If French and Italian wines speak of the traditions of wine making, German wines have a penchant for attracting the emerging wine drinking countries. Now that Indians are waking up to fine dining and wine drinking, here is what Finewinesnmore had to offer to the Indian wine connoisseurs - a great evening with Riesling wines paired with Asian cuisines- recently held in a star hotel in Mumbai.

Ulrich Langguth, (on picture) President of the MO-RHE-NA Export Association from Germany was present at the occasion to train the staffs at the hotel as well as to personally ally the continental food (Japanese, Thai, Chinese cuisines) and German wine pairing. MO-RHE-NA is the first wine-export association in Germany that represents more than 25 ‘boutique wine’ producing estates from different regions.

The food pairing included wines from some hand picked estates of Germany. To begin with was wine from Ulrich Langguth’s own estate Riesling Fern Label 2006 vintage with delicious Dragon Roll prepared with Tempura shrimp, raw tuna and Japanese eel with soya and wasabi. This was just perfect to set the mood for the evening.


While we group of journalists waited for the next round of surprise Ulrich kept everyone engaged and answered all queries on Riesling accompanied by Dharti Desai and Sumedh Singh Mandla, partners of Finewinesnmore. The fact that German wine industry was affected by global warming last year was enough to keep us busy with a hot discussion about its implications on the Eiswein production.

With the second starter-Golden Thai prawn in raw sweet and sour dip, came Hans Lang, Riesling Spatlese Hattenheim Hassel 2005 vintage. Ulrich explained that Hans Lang is one of the 3 foremost wine estates in the Rheingau region. Hans Lang, the wine maker, owns 16 hectares of vineyards and produces Riesling and Pinot Noir. Due to its excellent dry wines, it was awarded the best dry Riesling at Vinexpo 2005. It’s a much sweeter dry white wine with fruity and rich character.

Next was another Ulrich Langguth, Riesling Kabinet (Cabernet) Piesporter Goldtropfchen 2003 served with baked marinated sea bass with scrambled crab egg whites and Chinese black vinegar reduction. It went very well with the food. Produced in the Mosel region of Germany, this wine is from the Goldtropfchen (golden droplet) vineyards. It can be enjoyed with a spicy meal, especially Thai food.

By the time the main course started arriving, we all were savouring the Riesling Kabinet, which I preferred the most.
Teriyaki glazed duck *** with onigiri rice cake, pak choi and crispy leeks went well with another Hans Lang, Blanc De Noir Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir/Rosé) 2006.

But the star of the evening was the Losen Bockstanz; Riesling Eiswein 1998 vintage which needed no food pairing yet was just perfect with Cashew nut tuile and exotic fruits with holy basil seeds.

After tasting such wonderful wines with great cuisines, we all looked as much swayed about the Rieslings future in India as the global wine consultant Craig Wedge who had just introduced the first stock of Rieslings to his staffs at the hotel that evening.
 

Reports Rojita B.Tiwari from http://www.ambrosiaindia.com/