Indian Sauvignon Blanc

Early this month, two new wines were introduced to the Indian market. Paul P John, Chairman of John Distilleries, launched both from Bangalore. The Zinfandel Rose, called Rossa Rosa, and the stunningly light late harvest Muscat desert wine, called Bellissima, brought the total of local wine labels in India to 123 between 28 different companies. Count the imported wines available, and there are over 540 labels from 50 companies to choose from. If you are a wine drinker, there never was a better time than this to raise a toast.

Wine drinking is changing rapidly in India. Rajeev Samant’s Sula Vineyards has been attracting VC investors, proving that Indian wine drinkers are maturing. A Stanford graduate, Samant brought Indian wine to international attention by carrying two bottles of his Sula Sauvignon Blanc to Tokyo’s 2002 Vinexpo, the industry’s annual wine show. His wines floored respected Italian winemaker Angelo Gaja, who placed an order for Samant’s wine. In 2008, Sula produced over 220,000 cases of wine, becoming a leader in the Indian wine industry and setting off the Indian wine story on an exciting journey.

In April this year, Federico Castellucci, the director general of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), announced that India would become “the first eastern Asian nation to join the organisation.” The OIV affiliation will help give India – which currently has no laws concerning grape growing and wine production — access to the government bodies of 43 wine making nations as well as the resources to make better wine.

A Nielsen Syndicate Wine Study, released in mid July, said that the Indian wine industry was witnessing phenomenal growth. The study was aimed at understanding wine drinking habits across the major metros. Its finding: 82 per cent of the wine consumed in the last three months was red. The survey found that wine drinking was associated with business in Delhi, as a drink for all seasons in Mumbai and as a drink to relax with in Bangalore.

Wine as much as you want - Deccan Herald

It’s the end of the line, well at the end of one branch of the Northern Line that is. Having not previously been to Edgware my first impression was of its diversity of styles and cultures and quite broad busy roads. We had gone to Edgware to eat at Zan Zi Bar, whch is for want of a better description, an Indian ‘gastropub’. Zan Zi Bar is set back from the pavement and despite its double fronted exterior it appears to be quite a modest establishment as you approach it. That all changes as you walk through the doors, two things strike you, the sheer vastness of the place and a warm inviting spicy smell. Decorated largely in creams with other coloured accents, it is a comfortable place in which to sit and enjoy an evening.

We ordered drinks straight away. There was an Indian Sauvignon Blanc (Sula vineyards) on the menu so that was a must: it was very fruity and had a good fresh tang to it, and at Just short of £19 per bottle was well priced. I tried a few of their range of bottled lagers during the evening. Our drinks arrived with the menu - which in itself was extensive but was augmented by a list of some eight or ten specials for July that had been selected just that day. Our waiter could see us cogitating, so offered some assistance, we took his advice on starters ordering two of the specials – the chicken tikka salad and kebabs tak a tak, alongside the fish tikka from the main menu and were pleased we had. The chicken tikka was lovely, tender chunks that had great spiciness with a little heat from their marinade, the salad on which it was sat had taken flavour from the grilled meat which we liked. The kebabs tak a tak were spicy minced lamb kebabs that were medium to hot  as was the fish tikka, which was a substantial skewer of marinated cod chunks that had a good meaty texture from the marinating process. Each of these dishes left our mouths tingling from their spiciness and moderate heat, all three were very good.

For mains we chose the asli chicken curry (on the bone), karahi lamb, Punjabi chole, tarka dal, lemon rice and a laccha paratha. The chicken curry had a great fragrance from the whole spices used in its cooking; the curry sauce was lovely, a great consistency, this tomato based sauce had a nice medium hot spiciness. The lamb karahi was good sized chunks of the meat in very thick gravy, which had great depth of flavour; like the chicken it had a medium heat to it. This was another very good dish. The Punjabi chole, a spicy chick pea dish, had a fragrant flavour with a slight tang and the tarka dal had a good medium/thick consistency, with a garlic spice background, perhaps one of the best I have tasted. The laccha paratha, a butter layered nan, was indeed buttery, quite flaky in texture and was an ideal choice for scooping up sauces and the dal. The lemon rice was a wise choice, it had a very lemony taste, quite fresh and contrasting well with the intense flavours of the two meat mains. We thoroughly enjoyed all of these dishes. We had, of course over ordered so didn’t quite finish, but were pleased with every dish we had chosen and were left with a lovely spicy tingly glow in our mouths.

Although not hungry after all our starters and mains, we were tempted by the suggestion of something cool and had the kulfi which had a good pistachio creaminess to it that cooled our mouths down perfectly.

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The autos often screech up next to me, wrongly thinking I want a ride, thus preventing me from crossing the road even more, and the motorbikes just head straight for me, as do the black and yellow cabs, dropping off passengers. It’s up to me to get out of the way, or get run over. I am not standing on the road – I am at a parking lot waiting to cross the road. There is no pavement to stand on, as it has been encroached by a pani puri stall, a Xerox stall and a vegetable vendor. Various huge white Mercedes cars park up in the parking lot. At one point they are still, but you have to keep your wits about you, as all of a sudden they will randomly reverse directly at you and into you, unless you move…the drivers are usually rich woman, very bad drivers, who don’t bother to look in their rear mirrors as they reverse.

I wait for a gap in the continual onslaught of traffic, watching motorbikes with families on, sometimes none of them wearing a helmet, so that I can cross the road, to reach the taxi rank.

Once I am there, my chances of getting a taxi are no higher. Usually the drivers parked at the cab rank look away, when I say ‘Mahim’, which means they are refusing the fare.

Full Story: Baffling aspects of Mumbai - Hindustan Times (blog)