So a friend is mine asked, If I’m getting Indian tonight, a mix of things… Specifically Tikka, Vindaloo, Korma, curry, veg, non veg, some seafood, some spice, give me 3 or so wines that can carry that at a table.
For, me the obvious start is Riesling, it’s a Swiss Army knife. Next was Gwurtz in my mind, just love aromatics on aromatics. Then as a red, because you have to have a red, Cab franc, more Loire. Acid and fruit can stand up. And I have bottles in Cellar that do the thing.
That said, I’d appreciate the WB opinion as I have blind spots. I know this is not a new question. But I reintroduce for current take and tack on a request for specific producers if you have recommendations, vintage withstanding. More the direction.
Indian here–one that eats a lot of spicy food and meats and grew up eating Indian every day. Sorry to be a buzzkill, but I don’t think there’s a lot of wine that goes well with or “stands up” to Indian food. The flavors and aromatics are prominent as they are. I personally never look to pair wine.
If wine is a truly a must…chilled Riesling with a hint of sweetness may work as a complement but not to take notes/ponder over. On a similar note, maybe a riper but high acid Sauv Blanc could work. Emphasis on chilled, because I don’t think trying to “taste” a wine next to Indian food is a fair scenario.
Higher acid reds may work, though I think most of the fruit and tannins will get lost in flavors of the food. Maybe some Beaujolais, zippy Pinot, a bright Sangiovese. Maybe even a strong Zin with particularly nice acid but even then I am hesitant.
From (extensive) personal experience, beer works best, maybe a cocktail second. Enjoy your wine before dinner or after.
I wanted to take a few moments to think over this reply. I think this interesting as a contrast to my experiences where I have had great wine pairings. I’m not Indian so have the limitation to what I have at a restaurant or cook for myself vs growing up with the cuisine just being “my food”. I appreciate the perspective and it’s a counter point I honestly didn’t expect.
I do like beer and specifically IPAs for me, juicy, acidic, and plays nice. Darker beers for bolder IMO. Carbonation is cleansing.
Cocktails, that’s just a find me the thing that does the thing. It’s a universal remote for your program. Mix away.
Wine, I would have thought that would be just as academic. Find me, something with aromatics, acidity, relative structure, and fruit that plays nice with the ingredients and can handle heat and spice (2 different things) so some residual sweet to compensate perhaps.
I find it interesting that wine is a firm 3rd in your draft pick order. Is there something more that I’m not reading in your experience that prohibits a good pairing vs beer or cocktails?
My questions are with all due respect, I’m just very interested in your thoughts.
That could work. Unusually we had mostly mild dishes tonight. The Dom was a shockingly good pairing with my wife’s Chicken Korma. Never would have thought it would work so well.
100% agree with this. I find a light crisp lager style to play best, probably the bubbles and acid. Fruit indeed is totally blown away by a properly spiced dish, and I find (typically near room temp) reds a particularly bad match.
When I make Indian at home or get takeout, it often includes tikka masala and/or vindaloo. I usually open a lighter body rosé and find it a pretty good pairing.
I’m with Rohit (and am Indian also). Don’t understand the fascination with Riesling anytime anything has spice in it. It works but the food is just generally just way stronger flavored.
Love gin and tonics with the food though!
For reds I think you have the right idea. Certain Beaujolais and rose can work as well. I’ve also had some luck with mencia so long as it doesn’t have much tannin. In general you want a red with fewer tannins.
Rich, greatly appreciate your respectful and well thought out reply. I sincerely hope my response is as respectful and genuine as yours.
The long and short of this is that wine is just not part of the Indian food culture.
Personally I know very few Indians that are genuinely passionate about wine compared to those of European lineage. Part of this must be the absence of wine from the dinner table. Now if you were to ask about whiskey or single malt scotch after dinner, that is a completely different story…
With regards to my draft picks, I should clarify my list was alcoholic drinks, on which wine is firmly third if on the list at all. Truthfully, water would be first. Indians don’t really have a wine culture the way many European cuisines do. I strongly believe the presence of wine must have influenced the course and evolution of European gastronomy over the years in such a manner that either leaves space for or facilitated wine.
IMO, Indians feel about indian restaurants the way most Italians feel about Italian restaurants—mom’s/grandma’s/etc food is better. There are definitely Indian restaurants that are truly phenomenal, though on average they are few and far between. The authenticity of what you may find at restaurants or make for yourself will inevitably come into question. It is similar to what I have seen with my Italian friends commenting on the red sauce at a restaurant. “It’s good but it’s not exactly right.”
As with anything, where there’s a will there’s a way. If you want to pair wine (or alcohol in general for that matter) with Indian food, you’ll find something. It just isn’t “intuitive” or “natural” if that makes sense.
I have to say, your point about carbonation being cleansing is very strong—I haven’t tried champagne etc with Indian food but it may be similar to the same way beer, soda, etc. “works.” Will definitely keep it in mind moving forward.
If the dish has a lot of dry heat, sometimes a particularly acidic and high pressure sparkling wine can accentuate the spice too much. Helps to give the glass a swirl or two.
Thinking back, I do drink a fair amount of wine with Indian food but I think the young / primary and simpler wines work better than pulling out your aged gems.
Quite a few of my wine friends here in the SF Bay Area are Indian. If you’re born here or emigrate before you’re set in your ways, and have the money and exposure it’s pretty normal to get into wine. I would guess wine geeks here as a percentage of the population, well it might be higher for people of Indian decent than European.
An American born Indian winemaker friend just went to India and made a point of tasting the best Indian wines she could get her hands on. There’s some good stuff being made there these days. That’s new. But, there’s a market there for a certain amount of quality wine.
You definitely want low tannin, but also lower alcohol. Syrah is a long recommended match, as some Indian food brings out more in the wine. (My friend Shalini makes Gruner Veltliner and St. Laurent under here label. https://www.ottavinowines.com/shop/)
I sometimes have the luck to eat with some indian friends where the food is authentic and not what we get in restaurants here in Germany which is just a creamy mess.
Champagne with a bit of ripeness or dosage works as long as the heat is bearable. We have had Emanuel Brochet’s Haut Chardonnay with lamb curry, not so hot, really worked.
Benoit Lahaye’s Le Jardin de la Grosse Pierre worked really well with a lamb biryani.
For me champagne is the best partner in general, last week we had sausages smuggled from Bangladesh, a mixture of chicken and pork with blood, spices and chile, these were delicious with a pinot noir champagne from the Côte de Noir.
I don’t really buy into the gewürtztraminer pairing and riesling and indian for me don’t really work
Grenache or tempranillo work really well as long as they have no tannins. Tannin and indian don’t seem to work.
Yes, Aussie Shiraz was a seemingly counter-intuitive favourite with some Aussies, though I believe avoiding anything especially fancy / structured.
Indian food is a difficult thing to define though, as in theory UK restaurants would make you think it’s easy - meat submerged in familiar sounding / broadly consistent flavour sauces of differing heat. A small proportion have a little more adventure / were a little truer to their roots. Very few indeed are actually Indian though, as most are Pakistani or Bangladeshi. What was a real eye-opener, was working with Indian colleagues and having ‘potluck’ lunches at work. Whilst they tended to dial down the heat, the flavours and style of preparation were much more enlightening. Desserts were very good as well.
I can confirm that (real) Lambrusco works ok as well, as I tried that in an Indian restaurant in Ferrara (Italy)