Match of the week
Little Beauty Marlborough riesling and Indian or Pakistani food
I’ve always thought of riesling as a better match for the fresh flavours of south-east Asian-inspired food than curry but a visit to the Lahore Kebab House proved otherwise this week.
It was an evening off for those who were juding the Decanter World Wine Awards and a first visit for me to this venerable East London institution which features spicy chops as its main draw.
It was a BYO evening which given the clientele that night was more than usually interesting but I was really pleased to find that the crisp, limey 2010 Little Beauty Marlborough riesling I’d taken along was absolutely spot on with the range of sometimes quite fiery dishes that turned up at the table - including the chops, kebabs, chicken tikka, samosas, onion bhajis and a selection of curries. If you wanted a truly refreshing wine to drink through an Indian - or in this case Pakistani - meal it would do the job perfectly.
I was sent the wine by an online company called 31dover.com which sells it online for £15.45. Not cheap but totally worth it. (It apparently won an International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2013 for Best in Show Riesling under £15.)
The team at 31Dover adds that it’s “sensational matched with honey glazed seared scallops with a hint of chilli, or sashimi with soya and pickled ginger.” I believe them.
Lamb curry and Luigi Bosca De Sangre 2011
A cabernet would have been the last wine I would have thought of drinking with a curry but as happens from time to time you come across an unexpected wine match that really works.
It was at a lunch at Benares in Mayfair hosted by Argentinian producer Luigi Bosca and as is typical of Indian meals a number of dishes were served at the same time including a Rajasthani spiced lamb stew called Laal Maans, a chicken korma, a potato and tomato curry and a dal - quite a challenge for any wine to stand up to. Bosca’s 2013 pinot noir was also good particularly with the korma but I was struck by how well the full bodied (14%) 2011 De Sangre - a cabernet-dominated blend with a dash of merlot and syrah - paired with the Laal Maans.
When it comes down to it I guess that lamb is lamb and this was not a searingly hot dish. The wine was also almost 4 years old, mellow and supple. I don’t think it would have worked with a more tannic young cabernet.
Bosca also showed a deliciously fragrant white called Gala 3 - an unusual blend of old vine viognier, chardonnay and riesling - that went well with the tandoori salmon and plaintain kebab that kicked off the meal.
I’m not sure I’d go so far as to suggest drinking cabernet regularly with your curry but this shows you shouldn’t totally rule it out.
Waitrose sells the De Sangre for £16.99 - which is quite a bit more than Bottle Apostle which has it for £14.85. The most recent vintage of the Gala 3 I can find is at The Oxford Wine Company which has the 2011 for £19.50. (We had the 2012).
I was invited to Benares as a guest of Luigi Bosca.
Lamb rogan josh with huitlacoche and Torres Milmanda chardonnay 2008
This may well be the most off-the-wall pairing I post this year: chardonnay with a lamb curry? Extraordinary - and this is why
I’ve been at the Wine and Culinary Forum, a biennual exploration of food and wine where I was suggesting food pairings for a star-studded tasting of wines from the Primum Familiae Vini (PFV) an association of 11 of the world’s top family winemakers
There were many fascinating presentations but the most spectacular was a session from the Canadian author François Chartier who takes a molecular approach to food and wine pairing.
He focused on the aromatic compound sotolon which is found in foods including fenugreek, maple syrup, brown sugar and soy sauce and drinks such as dark beers, coffee, aged dark rum, the Hungarian sweet wine Tokaji and aged white wine. He got three chefs to cook dishes that included some of these components but tasted as if they included others - like a dish based on pork fat which tasted as if it included maple syrup but didn’t.
But the dish that makes my match of the week slot was a rogan josh from chef Vineet Bhatia that included the sotolon-rich ingredient huitlacoche a naturally occurring fungus a bit like a truffle which grows on ears of corn. It was served with an unusually (for Indian cuisine) wet rice flavoured with coconut and fenugreek which spectacularly accentuated the sotolon hit. Paired with a mature, rich 2008 Milmanda chardonnay it was simply sensational, freshening the wine and leaving it beautifully in balance with the rich lamb dish.
Chartier has done more than anyone else except perhaps Josep Roca to put food and wine pairing on a scientific footing but although the pairing was undoubtedly dazzling I feel there still remains the problem of expectation. Your senses are telling you that the pairing of a dark curry with a rich chardonnay won’t work which militates against the success of the match in an ordinary dining context. That doesn’t, of course, mean you shouldn’t keep pushing the boundaries as Chartier undoubtedly will. If you want to know more about his theories read his book Tastebuds and Molecules.
Apologies for the photo which was of a tasting sample. Vineet plated up a full-size version with a lamb shank that looked far more spectacular.
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