With the Indian Wine Challenge, a laudable
first in Wine competitions in India, having recently
announced its awards for 2007, there was a fair groundswell
of opinion amongst our members to be given the opportunity
to sample the choices of a very eminent IWC jury.
Our club management swung into action
and we were indeed fortunate to have our 4th meeting
of the calendar year at the Aangan where Chef Marcus
proposed a one- off menu to marry fusion Indian cuisine
with 6 of the award winning wines of the IWC 2007 from
the stable of FineWinesNMore, Mumbai, who are becoming
more and more visible in Delhi too.
As if that was not enough to ensure
a top of the line evening ,the double whammy was the
presence of Robert Joseph ,the prolific and well respected
wine writer who gave us a very interesting talk on the
Indian wine industry, the IWC and his expert take on
the wines on offer later on that evening . Robert’s
presence that evening underscored the very serious but
subtle aim of the club to make our wine dinners not
only enjoyable but also educative.
It was also heartening to listen to
Robert praising the efforts and knowledge of our President,
Subhash Arora. ‘I hope one day a monument is made
here in his honour for the stupendous work he has done
for the last 6-7 years to promote wine culture in India,’
he said. We are sure the club will attain even greater
heights under Subhash’s passionate leadership.
Whilst Robert’s talk was riveting,
the aperitif wine the Sileni Cellar Selection Marlborough
Sauvignon Bay 2006 was a distraction! This silver medal
winning wine is lively, bursting with citrus flavours
and has a refreshing finish. The tandoori duck spring
roll with sweet plum sauce was the standout finger food
on offer.
Once seated for dinner, the spinach
and morel soufflé was paired with the Hans Lang
Hattenheim Hassel Riesling Spätlese 2005. Spätlese
is a German wine term for a late harvest wine and this
silver medal winning wine was off dry, with a hint of
sweet melon.
Our first Gold medal wine for the evening
upped the ante many notches - the Forrest Estate Marlborough
Pinot Noir 2005, judged as the Best Red Wine of the
competition, was light bodied, spicy, with a fruity
finish. This wine shows how versatile a Pinot Noir really
is –it was a perfect accompaniment to the Scottish
scallops with masala appams and coconut chutney. It
was a pleasant surprise to know that the hotel imports
the scallops fresh from Scotland everyday at a cost
of Rs.210 each-pleasant because the ridiculously low
price we were paying for the whole dinner with these
excellent wines made us feel better.
For the main course, we had two red
wines –not an easy task to serve but the Hyatt
service rose to the occasion as usual to ensure we had
both outstanding wines at hand to complement our individual
choice of either New Zealand lamb or the Trout risotto
made with red wine sauce.
The 2004 Brokenwood Hunter Valley Shiraz
on its own was a nice medium bodied wine with soft tannins
and a plummy finish. Unfortunately this Silver medal
winner was stacked up against a Gold medal winner, the
Marques de Murrietta Rioja Reserva 2001 which, as per
the buzz on my table, won hands down. The Rioja was
an exceptional Tempranillo blend with an oaky backbone,
good structure and finish, which would be a bit too
strong and tannic for the trout but a natural match
for the lamb dish.
And then onto what is fast becoming
a fixture on our wine menus – dessert wine, in
this case a yet another Gold medal winner, the Wiltlicher
Klosterwerg Riesling Eiswein ’98. Eiswien or Ice
wine is made from grapes which have frozen whilst still
on the vine and this example from the Loosen Bockstanz
stable had a concentrated sweet palate with well balanced
acidity.
Chef Marcus and his team conjured up
an excellent fusion meal which was very well received
by our members –no doubt a lot of food for thought
for Mr. Tim Bruce, the new GM at the Hyatt, when the
menu at the Aangan next comes up for a change .The President
of the Club, Subhash Arora earlier welcomed Tim to Delhi
and looked for the continued strong support of the Hyatt
to the Delhi Wine Club.
All in all a resounding success of
an evening – pretty much evident that the accolade
of Best Wine Club in India bestowed by Wine Business
International in 2007 on the Delhi Wine Club was spot
on !!
Arun Batra is a Delhi based management
consultant, a food and wine writer and a long time member
of the Delhi Wine Club.
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