| Photos By:: Adil Arora
 Three wine dinners on the trot with French cuisine and there were some murmurs about the Delhi Wine Club promoting France and in particular its cuisine! Well, I can tell you it was just pure coincidence that after two excellent dinners at Le Bistrot and Chez Nini, we got a slot at yet another French restaurant - Rara Avis in Greater Kailash II. We had planned an evening at Rara Avis earlier last month which unfortunately had to be rescheduled at the last moment and shifted to Le Bistrot.
However, Rajiv Aneja , one of the partners of Rara Avis, was not going to give up the prestigious opportunity of hosting a dinner of the Delhi Wine Club and was in close touch with Subhash Arora, our club president for a date. When Subhash heard that the Vice President of Constellation Brands, owners of Robert Mondavi, perhaps the biggest wine company in the world, was going to be in town, he thought why not have an evening of Californian wines with French food. And that’s how the third “French” evening came to be!
Rara Avis, which opened about a year back, is very much part of the recent trend in Delhi restaurant openings and that is an owner-chef driven eatery. Chef Jerome, an excitable and passionate French expat runs the kitchen and having eaten there a couple of times I can confirm it is well established at the top end of dining out options in New Delhi. Chef Jerome would like to describe Rara Avis as Delhi’s first traditional bistro and his approach to cooking is very simple –“I like to cook food the way my grandmother did – simple, flavourful and wholesome dishes, no pretentions.” Though his range and repertoire encompasses escargots, steak tartare and fish quenelles, he decided to keep things simple rustic and uncomplicated for our dinner as “after all it is not an easy job to serve 40 people at the same time!”
 Luckily for us, that evening the winter hadn’t set in with its usual severity and Rajiv suggested we take the benefit of great weather and have our dinner on his third floor terrace. Moving thru the 2nd floor where the main bistro is located, I noticed it was close to 75% full which for a Thursday night was pretty good going. I am glad we took the option of moving upstairs as it was absolutely delightful on the terrace.
The wines for this evening were to be all from the Robert Mondavi Private Selection – a new venture by this iconic California winemaker but with a twist. Nearly all Californian wine producers take advantage of the sunny climate in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys to produce their wines but Robert Mondavi decided to locate their new venture along California’s Central coast – an area known for sunny spells but also plenty of fog. As Joe Milner of Constellation Brands put it, “the cool damp weather makes the grapes mature slower leading to the development of intense fruit flavours”.
So with the question playing in my mind as to why an established winemaker would want to go a much harder route and make it more difficult for themselves to produce quality wine, I took a glass of the Robert Mondavi Private Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2010. A couple of sips of this citrus driven wine and my question was answered. This light yellow wine, with citrus on the nose and in the mouth, was fresh and crisp and went excellently with the pass arounds of mini pizzas and chicken and leek tarts.
As we took our places for the sit down dinner, Subhash introduced our chief guest Joe Milner, who had come from Hong Kong. Joe then gave us a run down on the Private Selection label of Robert Mondavi that we were going to enjoy that evening.
 Next up was the Robert Mondavi Private Section Chardonnay 2009 sourced mostly from vineyards in the Monterey County. This wine had a lemony nose, a hint of apple on the palate, a reasonably creamy mouth feel with light oaky notes. The Chardonnay was paired with the French Onion Soup which came across as a slightly sweetish consommé – quite different from the traditional recipe. Though I am very much a Chardonnay man, the Sauvignon Blanc was my choice of white for the evening.
Moving onto the reds, we had the Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir 2010 – a 90% Pinot Noir with a blend of Merlot and Shiraz bringing out the typical notes of a Pinot Noir – plenty of berries and cherries on the nose, soft tannins and a reasonably long fruity finish. An excellent treatment of the Pinot Noir grape that highlighted the status of Robert Mondavi as a good producer. The Nicoise Salad was fresh and light though I would have preferred the presence of a non-veg add-on like tuna.
And then we were on to the main course section of the evening – I had opted for a very typical French chicken preparation – the Coq au Vin. Chef Jerome’s take on this iconic French preparation was simple and rustic – flavourful chicken and no heavy sauces. For the first time I had tagliatelle pasta with a Coq au Vin and I must say it was quite an interesting pairing. Later, I learnt from Subhash that though they serve mashed potatoes with it, he thought that would be too boring and convinced the chef to replace it with tagliatelle.
 The Robert Mondavi Private Section Zinfandel 2010 completed the lineup of wines for the evening. A Zinfandel always goes well with chicken and the 2010 was no exception. Good berry aromas, light tannins, a slightly spicy taste in the mouth and a longish lingering fruity aftertaste.
We are by now used to surprise add-ons by Subhash and the evening was no exception as we were treated to the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. Full-bodied, dark red coloured, viscous wine with perfumed aromas and a taste of berry compote with oak lurking in the background was easily the best wine of the evening and an absolute darling for one and all. One must thank Subhash, Mohan Bros., the importers and Joe for the delicious surprise.
A Pear and Almond tart rounded off the goodies emanating from Chef Jerome’s kitchen for the evening and our satiated members were left contemplating the south Delhi skyline and the drive home over their cappuccinos. Most people missed out the petit-fours that took their time arriving. A couple of members who had the macaroons melting in their mouths were glad because they were welcome to take them home. All in all a delightful evening, with homely, rustic French food just as Chef Jerome promised.
 Three wine dinners have given us literally three different takes on French cuisine - all very well appreciated. However, we will be moving on and going back to our roots for our next wine dinner at The Great Kabab Factory at Radisson Blu at NH-8 on the 23rd. Make sure to book early as this will definitely be a sold out event . See you there!!
Arun Batra is a Delhi based food and wine enthusiast and a long-time member of the Delhi Wine Club
Tags: Rara Avis, Constellation Brands, Robert Mondavi, New Delhi, Robert Mondavi Private Selection, California, Joe Milner |