Golcanda to Bordeaux

No this is not a post about Golconda and Bordeaux - the places. I was just thinking about wines today and I recalled the Golconda Ruby Red (lets call it GRR) wine my friends and me used to drink in India. Back then, in the mid 1990s wine drinking was not common in India. I don't think it is still very common - Indians take to Beer and hard liquor more fashionably than wine. Maybe it is the lack of availability of good affordable wines or maybe because Indians like to get drunk rather than enjoy a good drink.

Anyways, GRR was available only in seedy wine shops (which is a mild oxymoron, as these shops rarely sold any wine) and I was too scared and reluctant to be spotted in one of them. Venkat and a few other brave souls usually got the wine. Accompanied by some spicy Indian snack, we drank it bottoms up (which is one reason why I conclude that Indians prefer intoxication rather then the drink itself).

It has been quite a journey from GRR to the Reds I consume these days. Wine is more about wine itself and the accompanying conversation and camaraderie. I love all the reds Bordeaux, Burgundy, Merlot, Chianti, Shiraz and ofcourse the Cabarnet Sauvignon. I prefer the old world wines with the exception of the Australian Shiraz.

Saffron Indian Bistro in Brookfield serves a very nice Christian Moueix Merlot. It is not a fruity, light merlot but is well balanced, dry and full bodied. I am not sure Indians feel the taste of wines in the same way as the Westerners do. I say this because I suspect that years of consuming spicy foods might have altered the taste buds. Because of this, I don't pay much attention to wine pairing. Culinary preferences are personal as captured by the saying "De gustibus non est disputandum".

I was in NYC last weekend (memorial day weekend, 2005) and I was thrilled to see that even the Indian vegetarian restaurants were serving wines. Now, that is classy :).