Curry with red wine?! Pull the other pint!

When this pairing was presented to me I was extremely sceptical too: surely the only thing you want with a curry is a tall glass of something cold and bubbly. Well actually, not too bubbly as then you'd be too full to enjoy the copious amount of delicious food you undoubtedly want to pile onto your plate. So maybe a still wine isn't such a bad idea...

The pairing called for a mild curry and Beaujolais Villages, so I had a root around the wine cupboard and found this cheeky bad boy from Dominique Piron.

A little bit about Beaujolais:

• It is a region in France that sits just south of Burgundy and above the Rhone Valley - not a bad place to hang out actually!

• The principal grape variety is called Gamay.

• The wines give lovely red fruit flavours: raspberry, red cherry and red plum.

• Sometimes you get notes of banana and bubblegum, especially in Beaujolais Nouveau. This is because of a cheeky little bit of winemaking called Carbonic Maceration.

• Beaujolais Noveau Day is celebrated annually on the 3rd Thursday in November and was originally conceived to celebrate the end of the wine harvest.

• Like in a lot of French regions there is a hierarchy for the wines of Beaujolais: Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and Beaujolais Crus.

The Piron Family have been producing wine for 14 generations in Morgon (one of the Beaujolais Crus) since around 1590. The grapes for this wine come from 50 year old vines that sit on the hills in the Northern half of Beaujolais. The small stones in the sandy granite soil mean that any heat from the sun in the day has been stored and is slowly released at night to continue to help the ripening of the fruit, which still retains ample freshness thanks to the altitude. The wine had ample notes of ripe red strawberry, raspberry and cherry with notes of black cherry creeping in alongside a little spice.

Food wise: onion bhaji, bombay aloo, vegetable masala and korma with pilau rice.

I loved the the bhaji with the red wine: it was like I was enjoying a chutney alongside my starter. Chutneys are often offered as a condiment alongside papadam and the starters, so the lovely ripe fruit and touch of spice in the wine worked wonders - I'm tempted to start adding bhajis to my cheese and wine nights! The bombay aloo had a bit of a kick to it which was heightened by the 13% abv found in the Beaujolais (alcohol increases the perception of spice/heat in your food). I like a bit of spice so this was still very enjoyable, and again I felt the red fruit flavours worked quite nicely with this. Beaujolais has brilliant acidity so when it came to the two creamier curries (masala and korma) this cut straight through the fattiness of the dish and didn't leave a "claggy" feeling in my mouth. I didn't mind the flavour combos with the masala, but for me it was a bit of a clash with the korma.

THE VERDICT: 5/10

As I said, the bhajis were an absolute win but then it kind of went downhill from there for me. With this meal I think a fresh and fragrant Sauvignon Blanc would work brilliantly. High acidity would cut through the fattiness of the food, and the fresh citrus notes would go beautifully with the coconut in the korma and the creamy hearty masala (David Nieuwoudt's Ghost Corner from South Africa would be a great accompaniment). I also think a Prosecco from the Valdobiadenne area of Veneto would work wonders with it's bubbles and acidity working much the same way as a classic lager pairing.

The reason we reach for a beer so often when we enjoy a curry is because of the lighter alcohol - you can go bigger on the spice and not have your head blown off for a start! Crisp and clean beers cleanse and refresh the palate, while the subtle hoppy and malt profiles enhance the flavours in within the complex dishes. And the fact that it's lighter in alcohol means you can enjoy a bit more of it without too many consequences!

And if you're still concerned by all that carbonation, Cobra is brewed with less bubble than most beers which means you won't feel as bloated.

Cheers!