Any Red wine for Indian food?

[B_Buzzini]

@Dennis Kanagie

@BobH

Reisling doesn’t work

You’re one of a very small minority then.

Yes…

• 2009 Weingut Keller Riesling G-Max - Germany, Rheinhessen (3/6/2016)
  La Paulee S.F. 2016 (Dinner: The Campton Place San Francisco): WOW what a wine! PERFECT with our Indian cuisine dishes at the Campton Place……amazing richness and mouth coating joy….the nose anticipated sweetness…but not at all too sweet…wonderful dryness and minerality…fresh citrus acidity creating huge energy. Exotic fruits, creamy and pure…smoked herbs, extracted oils, perfumed florals…layer after layer of perfect balanced sweetness, acidity, and salinity with a kaleidoscope of the best Riesling flavors…dialed to 11! (98 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Chris_Seiber]

@D@vid Bu3ker

@BobH

Reisling doesn’t work, and neither does Gweurtz. I haven’t found a white or red that works. I generally would stick with beer, especially sours.

With which dishes?

These blanket statements about one of the most complex cuisines of the world make a complete mockery of the idea of food and wine pairing.

But then I suppose I should expect that here.

Bravo, David. I’ve seen other posts on here sneering at the idea you could ever drink wine with any Korean food or any Mexican food (but apparently beer - just any beer - goes perfectly with every food from those countries!).

If you only want to drink wine when you’re eating mainstream European food, that’s your choice, but I hope others aren’t deterred.

[Tom_Hudson]

Dornfelder.

[Craig_G]

@Tom Hudson

Dornfelder.

Oh yeah? Same to you, buddy.

[Russell_Faulkner]

My favourite dishes (as in I eat them at least once a week) include Podi Masala Dosai, Idly Sambar, onion and tomato oothappam, rasa vadai and Kichadi. These don’t feature on generic Indian restaurant menus at all in the U.K. Apart from a couple of specialists in London, the dishes are all perfectly well suited to a variety of low tannin red wines, ideally those with a little sweet fruit.

[David_Bu3ker]

@Tom Hudson

Dornfelder.

In some cases, yes.

[David_Bu3ker]

Getting into it a little more, there are a myriad of Indian dishes that are not hot spicy. Pairing with these is not so problematic. It’s easy to paid with many tandoor grilled meats, as things are generally not too complex (or spicy). Dal Makhani works with Pinot or Syrah or Cab Franc depending on heat level (it’s generally not too hot spicy). Some of the paneer dishes work quite well with red wine. A hot, spicy Vindaloo is going to be a problem, but does not represent Indian cuisine in some universal way.

One of the best wine/food matches I ever had in my life was when Salil made Biryani and I brought a Zind-Humbrecht Heimbourg Gewürztraminer Vendange Tardive. We were blown away by how great the wine and food were together.

[Russell_Faulkner]

And which Dal Makhani… Restaurants tend to use more tomato and cream/butter than home cooks, then there is the issue of whether to use Rajma/kidney beans or not…

Ask two Punjabi families what is best and you will get two different answers.

I’ve never seen a vindaloo dish on a menu here, and I think most restaurant versions totally inauthentic.

[David_Bu3ker]

Totally with you Russell, which was part of my point earlier in the thread.

[scott_c]

A few years ago a somm at a famous Indian restaurant blinded me on an Austrian St. Laurent that paired really well with meat dishes. If you think of it as kind of a more robust Pinot, that would seem to fit with what Raj and other have said about Pinot being too subtle.

[BobH]

@Chris Seiber

@D@vid Bu3ker

@BobH

Reisling doesn’t work, and neither does Gweurtz. I haven’t found a white or red that works. I generally would stick with beer, especially sours.

With which dishes?

These blanket statements about one of the most complex cuisines of the world make a complete mockery of the idea of food and wine pairing.

But then I suppose I should expect that here.

Bravo, David. I’ve seen other posts on here sneering at the idea you could ever drink wine with any Korean food or any Mexican food (but apparently beer - just any beer - goes perfectly with every food from those countries!).

If you only want to drink wine when you’re eating mainstream European food, that’s your choice, but I hope others aren’t deterred.

There is no need to read ‘sneering’ into my remarks. My opinion is just my opinion and I’m just giving my two cents. I have had a lot of popular Indian dishes- Rogan Josn, vindaloo, curry, and any of the tomato based dishes with Gwertz (which most of the food pairing experts recommend) and have never liked it. Reisling is IMHO trying ot put a square peg into a round hole. Maybe some will think it goes with biryani but to me raisins and reislings is a big blech. Maybe champagne goes as some have suggested but I rarely drink that and usually just with American-Chinese food.
IMO Sour beers are the best match.

[David_Bu3ker]

Which Pinot is too subtle? The variations in Pinot Noir are so wide you can drive a truck through them.

[Dennis_Atick]

@D@vid Bu3ker

Which Pinot is too subtle? The variations in Pinot Noir are so wide you can drive a truck through them.

Just wait a second. What kind of truck?

[dcornutt]

@Russell Faulkner

And which Dal Makhani… Restaurants tend to use more tomato and cream/butter than home cooks, then there is the issue of whether to use Rajma/kidney beans or not…

Ask two Punjabi families what is best and you will get two different answers.

I’ve never seen a vindaloo dish on a menu here, and I think most restaurant versions totally inauthentic.

You guys are making me hungry. I love Dal Makhani! Also love Rogan Josh. Both the goat and lamb versions.
I can see a nice red like a Malbec or Zin going with both of these.

[Dennis_Kanagie]

@Dennis Atick

@D@vid Bu3ker

Which Pinot is too subtle? The variations in Pinot Noir are so wide you can drive a truck through them.

Just wait a second. What kind of truck?

Ooooh, good idea - let’s debate the size of the truck! I say it’s merely a 20 foot straight truck. Anybody think it’s a 53 foot 18 wheeler?

@dcornutt

You guys are making me hungry. I love Dal Makhani! Also love Rogan Josh. Both the goat and lamb versions.
I can see a nice red like a Malbec or Zin going with both of these.

Yep, just made reservations for a local Indian restaurant for tonight. Got a Riesling and a Sauternes. My wife saw Sauternes recommended with Indian on “Somm Into the Bottle”.

[DougS]

@Dennis Kanagie

@BobH

Reisling doesn’t work

You’re one of a very small minority then.

Well, since he’s tried every style of Riesling with every type of Indian food, and we all taste things exactly as he does and have exactly the same preferences, obviously he’s just right and almost everyone else is wrong. Damn, I’m sad that I was so stupid.

I suppose that’s a bit extreme, but I continue to be amazed that anyone who is really into wine could make such incorrect assumptions. Plus, anyone who says Gewurztraminer “doesn’t work” with Indian food as a blanket statement has no idea what they’re talking about. Some of the greatest food and wine pairings I’ve experienced, equally enjoyed by the people I’ve been with, have been various Indian dishes with Gewurztraminer.

[David_Bu3ker]

@BobH

There is no need to read ‘sneering’ into my remarks. My opinion is just my opinion and I’m just giving my two cents. I have had a lot of popular Indian dishes- Rogan Josn, vindaloo, curry, and any of the tomato based dishes with Gwertz (which most of the food pairing experts recommend) and have never liked it. Reisling is IMHO trying ot put a square peg into a round hole. Maybe some will think it goes with biryani but to me raisins and reislings is a big blech. Maybe champagne goes as some have suggested but I rarely drink that and usually just with American-Chinese food.
IMO Sour beers are the best match.

Not all biryani has raisins. Not even close. “Experts” that recommend Gewürztraminer with a tomato-based sauce are not experts by any means.

Lucky for me I do not like sour beers.

[David_Bu3ker]

@Dennis Atick

@D@vid Bu3ker

Which Pinot is too subtle? The variations in Pinot Noir are so wide you can drive a truck through them.

Just wait a second. What kind of truck?

I was thinking one of the semis that used to carry around The Wall of Sound.

[Mark_Christenson]

The first time I went to Gymkhana in London I said I preferred red wine and they recommended either the Gran Corte (Malbec, Cab, PV, Merlot, and Tannat) or the Cab Franc from Argentinian producer Pulenta. Have been back several times and always had one of these wines. We get chat, lamb, spicy prawns, chicken butter masala, and I enjoy the wine(s) with the variety of dishes. It is not a perfect match in the classic sense, but they are delicious wines, and they work well across the variety of spices/flavors/textures.

[Vince_T]

On the spicier end, why bother with anything but a crisp, cold beer (berlinerweisse, kolsch, or saison perhaps)?

On the creamier, cumin-turmeric-side, I find the tannins and bitterness in Cab franc or dolcetto to complement… As long as the tannins aren’t overwhelming.