Most people have their own version of a comfort food. Well if I had my own little version of a ‘Comfort food’ it would probably be the ‘Riesling’. It had been a terribly disturbing first four days of the week. I seemed to have ruffled more than my usual quota of feathers for the week and wanted to take a break and seek out my Comfort food.

The Taj in Nungambakkam is one of the very few places in the city, which maintains an extensive cellar, affords a certain degree of sanctity to the wine in the storage department. I dragged a couple of friends and headed out to Chipstead. Usually I would carry my ‘Terroir  Card’ with me, but due to some terribly stormy weather of late at the Terroir, I wanted to experiment ‘Card Abstinence’ to try out “life without the terroir card” :-))

The Usual menu card at Chipstead offers only the ‘Per glass’ options. You will have to prompt them a couple of times to bring the “extended wine list” unless one of the regulars spot you.
I decided to go for the Domaines Schlumberger Riesling, 2009, which is a part of their ‘Taj Exclusive collection’
This Wine is from the Domaines Schlumberger estate which is in Alsace, the Eastern end of france. It is a Reisling. It is pale yellow in color.

Nose:  Lime and green apple

Palate: It is an extremely dry wine, full bodied citrusy on the palate with and very refreshing acidic finish.

Pairing: This wine pairs extremely well with Seafood (The wine maker’s recommendation),  though I went for my usual Chicken Tikka and Paneer Tikka (Tip: The Dry Reislings pair very well with the mildly spicy Tandoor based food)

Price : The Wine retails for Rs 3500 at Chipstead all exclusive. (I was very conscious about not splurging because I wasn't going to get a discount today :-)), I did order two other wines which I will review in one of the upcoming posts.

Post Script : The terroir storm seems to have weathered, maybe I still can get to use my Terroir card after all. I have been spoilt rotten with the Wine Club perks !!!

Rheinhessen is one of the 13 Wine growing regions of Germany.  It is the largest of the  13 regions, and is located on the left bank of the river Rhine. Gunderloch Vineyards are the largest Vineyard in the Rheinhessen. 85 percent of the output from Gunderloch is Reisling.

This wine is Pale golden color.

On the Nose it has a honey, peach expression.

On the Palate it is very smooth and sweet, with peach, honey and a fruity taste.

It is a medium body wine and is acidic, but the acidity is very well balanced by the sweetness of the wine. Has a very long finish.
An absolutely fantastic Wine. It pairs well with most Spicy Indian food.

Note : Most Sommeliers I have interacted with always agree that while trying to pair Indian Food, the Dictum usually is “When in doubt go for the German Rieslings”, because the sweetness of the wine usually balances the spice in Indian food.