I drink wine with everything. Simply a choice.

I agree with you!! I love Spicey Food and Indian curries!! Beer goes well with such spicey food.

I never drink Wine unless i am eating italian,thai or even food with coconut based curry!!

All in all i drink Wine alone and without food(exception if i am eating fish and then wine goes well)

I like red wine with Curry. Hubby drinks beer, but I have never been a beer drinker.

However, I would not want to drink an expensive red wne with a curry. I`d be satisfied if the wine is red and complements the curry rather than food and wine to complement each other.

I always found it strange to have yogurt drinks with rather than after a meal. But this is just what I am used to - a yogurt, to me, is a pudding.

My name is Ashraf Sharif. I am the principle of Baltiwines. I know most of you have already tried beer with curry, my range of 5 BaltiWines for spicy food have been produce with the help of Manchester metropolitan university are new on the market. I want everybody to try a bottle Baltiwine before deciding and commenting whether wine or beer goes better with spicy food, so any body who is of legal drinking age, and who wishes to put my Baltiwine to test, can through my web site www.baltiwine.com request a bottle of Balti wine free of charge and I will pay the postage too. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised what a wonderful job I have done and why the Baltiwine is becoming so popular so fast as an alternative to beer, so now you have a real choice. Try before you decide and comment.

Ashraf,

Thanks for your kind offer. You have noted my initial reaction but I am certainly willing to give the new wines a try!

Oregano

Got to be a Cobra or a Kingfisher - it's the law!

And then there’s me, Warren Edwardes. I am the founder, principal and ceo of Wine for Spice and designer of a three strong naturally semi-sparkling range.

My credibility comes from my Goan/Anglo-Indian roots so I have eaten curries all my life. An on wine I won the Pol Roger Cup 2004 for blind wine tasting, sponsored by Pol Roger and chaired by Jancis Robinson MW.

http://wineforspice.com

My three babies are very different indeed from Ashraf’s no doubt excellent Balti Wines so there is definitely room for us both and indeed lager. No war. But a piece of the growing market for providers to all tastes.

Unlike Ashraf I’m not giving away any freebies but I’m out and about at Country Shows and Food and Wine Fairs where we can chat and you can try samples of my wines. Or give me a ring on 020 7724 4606 and I’ll talk to you about my wines.

And Waitrose known as the only supermarket with more thn one Master of Wine (they have 5) have listed my babies.

So how did I create the range?

Well from 3 pillars:

cool refreshing Lager of course,
sparkling Cava and Champagne
and the usual aromatic Alsace whites

So lets look at lager:

cool refreshingly sparkling. But lager is open vat fermented and then has artificial gas injected into it! Injected gas is easy in easy out.

And lager and ale contain hops that provide bitterness. But I don’t associate bitterness with a refreshing drink. If I do drink a beer with a curry it would be a hop-free Wheat/White beer. Nice and banana/tropical fruit resonant and refreshing

sparkling Cava and Champagne

Very refreshing indeed. And unlike lager, Cava and Champagne contain natural CO2 which is through second fermentation. So the bubbles are finer and easier on the stomach (and less burpy) and stay in the liquid longer. However Cava and Champagne contain about 6 atmosphers of CO2 pressure.

Aromatic whites such as Gewrztraminer

I used to drink a wonderful Spanish version by Torres - Viña Esmeralda. I found it just a tad to perfumed after the first glass and a half.

So as Wine for Spice’s principal what are my principles? Basically Yin and Yang. My wines complement rather than compete with the food.

The wines can be summed up in one word - REFRESHING - a cool refreshingly sparkling alternative to a cold gas injected burpy lager.

semi-sparkling

• First, the wines are all naturally semi-sparkling through second fermentation. Carbon Dioxide enhances taste and adds natural acidity when dissolved thereby adds to the mouth watering feel. But a fully sparkling wine or beer has too much gas and lager has gas injected producing large bubbles leading to bloating with food. And being semi-sparkling (2.4 atmospheres) rather than fully sparkling (about 6 atmospheres) the UK Customs Duty is as for still wine.

lager cold

• Second, drink the wine cool to ice-bucket cold - So thirst quenching like a cold lager.

good acidity

• Third, a refreshing wine also should have a good level of mouth-watering acidity. Think lemon juice - the classic Indian “Nimboo Pani”.

tannin-free

• Fourth, no mouth-drying tannin. Furthermore, tannin is exaggerated at low temperatures. So unlike Balti Wines no red wines at all from me. I have a Rose made from 100% red grapes which is left on the skins for 18 hours long enough to get the best from the skins but without tannin. A red wine is fine if you want to exaggerate the chilli heat. The saliva is dried out by the tannin just as the mouth seeks refreshment.

no oak

• Fifth, the wines are also free from oak, which clashes with spices such as cumin, coriander and ginger giving a bitter, harsh after-taste.

moderate alcohol

• Sixth, moderate alcohol; a good degree of alcohol is required to provide body but excess alcohol over 13% can add to the burning sensation of chillies. Take a sip of vodka before and after biting into a chilli to feel this. Furthermore, my wines are so moreish that you will find yourself drinking quite a bit. So my wines have between 11.5% and 12.5% ABV.

sweetness rising with spiciness

• Finally aromatics, fruitiness and sweetness in the range rise in relation to the chilli heat of the accompanying dish. This is based on my Goan Grandmother’s trick of adding some sugar to an over-hot curry. Suck on a sweet before and after biting into a chilli to feel this. But unlike some wines such as 100% Gewurztraminer or Muscat which can be over-aromatic and too flowery and sickly after a glass, all of these wines are balanced with natural acidity and are refreshingly sparkling.

And because the wines were designed to be refreshing they are refreshing not only at curry-time but also in the summer-time and anytime.

see http://wines.wineforspice.com and http://reviews.wineforspice.com

Cheers

Warren Edwardes
Wine for Spice
020 7724 4606

Well, thanks for the systematic analysis of how drinks and curry can go together. My posting was pure "gut feel" and yours is a very thorough reasoning. I am for example very interested in your observation about alcohol content (>13%) and the chilli sensation.

I was interested to read that if you had beer with a curry you would go for a Weißbier/wheatbeer. Dunkles Weißbier was my favourite beer when I lived for over a decade in Bavaria and I certainly agree it goes well with curry. I have just never had a chance to compare it with some of the British favourites like Cobra on the same evening.

Well, I would love to do a great curry/drink tasting...for this blog.

Hefeweißbier is IMHO better than Dunkel with a curry. More refreshing isn´t it?

My German is weak. I figured on comparing labels that Dunkel meant darkand i liked te other one. Little kowledge ... (but now I know!)

I like the Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier seen and tasted in Kaufhof in Alexanderplatz, Berlin

http://www.specialitybeerselection.co.uk/home/brands/franziskaner/franziskaner_hefeweissbier/

Wairose also do an own brand white beer which is great with a curry.