The good thing about alcohol is that we humans always need it. When times are good it is time to drink to celebrate and when times are bad, it is of course time to drown our sorrows in alcohol in an effort to forget them and get on with life. Napoleon was a cunning devil with words you can say. In fact so bittersweet is the alcohol industry that even in recession it manages to race ahead of the rest, quite unabated. Which is good for us alcoholics who wish to attach and survive off this tempting tipple.
Two recent wine events were proof (no pun intended) to the resilience that is wine. The first was the launch, the very successful launch if I may add, of a new Indian restaurant at an old property in Delhi. The Manor has always been an under-hyped hotel in my regards and I always wondered which visionary would take control and turn things around. They found themselves the right candidate in Rohit Khattar who has restaurants like Sitaaray and Tamarai to his credit (both in London) and Chor Bizarre (right here in Delhi).
Chef Maneesh Mehrotra took reigns at this restaurant, presenting Indian food like it hasn?t been done before. Well, Varq at Taj has done it pretty well but at a lot higher a price point and even then needs a lot of tweaking. Fire at The Park is long history. Outside of these two, there is no Indian restaurant that even tries to redefine Indian food!
Indian Accent then is an apt name. The food is Indian and every now and then when it seems to pull away from the shore (Blue cheese naan comes to my mind), it still retains its intrinsic accent. Charles Metcalfe, the famed English wine critique and writer was called upon to do the list and even suggest the pairings. Any other nationality couldn?t have done it better, and I almost include Indians in that!
The second was a tasting of high end French wines that I conducted in Mumbai under the tutelage of Sopexa. Sopexa is this French body that promotes all things French. Come to think of it, so is Laetitia Casta! The event was held at the Trident in Mumbai and we went through 12 of the top wines from different regions of France. It isn?t everyday that wines of such calibre are served side by side and the idea to be able to compare them was the best thing to aid learning.
All in all, the tasting reminded me why the French still rule when it comes to high-end winemaking and why it will take people time and patience to unravel this mystery, page by page. A lifetime will be too short to completely understand just the goodness of French wines, let alone the others.
So, two events, lots of great food and fantastic wines and absolutely amazing company. If this is recession, then I can wait very patiently for the good times.
The writer is a sommelier