian wine and food

Some people say that wine does not go with curry. Well those of the British Raj used to drink a choata peg (coktail) or two before dinner, Madeira with the curry followed by claret then back on to the choata peg or Scottish wine. The very thought gives me a hangover.

Although Madeira does go with curry one gets legless unless one paces oneself with lots of water. Otherwise you cannot enjoy the food. Now we can all enjoy a few glasses of jolly good Indian wine without spoiling either our reputations or the delicious food.

With thousands of years experience of drinking wine with curry surely they, the Indians must know which is better beer or wine. Beer as we know it did not reach the sub Continent until the early to mid 19th century when brewers made I.P.A. -Indian Pale Ale which was specially high in alcohol and well hopped in order to stand the voyage from Britain. Before this period rice beer was made in some areas.

Portuguese settlers improved the wine they found in the 16th century when they came to Goa. This helped to keep up interest and continuity in the wine industry which today is growing up into the 21st century from the quantum leap of its rebirth in 1985.

The Portuguese also introduced Vindaloo to India. The sailors kept their meat in barrels of wine laced with garlic to which they added the spices they found in India. The word was originally Vin d'Ail.

Try drinking cool light red wine with meat curries, it is surprisingly refreshing and works well.

Sounds to me like I.P.A. was embraced by Indians because it goes so bloody well with curry.

[JohnL]

In a few weeks I'll be hosting a wine dinner at a favorite Indian restaurant. For sure we'll be having vegetable pakoras and tandoori lamb with various naan for starters and continue on with a few curries with kashmiri biryani. For the starters I plan to go with whites, probably an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and a demi-sec Vouvray. But for the curry, I'd like to switch to some reds. Would Burgundy work? Cru Beaujolais? Amarone? Anyone tried a successful red wine matching with curry?

←

I believe that one could probably find some red wine that would be ok with Indian food. (especially curries). But in general. IMOP, red wine (any red wine) is simply not a very good option for strongly spiced foods. Why settle for just ok when opting for white wine, beer,or something else would provide a much more agreeable match. (I love the cider suggestion below).

Really good Indian cuisine is complex (layers of flavors) and to me "swamps" the more subtle flavors found in red wine. The beverage temperature is also a problem for me.

Therefore the food will 'overpower" the wine--looking at this from the otherway round--the red wine will not provide much in the way of thirst quenching and palate cleansing with this food.

IMOP with great red wines --simple dishes work best to showcase the wine's attributes and subtleties and with complex dishes a simpler wine works to allow the dish's compelxity to shine.

There are more simple Indian dishes where I see red wine working better--samosas etc.

still--why try to force the issue with red wine when there are many other choices that would work better?