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Photos By:: Adil Arora
 MY first ever visit to India was a dream come true and the dream was fulfilled thanks to the immense hospitality and excellent organisation of my long-time and dear friend Subhash Arora. He met me at the airport, housed me in great comfort in his comfortable house with his gracious and welcoming wife and immediately set about introducing me to the Indian Wine World.
The very first day he organised a Delhi Wine Club Dinner of which he is the President as well as the Indian Wine Academy. It was devoted to Charosa Vineyards. These, my first taste of Indian wines apart from the long-gone Omar Khyyam, set a standard which I thought would be hard to beat during my subsequent visit to the Indian Wineries.
Indeed, this proved to be correct. During these visits we made to their winery, about which more in another article, at the end of a road that left me gasping for a large glass of Sauvignon. Happily, that and more were provided and the winery was a delight.
Evening in Tashan
The evening was a huge success, partly due to the wines, partly due to the cheerful guests and partly due to the delightful, inventive and delicious contemporary Indian cuisine provided by the charming owners of the TASHAN RESTAURANT. Very cleverly two Indian tapas were served with each wine-one vegetarian and one with meats, matched very skilfully by Subhash.
 Charosa 2015 Sauvignon Blanc: fresh, clean, ripe and quite fat. There was good supporting acidity with a lemon touch. Not too much grassiness, but good fresh fruit. Long in the mouth with a lingering aftertaste.
SHRIMP WASABI and MUSHROOM GALOUTI KEBAB (superb).
Charosa Viognier 2015: wonderfully vigorous, fresh and aromatic. Length, strength and balance. 4 months of oak added complexity. Certainly, a grape variety to be pursued and one which can be enjoyed with a wide range of Indian dishes.
VEGETABLE QUESADILLA and VADA PAO POPPERS
 Charosa Reserve Selection 2014 Tempranillo: Pure tempranillo, delicious, charming fruity and enticing. Totally different from Spanish tempranillo, but with its own personality and character. Splendid to drink on its own and most enjoyable with the carefully matched tapas. Bright fruit and fine supporting acidity. Aged in 100% new French oak barrels.
MUTTON BOTI ON KHAMIRI ROTI and GREMOLATA PANEER TIKKA
Charosa Shiraz 2015: Hot weather wine making evident. Power, richness and mouth filling flavours. Very long in the mouth. Sound and solid structure ad will develop and be even better in a few years. Wine to lay down. Impressive balance and harmony. Can happily accompany both rich food and curry.
PULLED CHICKEN QUESADILLA and AMRITSARI FISH FRY
 Subhash gave excellent tasting information to the assembled company, the Charosa team gave technical information, the restaurant owners explained their tapas and I added a few complimentary words. A delicious sit-down dinner followed and I was very happy to sit in the august company of H.E. His Excellency Mr. Panos Kalogeropoulos, Ambassador of Greece, who I found very learned and had interesting conversation with him on wine and other non-related subjects. I fell in love with what I was informed was “Lotus Root in Cashew”. The dinner was gastronomic and comprised three different soups in Indian Tricolor, salads, two main courses of 4 vegetarian and and 6 non-vegetarian dishes each and two desserts including a sublime Bhuni Roti ka Halwa. My personal favourite in the mains was Sous Vide Nalli Curry.
There could have been no better introduction to both Indian wine and Indian food and the restaurant is to be highly praised for their innovative cooking and presentation skills. Congratulations to everybody and thank you for a wonderful first evening. More about the fine Charosa wines later.
John Salvi Master of Wine
For an earlier related Article, please visit DWC: Charosa Wines Launched in Delhi at Tashan Restaurant editor |