French wine Minervois C.D.O for a perfect Indian food pairing
Summary about how and why Minervois wine is a great pairing for most of Indian food
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Minervois CDO is from the South of France Languedoc-Roussillon region. It pairs well with Indian cuisine thanks to grape varieties composing the blend which enhance the Indian typical food taste :
The Syrah with its features of smooth tannins and a flavor of aromatic herbs and spices as pepper and cinnamon.
Grenache thanks to its characteristic of roundedness, fat with flavor of black fruits and aromatic herbs as laurel and thyme.
Mouvèdre marries perfectly thanks to great melted tannins, cocoa, liquorice and black fruits aromas.
To adjust the type of Minervois wine for a perfect pairing with typical Indian dish we can sum up into lamb with sauce dishes, vegetables curry and lentils curry :
A Minervois with freshness features will go along spiced lamb with sauce.
A Minervois with a fruity and spicy profile will match vegetables curry.
A Minervois with smooth and light features will marry with lentils curry known as Dhals.
The Minervois C.D.O is a not so well known wine which will pair very nicely with most of the main Indian recipes. Let’s unveil the secret of a perfect foodie match.
The Minervois C.D.O from Languedoc Roussillon a French wine which origins stream from Ancient Greece
Hills of Minervois culminate at 2825 feet at the town of Caunes Minervois, and are bathed by the Mediterranean climate with a slight influence from Atlantic Ocean and the Black Mountain bringing fresh air on the vineyards while abating humidity. The land of Minervois dwells in Occitania region and streams its name from the old Cathar city of “Menèbra” in occitan language and its Controlled. Designation. of Origins was created in 1985. Main historical timelines were starting :
during Ancient Greece era, the vineyard there was created since the 2nd century before Christ.
In 1680 the Canal du Midi was built allowing the wine production to be carried by river boats so that it can be sold in big cities of France.
Next main historical step was the phylloxera crisis in 1863 when all the French vineyards were destroyed and renewed thanks to graft of North American grapevines.
Other big event in this area occured in 1907 with an overproduction crisis making the wine price collapse which involved violent riots and demonstrations from the wine maker during “La Revolte du Midi”.
Then over a long period of time, wines from this overall Languedoc-Roussillon area were considered as the army provider with low quality bulk wines.
This is since the 70’s/80’s that winemakers of Languedoc-Roussillon among which Minervois focus on improving wine crafting quality to maintain profitable prices by developping bottled wine as a primary concern.
In 1999 was officially created the first genuine Cru of Languedoc-Roussillon bringing the specifications of one wine of the CDO to a higher level with recognised quality of the vineyards environment and conditions for a better grape maturing and quality. The Minervois La Livinière Cru was born giving way, further on this quality development move in the area of Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape, to the creation of a wine crafted and sold at more than 100 $ a single bottle.
Grand Cru as superior wine CDO were created and we saw developing wines with a similar pricing and marketing as the Bordeaux Grands Crus in spite of the fact that prices weren’t oftenly exceeding hundreds dollars a bottle.
Indian Food and French wine Minervois C.D.O for a succesful match
Genuine wines often match genuine cuisine as the Minervois wines do with Indian tasty recipes. This culinary culture boasts incredible vegetarian dishes. In spite of the fact that cow is sacred in India and is not doomed to finish in Indian plates, this wonderful culture offer delicious meat recipes with lamb along with “massala” which means spices mix. Tikka, korma, biryani, vindaloo are part of various massalas and this is the point of this article demonstrating how Indian cuisine marries perfectly with the wines from Minervois C.D.O.
Actually the intense tasting power of spices will require a wine with a good flavour intensity conveying powerful aromas, very aromatic and especially important will be the touch in the palate delivered by the tannins texture and structure. The tannins texture has to be silky and not too thick, preferably melted in the wine and with patina. Indeed if the tannins are too thick and overwhelming the sensation in the palate will be burning and it won’t be a delight as the indian spices are already pretty hot for the flavor and mouth feel.
Of course the pairing with such a cuisine will call for a wine having spices notes as pepper and cinnamon matching the cooking ingredients and with a complementarily black fruit flavor prefered to red fruits which are too sweet and a fresh mouth feel like the one brought by mint aromas and a slight acidity. All these features are often brought by the grape variety Shiraz and Mouvèdre especially when its grown in Minervois. Luckily the specifications of the C.D.O lay emphasis in the component of the wine with Shiraz and Mourvèdre that has to be the most important part of the grapes varieties.
Grenache grape variety playing an important part too will bring roundedness and jammy black fruits features to the wine which pairs fantastically too. Grenache will also bring laurel and thyme aromas which definitly go well along with spices and aromatic kind of cuisine as the Indian food is.
This is thanks to the grape varieties’ flavor signature that you can find in the traditional crafting of Minervois that this wine goes well with Indian cuisine.
Let’s see, inside the wines offered by the Minervois C.D.O, how main Indian recipes will match this fantastic beverage.
The various French wine C.D.O Minervois features and how it pairs with the typical Indian recipes
For lamb cooked with sauce a minervois wine with freshness features will be perfect for a pairing as the sauce is often dairy product as a yogourt or creme fraiche or sour cream which are a bit thick and fat. And the acidity will cleanse the palate while coming to cut on the heavyness of the sauce.
A fruity and spicy flavored Minervois will be a great match, especially if it has a larger part of Grenache in the blend of the grape component of the wine, along with vegetables curry. The Grenache will be particularly fitting the savor of vegetables curry with tomatoes as an ingredient within. As the spices and fruits flavors will complementarily go along with the taste of tomatoes. The famous chicken tikka massala dish which has a lot of tomatoes as a sauce ingredient will be also a good match with this kind of Minervois.
A smooth and light Minervois type will perfectly pair with lentils curry, also called dhal in Indian. The fact that such a kind of wine will have less tannins is a great asset for a successful match. As the Dhal sauce is light and slightly covering the lentils, the smoother tannins are in the wine the better the pairing will be. Also the light features of the sauce won’t call for a lot of freshness in the wine. No need for a lot of alcohol, thickness and roundedness as the sauce is just enought to avoid the pairing being dry or lacking of onctuosity. Moreover the lentils can offer a creamy and silky texture on the palate. Thus no need for a dry or acidic wine as it will make the palate very tense and aggressive. With Dhal dishes everything amounts to balance and a smooth and light minvervois will foster such a subtle and harmonious mouth feel.
When it comes to pair Indian food with a Minervois C.D.O it all resides in matching an intensively flavoured wine with an intense and powerfully spiced cuisine. Though some sommelier will go for another option as a food pairing perspective. Instead of coming to a fight about how aromatic and intensive is the component of the match, we can choose the easy way and give up the fight. The selection of a light and soft wine which won’t go for a round against the dish will point out the Rosé wines. Fruity and light wine as Côtes de Provence will abate the fire of spices and ease the powerfull mouth feel of Indian cuisine while bringing soft fruits as red berries, white flesh fruits, exotic fruits as pommegranate and citrus aromas. The idea is to soothe the Indian dish within the softness of the Rosé wine to bring a delicate mouth feel to the pairing.