Wine with food

THE WINE CLUB

It's strange how so many wine writers (myself included) tend to talk about wine in isolation from food. One of wine's primary functions is surely to wash down food. And, of course, wine with food tastes quite different to wine drunk on its own, as an aperitif "" that's because the ingredients used to make a particular dish change the taste coming through.

Since wine drinking comes to us from Europe, many of the great food-and-wine parings are based on Continental non-veg cuisine: oysters and Champagne (or premier Cru Chablis), foie gras and Pinot Gris, partridge and red Burgundy, roast lamb and Bordeaux (red, of course) "" to name but a few.

With European or Continental cooking, the wine choices used to be relatively simple: white wines with white meats (fish, chicken) and red wines with red meats (lamb, beef). Today, one is exhorted to "match the wines with the texture and weight of the food: light wines with light food, heavy wines with heavy food" ""that is, pay attention to the sauces and oils used. The objective is simple: the wines should complement the food and enhance the total dining experience.

South Asian (or Indian) and Oriental cuisines pose a very different challenge for wine pairing as they use a variety of spices and oils and cooking styles and eating etiquette are quite different from the West.

The regions themselves are huge and offer several distinctly different cuisines "" from the tandoori style of north India to the fiery curries of the south, and from Cantonese (coastal China) to the fiery Sichuan, to the sushi and sashimi of Japan.

In general, low-alcohol and a little sweeter white wines tend to do well with Indian (and oriental) cuisines, since the acidity and sugar "cuts" through the spices while a chilled beverage is always good for damping down the fires!

So Chenin Blanc, Rieslings, Gewürztraminers and Pinot Gris make good matches as do unoaked Chardonnays; the grassy aromas of a Sauvignon Blanc get drowned while the tannins and high alcohol levels of most robust reds clash.

There are, of course, some red varietals that are good matches with these cuisines: The spicy notes of many Shiraz are a good foil for mildly-spiced dishes while a Pinot Noir (appropriately cooled) complements many Oriental dishes, and a chilled Beaujolais is almost like a white! Last (but not least) there are rose wines, which I'm told pair excellently with Indian food (but which are rarely ordered as few people understand this category).

Having said all that, it's a cliche that we Indians follow a piye-khaye-khiske (drink, eat and leave) way of dining that ensures that most parties start late, with the drinking done in the cocktail hour (or two) before dinner; food is invariably served late, and most guests will leave once the dinner is done (which is probably why it's served so late in the first place).

And which is why the efforts of Food Lovers Bangalore magazine in Bangalore is so unique and laudable. They've teamed-up with Nine Hills wines to offer a customised food-and-wine menu at 13 fine-dining restaurants in Bangalore, each dish being paired with a (Nine Hills) wine. The promotion runs for two weeks, and would introduce at least 1,800 people to the joys of wine with food. We'll drink to that.

(al.chandra@gmail.com )