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Indian Wines
Article Posted: Thursday August 30th
Article last updated on: Thursday August 30th
An Introduction to Indian Wines, by Tony Le Ray-Cook Times Past and Times Present Wine has been made in India for many thousands of years, some say for 5,000. Today India has 123,000 acres of vineyards, but only one per cent of them are used for wine. Today there are eight thousand Indian restaurants in Britain representing 33 per cent of the dining market in spending power, which represents some Stg two milliard per annum. (Two billion in American usage). Restaurants of every other nation offer wines from their own country. The only exception up to now has been India whose restaurants offered their excellent beer and wine from many other countries. Omar Khayam, a methode champagnoise wine has been on the British market for ten years. Now it is possible to find both a red and a white table wine in some shops and restaurants. The technical details of these wines are:- Grape varieties:
The white wine is called Chhabri and it is made predominately from Chardonnay with Ugni Blanc and Thompson Seedless blended together to round out this quite attractive wine. The red wine is called Anarkali and it is made from mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a touch of Bangalore Purple which increases the nose and quite firm palate. You might well think you are drinking wine made from Cabernet Franc. Location
The east facing one hundred acre vineyard is located in the Sahyadri Valley inland from Bombay. The altitude is 2,475 feet which helps to cool off the region's wonderfully hot, dry climate. Soil Type: Light slightly sandy soil which helps the drainage, neutral in nature with abundant quantities of micro nutrients including trace elements and metals available in the soil. Presses:
Both Hydraulic and Pneumatic presses are used including a positive displacement Pneumatic press with light pressure limiting the recovery to a maximum 55 per cent. Fermentation: White
The Chhabri is made using controlled temperature fermentation at 15C. with specially cultured yeast, for a period of 18-21 days. The lees are removed within two days of the fermentation. Sophisticated Cuno filters are used for the filtration. The wine is put into 225 litre French Oak Barrels for a short period. No malolactic fermentation is required for the white. Red
The Anarkali is fermented at a controlled temperature of between 27-29C for 8-10 days in order to effect malolactic fermentation. The wine is kept in 350 litre French Oak barrels for between one and two years. Temperature control The winery is air conditioned and kept at a temperature of 12-13C. The cellar temperature is between 8-10C. Vineyard temperature range is 33C to 16C in the summer and 25C to 10C in the winter. The marriage of Indian wine and food
Some people say that wine does not go with curry. Well those of the British Raj used to drink a choata peg (coktail) or two before dinner, Madeira with the curry followed by claret then back on to the choata peg or Scottish wine. The very thought gives me a hangover. Although Madeira does go with curry one gets legless unless one paces oneself with lots of water. Otherwise you cannot enjoy the food. Now we can all enjoy a few glasses of jolly good Indian wine without spoiling either our reputations or the delicious food. With thousands of years experience of drinking wine with curry surely they, the Indians must know which is better beer or wine. Beer as we know it did not reach the sub Continent until the early to mid 19th century when brewers made I.P.A. -Indian Pale Ale which was specially high in alcohol and well hopped in order to stand the voyage from Britain. Before this period rice beer was made in some areas. Portuguese settlers improved the wine they found in the 16th century when they came to Goa. This helped to keep up interest and continuity in the wine industry which today is growing up into the 21st century from the quantum leap of its rebirth in 1985. The Portuguese also introduced Vindaloo to India. The sailors kept their meat in barrels of wine laced with garlic to which they added the spices they found in India. The word was originally Vin d'Ail. Try drinking cool light red wine with meat curries, it is surprisingly refreshing and works well.
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