Picking the right wines for Indian cuisine

referring to mildly spiced, fresh, home-made Indian food.

By RAVI ANAND

Let us admit that for many of us Indians, approaching a glass of wine is an intimidating experience. In the twenty years that I’ve spent in the food and beverage business, I have been able to read almost every Indian’s mind when they have either been offered a glass of wine or when they have had to choose a wine for their table – especially with Indian food. Some seem to say, “Gee, I don’t know what I am in for!” or “I hope my tummy won’t go bad like it did last time…”

Some succumb to peer pressure while others think it is cool to drink wine, and some just experiment. But the sensible always prefer beer or spirits or a mocktail to go with an Indian meal.

Very few actually ask for advice, though I feel that a conscientious and well-equipped wait person would and should always provide assistance for you to make a choice. A few clients are now beginning to either ask for recommendations or have begun to understand the basics of pairing wine with Indian cuisine. A word of warning, though: it is not always rewarding to solicit advise – as you could be sold wine that just needs to be got rid of because they are ‘end of line’, or the wait person or the manager could be in for a fat incentive to sell particular brands. So it’s always beneficial to understand the concepts and chemistry between Indian food and wine for yourself. Here are some tips on how to make the right choice.

Since I have written this as a guide for beginners, the choices of wine I suggest are the ones easily available from bottle shops around Australia and New Zealand. And I am

There are no established traditions to match Indian food with wine. This cuisine is very vast, complex and varied from across a huge subcontinent. It is almost impossible to devise blanket rules and concoct wine suggestions on an index-card for this cuisine. Food from the subcontinent, when cooked in different regional styles, could vary to a great degree in terms of heat, spice and ingredients. A simple addition of mustard seeds in the sauce or gravy (like in Bengal) instead of cumin (like up north) can altogether alter the taste of the curry. Also, the dominant flavors in Indian dishes always come from the sauce and spices rather than from the main meat or vegetable. Moreover, an Indian meal will invariably consist of an array of dishes on the table – dal, roti, rice, curry, dry vegetables, raita, salad, papad and pickles etc. And most of us usually have a scoop of all of these dishes on our plate at the same time. We literally mix two or more of them with each spoonful that we put into our mouths. Now, that is a very, very complex composition to match a wine with.

There is also an enormous disparity between fresh home-cooked Indian food and that served in any Indian restaurant. The masalas or spice blends in restaurants are always cooked in bulk and stored to be used for weeks – thereby necessitating the addition of preservatives like vinegar, lemon and oil in larger quantities, which make the dishes have a pronounced aftertaste - and leaves layers of fat sticking to your palate. This makes it even trickier to match wines with them. As such, I find that home-cooked Indian cuisine with its freshly ground spices and mild sauces are more of a match with wines, than with food from any restaurant.

The interplay of residual sugar, acid (and tannins), ph and alcohol determine the taste of a wine. All wines are acidic and these acids create the ‘structure’, lend flavours and the aftertaste (also called the ‘finish’) to the wine. They are mainly Tartaric Acid, Malic Acid,

Lactic Acid and Citric Acid.

Residual sugar is the sugar in grape juice which has not been converted into alcohol and remains in the wine. Wines with moderate or high levels of residual sugar are ‘Sweet’ wines. Wines which are ‘Dry’ and have absolutely no residual sugar but are powerfully fruity, can still convey a palate memory of sweetness. But if the wine is highly acidic, then the acid will neutralize the sugar and the wine will not taste sweet. In terms of residual sugar, wines are classified as Sweet, Medium-Sweet, Medium-Dry and Dry.

Most grains, beans, lentils, dairy foods, fats and oils, and animal proteins are acidifying foods, but Indian spices and sauces are alkaline, and hence Indian dishes tend to be low acidic foods – so a low acidic wine will synergise with it. But at the same time the spices are hot in taste and when they blend with the acids, high alcohol would only accentuate the heat, hence the search for a low alcohol wine which is ‘fruit forward’ (dominated with a fruity taste) as a touch of sweetness, can be very soothing. (Goans and Bengalis add a bit of sugar to their spicy dishes for precisely the same reason).

Red Wines

Red wines also contain tannins which are a group of phenol compounds (acids)

Ravi’s Quick Guide to wine for desi food

AVOID Heavy red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlots and Pinot Noirs

PICK Sweet aromatic wines like Gewürztraminer, Reisling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc

TO ACCOMPANY

Mild vegetarian dishes

Highly aromatic preparations cooked with spices like cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon (such as biryanis)

PICK wines that are grassy, light bodied or have herbal flavours like Unoaked Chardonnay, Dry Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc.

Rosé or Medium Sparkling wines.

Chicken and fish Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc are the best.

Meat dishes with mild tomato based gravies Low tannined Pinot Noirs

Fried foods

A crisp, dry, fruity wine, white or red Yoghurt-based sauces or light creamy curries Unoaked white like Chardonnay found in plants. They are found in red grape seeds and skins. These are non-hydrolyzable tannins – which means that these compounds do not break up in water. They provide colour to the wine. Tannins tend to bind with certain proteins in foods and keep them from being dissolved as it normally would by your saliva. Heavy spices simply accelerate this process when reacting with tannins.

Tannins are bitter, drying and puckery (tend to dry and pull your tongue together). They are also astringent or cutting, just like rubbing a swab of cotton down your throat.

Heavy tannins may mean more acid –because tannins are basically acids

Do not drink heavy red wines with spicy foods. The spices will exacerbate the acid and tannins in the wine, making it coarse and unpleasant to drink. Almost all Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlots and Pinot Noirs fall into this category.

Having said that, most Pinot Noirs from central Otago with their silky approachable tannins (though rather high in alcohol 12.5% to 14%) always seem to go well with north Indian meat dishes with mild tomato-based gravies.

Also a good mate for your mild Tandoori chicken (cooked in an actual tandoor) could be a St Hallett from Barossa, an Australian blend of Grenache and Shiraz – it’s a full flavoured medium red, with soft peppery tannins of the shiraz, combined with the juicy berry flavors of the Grenache.

White Wines

The delicious

Gewürztraminer with its lychee-laden, spicy-sweet notes is a treat with the clean, crisp, ginger-coconut milk-garlic-chillicoriander flavours of certain south Indian cuisine. This wine though high in acid, is very sweet and aromatic due to its very high sugar content.

Like the Gewürztraminer, other aromatic wines like Reisling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, though brightly acidic, are also a little over fruity and have a lush texture, and are most suited for mild to heavy sauce, and spicy Indian cuisine. Choose sweeter aromatic wines. Dry aromatic wines are also available, but these are not the ones you want.

For mild vegetarian dishes like saag paneer or any mild green vegetables, pick wines that are grassy, light bodied or have herbal flavours like Unoaked Chardonnay, Dry Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc. (‘Grassy’ refers to taste and aroma akin to fresh cut grass, sometimes redefined as capsicum, gooseberry or lime zest. Many light New Zealand whites are termed grassy. ‘Body’ refers to the feeling in the mouth - this weighty feeling is influenced by the alcohol and extracts contained in the wine. Wines are considered light, medium, or full bodied,)

For tandoori dishes which are often marinated with yoghurt, ginger-garlic and other spices, I find that there is a balance in the taste of the main meat and the spices. Hence I always suggest low tannined Pinot Noirs and milder lighter Shiraz with red meats like lamb and liver. For chicken and fish, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc are the best. As for fried foods, acid also cuts the fat in dishes. Plant-based fats and oils work well with wines that are moderately high to high in acidity. Any crisp, dry, fruity wine, white or red should go well here. For cream or butter (dairy fats) the significance of body match (fullbodied wine with full-bodied food) has more weight than the acidity/ fat relationship. An unoaked white like Chardonnay is preferred when paired with yoghurt or light creamy sauces, since they are high in acids compared to oaked Chardonnays. Oaked Chardonnays on the other hand tend to be fullbodied and thereby work well with high-fat, buttery sauces by matching body to body, as well as bring out the butter flavour in each. (Oaked Wines: The chemical properties of oak can have a profound effect on the wines that are aged in oak barrels. The phenols within the wood impart certain flavour notes to the wine. They could be wood, vanilla, caramel, smokey, spicy, cinnamony or toasty. The wood also lets the wine breathe during ageing –whereby, a portion of the wine evaporates, condensing the wine with its flavours and creating a fuller body or texture for the wine.)

Almost all floral Rosé wines and mediumdry/sweet sparkling wines intermingle well with dishes which are very aromatic with the use of dry spices like cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. The classical Hyderabadi biryani is a good example.

Combining the ingredients, spices and flavours with wine should be akin to a good healthy relationship where each participant holds their own, adds to the other, but does not overpower, overshadow or overwhelm.

So, in general, if you want to marry Indian food with the amalgamation that is wine, you need to find a partner which is low in alcohol (preferably below 12-13% by volume), not too acidic, has a bit or a bit more than a touch of sweetness, is low in tannins and is fruity.

Remember, good wine is simply one that you enjoy drinking, so go on, experiment, and the world is your oyster.

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