We started the club with the first event in June, 2002 with Lebanese cuisine at the Spirit Restaurant. So there was some significance in our selecting this venue at Hotel Ashok since it specializes in similar cuisine. The menu had been selected after several discussions with Chef Rameez based on the Torres wines that were available for the evening. Following menu was finally selected:

APPETIZERS
Meunier Bleue-Sparkling
(V) Falafel, Cheese Fattire / (NV) Sambousek, Dajaj Makli

SECOND COURSE
Torres Nerola Blanca
Hummos, Fatouch, Baba Ganoush (with Lebanese bread)

THIRD COURSE
Maquehua Chardonnay-Chile
(NV) Mashwi Bahri Moshacal With Mushroom Sauce/(V) Malphoof

FOURTH COURSE
Torres Nerola –Syrah
(NV) Mashwi Mushakal /(V) Koddar Machuiya

FIFTH COURSE
Terrasola Syrah
(NV) Ozzi / (V) Ozzi Shami

DESSERT
Mahalabiya, Fresh Fruit
Tea / Coffee

Sparkling wine was a last minute change due to non –availability of the Cava we had planned. This Austrian might not be able to stand up to our local MDP from Indage. This was a majority opinion, if not unanimous. The delicious snacks were lapped up by the hungry souls though.

Nerola Blanca is named after the Torres daughter. Made primarily from the local cava grape, Xarello (pronounced ‘sharaylyo') and some white Granacha (same as Granache in France) this is a very refreshing and crisp wine that is quaffable in the Indian summer. But the Chilean Chardonnay was really clean and aromatic, dry and unoaked that complimented the dish nicely.

Torres Nerola was full of fruit, slightly spicy, good fruit extraction and slightly tannic that blended well with the kebabs. It had surprisingly long after-taste. Terrasola with a cut of lamb prepared in Lebanese style with slow cooking and overnight marinating was again perfectly matched.

Chef Rameez deserves kudos for a great job though there were a few members who were not very comfortable with the cuisine, but nevertheless had a great time with the wines. If priced right, based on their reasonable international prices they can be extremely popular as quaffable (daily drinking) wines. Music by the one-man band singing from Arabic to Indian to western numbers made people fill the dance floor well past the midnight.

Whenever we have organized a wine dinner in any restaurant or hotel we have been invited to come back for another event and this evening was no exception. Hurray for the owner, Arjun Amla and his team. Incidentally, the restaurant along with Rouge and Steel Bar are run independently by him at the Ashoka premises.

Subhash Arora
President