Indian odyssey

Modern Indian food can be enjoyed with a glass of wine or two, but which ones work best? asks JOHN WILSON.

I CAN NEVER get too excited about matching food and wine, although I will accept that it makes a difference at times. The crucial thing (if you want your wines to show well) is to avoid anything too acidic or sweet, increasingly difficult with today’s more eclectic international style of cooking.

However, as a fan of good Indian cookery, both at home and at my local Indian restaurant, I have always been frustrated by the standard advice to stick to beer or the slightly more imaginative alternative, lassi. I have no problem with drinking beer, but I was sure that the more subtle, complex style of Indian cookery would go very nicely with wines. The question was, which wines? And given that many of us go as a group to eat out in Indian restaurants, are there any failsafe wines to cover a range of dishes? It was not going to be easy, given that Indian food uses an amazing array of spices and flavourings. Dishes range from light to pungent, hot to cool, and sweet to salty.

Jaipur was one of the first Indian restaurants to take food and wine matching seriously, and also one of the first to offer something better than the standard Indian curry house. Asheesh Dewan is proprietor of the chain and a partner in Ananda in Dundrum, and the Michelin-starred Benares in London. He kindly agreed to put on a range of mini-dishes of various Indian foods. He provided some wine, I brought along some more. I also invited Mary Dowey, author of Food & Wine Matching Made Simple, and therefore something of an authority on the subject. We met in Chakra, the Greystones branch of Jaipur. Sunil Ghai, now head chef at Ananda, oversaw the food.

THE TASTING

Starting off with seafood and lighter chicken dishes, we found the best choices were all unoaked, fruit-filled white wines. Surprisingly, the most obvious choice, Sauvignon, was swamped by most of the dishes, although Dewan commented that Marlborough Sauvignon sells like hot cakes in all his restaurants.

Wines that did work really well included an Australian Riesling (one of Dowey’s favourite combos), an Austrian Grüner Veltliner and a Trimbach Pinot Blanc from Alsace. Richer dishes such as crab also went beautifully with an unoaked St Véran from Burgundy. The same St Véran also proved a winner with a chicken korma. As Dewan had predicted, anything oaky seemed bitter, and wines that were too sweet seemed clumsy.

We also tried a few sparkling wines and Champagne, the clear winner being the riper New World fizz (the excellent Green Point from Australia) which was amazingly good with scallops, one of my favourite dishes in Chakra. However, the star of the whole performance was the Esk Valley Chenin Blanc from Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand, which worked like a dream with just about every fish and chicken dish.

Alsatian Gewürztraminer is often suggested by wine writers as a good match for Asian food. Even before we tried it, Dewan commented that he would never drink Alsatian Gewürztraminer with Indian food: “It is too rich and cloying; Indian cuisine has evolved.” He was entirely correct.

Once we moved on to the reds, it was obvious that anything too tannic, such as Bordeaux, simply did not work. Even Chilean Merlot, suggested by a number of sources, seemed very dry and coarse. With the lighter dishes, Fleurie (an ever-present on every wine list), Côtes du Rhône, and basic Rioja all provided perfect partners. Dewan pointed out that onion, cardamom seeds and turmeric (often used to fight acidity in the stomach) soften fresh reds, and improve the fruit.

Once the bigger, more powerful dishes came out, especially those with plenty of heat, Australian Shiraz and Californian Zinfandel proved to be more than capable of matching both heat and spice. Barossa Shiraz was a dream with a rich, spicy lamb curry. But, as with the whites, New Zealand provided the star performer with Pinot Noir. Not only did our Saint Clair Pinot go really well with a duck tikka with plum chutney, but it also did very nicely with lamb, and milder beef dishes.

India is now a wine producer of note, and a number are available in this country. However, I have never been convinced by the quality, and was glad to hear from Dewan that he agreed.

So what to do if you find yourself in an Indian restaurant with a group of people ordering a variety of dishes? For a white wine, the best option would be a fairly ripe, fruit-filled, unoaked wine, probably from the New World, possibly even with a little residual sugar. Do consider fruit-driven rosé wines, which also went very nicely with more full-bodied fish and chicken dishes.

As for reds, I would avoid most Cabernet Sauvignon, and anything that might be dry and tannic; head straight for fruity reds, matching the body of the dish with that of the wine. However, my match of the night was the New Zealand Pinot Noir, and since then, any time I eat Indian food, either at home or in a restaurant, that is what I look for.

BOTTLES OF THE WEEK

Esk Valley Chenin Blanc 2007, 13%, €16.99. A great white in its own right, and a great match for Indian foods. You could also serve it with most Asian chicken and fish dishes. A refreshing wine with plenty of zip; it is the nicely rounded tropical and melon fruits that provide the backdrop for those spices though. Stockists:O'Brien's Fine Wines; Next Door – Navan, Enfield, Loughrea; Lohan's, Salthill; 64 Wine, Glasthule; Bin No 9, Goatstown; The Dew Drop, Athboy; Fahy's Ballina; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; Kelly's, Clontarf; Sweeney's Wines, Glasnevin.

Brandl Pfafenberg Grüner Veltliner, Kamptal 2007, 12.5%, €13. This is one of the lighter Grüner Veltliners, but it will still have enough rich, gingery fruit on the centre palate to match spicy fish and chicken dishes. Crisp lemon and mineral notes combine very nicely with some ginger and cantaloupe melon fruits. A great all-rounder to partner most mildly pungent Asian dishes. Stockist:Wines Direct.

Saint Clair Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2007, 13%, €14.99. Saint Clair make some of the best-value Pinots in New Zealand. A lightly fruity wine with some lovely pure ripe plums and decent weight in the mouth. This was perfect with duck, but also worked very nicely with a wide variety of lightly spicy white and red meats. Stockists:Fine Wines, Limerick; Molloy's Liquor Stores; O'Brien's Fine Wines; O'Donovans, Cork; Next Door – Ballyshannon, Ennistymon, Clane, Celbridge; Lohan's, Upper Salthill; 64 Wine, Glasthule; The Carpenter off-licence, Castleknock; Cellars Big Wine Warehouse, Naas Rd; Cooper's, Tipperary; Daly's, Boyle; The Corkscrew, Chatham Street.

The Saint Clair Pinot is also available in a variety of Indian restaurants, including Surma, Camden Street; Jaipur restaurants; Meghna, Maynooth; Kasturi, Lucan; East Tandoori, Galway; Shapla, Carlow; Sargam, Moycullen.

Côtes du Rhône Domaine Saint Gayan 2006, 14%, €13.25.A fairly big, powerful wine, but without too much drying tannin, which can jar with many Indian dishes. Supple but full, with ample dark forest fruits, with a dusting of pepper. As well as Indian foods, this would go nicely with game and most beef dishes. Stockists:Red Island Wines, Skerries; Shevlin's, Rathfarnham; The Cheese Pantry, Drumcondra; Harvest, Galway; O'Donovan's, Cork; Keller's, Roscrea; 1601 Off Licence, Kinsale; selected Next Door, branches nationwide; King's Off Licence, Delgany.

TWO FOR AROUND €12

Touriane Sauvignon, L'Arpent de Vaudons Jean-Francois Mériteau 2007, 12%, €10.95.A very tasty Sauvignon, with an enticing aroma, nicely defined crisp green fruits, and a tangy tart finish. Perfect aperitif or with seafood. Stockist:Terroirs.

Rioja Joven, Primum Vitae 2007, 13.5%, €10.99. At last! Somebody is bringing in an unoaked Rioja. An exuberant easy-drinking wine packed full of smooth red fruits and a supple finish. Great on its own, or with white and lighter red meats. I had mine with a burger. Stockist:Superquinn.