Curry and wine?

How to choose the right wine for curries

With all this cold and rain it certainly makes you feel like warming up in front of a real fire enjoying heart warming foods.

I was fortunate enough this weekend to be invited to a friend’s house for his renowned home-made curries.

George spent a lot of time in the 1980s and 90s building Indian restaurants in Ireland and was fortunate enough to be taught by the chefs how to make authentic Indian cuisine. I had heard that once you’ve tried his Macon chicken and Biryiani you will never buy a take away again and I have to say they were right. The food was bursting with flavour and controlled heat and I wasn’t left the next day with the usual dodgy stomach.

My only contribution was to bring the wine and I didn’t want to disappoint.

It has always been a problem to include wine with Indian food. There is so much going on. From sweet creamy Korma to tomato based Dopiaza and fiery heat of a Vindaloo. How do you compliment such different tastes?

The answer is in Alsace, France.

On the German, French border lies the German influenced fairy tale town of Alsace. The vineyards are on steep south facing terraced hills producing some of the world’s finest wines, specifically Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc.

Protected by the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine it has one of the lowest rainfall in all of France and benefits from the continental climate with hot summers and long dry autumns allowing the grapes to ripen for a longer period resulting in fantastic aromatic wines from steely dry to lusciously sweet. It was the dry variety that I was interested in.

Unlike its German counterpart Alsace wines are fuller bodied having the sugar in the grape converted into alcohol during fermentation.

Gewurztraminer (Gewurz is German for spice) has the most distinctive nose. One whiff and you smell lychees and spice. With its aromatic quality it compliments strong cheeses, smoked fish... and Indian food.

What it doesn’t try to do is compete with the food flavours as this is nearly impossible with Indian food. Think about adding a mango chutney or lime pickle to your meal, the fruit helps cut through the spice and that’s how simple it is.

Next time you have a curry give it a try; it makes a change from just having beer ,which is wet but doesn’t really add to the flavours in the food. Gerwurtz does.

Entry prices are around £7.00 but if you can push the boat out a bit and go nearer £10.00 you will be grinning all the way to the last popodum.