Spice up life with onslaught of red

Nov 30 2007 By Helen Savage, The Journal

I LOVE Indian food and have always chosen to wash it down with beer, fruit juice or just plain water.

But earlier this year, I sneaked into a seminar for top chefs about how to match food and wine and began to wonder if I was wrong. The talk, at Seaham Hall in County Durham, was run by Nancy Gilchrist, a Master of Wine, who teaches at the prestigious Leith’s School of Food and Wine.

She showed that the effect of pepper and some other spices can be to make the first sip of a red wine seem very fruity; and then as you swallow, a real kick of heat follows at the back of the throat. She suggested that a powerful alcoholic red can be an interesting partner for very spicy food. The result, she said, can be a big, rich, unctuous onslaught of flavours.

I’ve been experimenting ever since and when Marks & Spencer called to suggest that I tried some of their new Indian dishes and see if I could match them with wine it was too good an opportunity to miss.

I chose six to try with a selection of Indian pastries and three main dishes, royal prawns, muglai chicken and rumpsteak jalfrezi. The first wine, Vinha da Urze (£7.99) was a dry white from Portugal and was suggested by the store. I added two fruity, fairly dry whites from Alsace, Pinot Grigio 2006 (£6.99) and Gewürztraminer 2006 (£6.99), an easy-drinking Aussie red; Burra Brook Merlot 2006 (£5.49), a flavoursome red from the Rhône Valley; Rasteau Cuvée Chabert 2005 (£8.99) and a big, peppery bruiser of a red from Spain, La Sabrosita Old Vines Garnacha 2006 from Calatayud (£4.99).

I thought I’d better not struggle through all this lot on my own, so invited a few friends to join me and tell me what they thought.

We all quite liked the Portuguese white on its own (it has plenty of peachy pineapple fruit with a little spicy oak), but contrary to the back label advice, found that it was overpowered by all the foods, and especially by peppery samosas and pakoras, which proved to be fearful opposition for pretty well all the wines.

The Alsace whites fared a little better. Gewürztraminer, with its spicy rose petal fragrance (gewürz means spice) is often said to be a good partner for Asian cuisine, but although it was our preferred choice with the prawns, I suspect it would be better with Chinese or Thai fish and seafood dishes than with the rich creamy sauces we faced.

The gentler, apple and melon flavours of the Pinot Grigio were even more easily swamped.

The Aussie Merlot, with its soft brambly flavours was nice enough by itself, but did not cover itself with glory when drunk with the food.

It wasn’t bad with the chicken and the beef jalfrezi. The excellent Rasteau (so good it has to be my wine of the week) was quite an effective partner for the meat dishes, but it was the Spanish Old Vines Garnacha, a big, peppery, plummy mouthful, that stole the show. Nancy was absolutely right – the hit of flavours as it washed down the meaty curries was truly remarkable. Elizabeth, one of the group summed up what we all felt: “I think the reds stood up well. The Spanish wine can go shoulder-to-shoulder with quite a hot curry, but I think the white wines just gave in.”

None of the Marks & Spencer dishes was especially hot, but all were quite rich and some, especially the royal prawns, were very creamy.

This can be a problem because the sauce coats the mouth and acts as a barrier to the wine. Drier curries are undoubtedly more wine-friendly.

So is it worth uncorking wine with curry, or would it be better to stick to something longer and less alcoholic?

The conundrum is that it’s the strongest and most peppery wine that seems to be best.

If you want something cool and refreshing to wash down Indian food, I’m still inclined to think that wine is a waste of money – its flavour is too easily killed by the spices and it’s far too alcoholic to be a sensible thirst quencher.

If, however, you can be disciplined to limit yourself to a couple of glasses, a hefty alcoholic red really does turn out to be a rather wonderful addition to the meal.

Wine of the Week

Rasteau Cuvée Chabert, 2005, Marks & Spencer, £8.99

DEEP ruby red from the Rhône Valley with a rich, inviting smell of red and black cherries, and brambles and a taste that's satisfyingly chunky yet silky and elegant. A touch of class. Excellent with rich meaty or vegetable dishes.