| Photos By:: Adil Arora
 The Bar at The Trident, Gurgaon opens into the lobby and the corridor leading to the 24-hour Cilantro Restaurant. It makes it amenable to moving around with a glass of bubbly and mixing around with friends or to sit and chat with them if you so desire. A sparkling wine is an apt welcome drink after a full day at work or not, and Tyrrell’s Moore's Creek Sparkling Brut NV was a good aperitif wine to start the evening at the Delhi Wine Club dinner at the Trident.
Crusted fish fingers, the Japanese teriyaki meatballs, corn and spinach quiche, and the bruschetta were all a part of the orchestra in which the bubbly was also one of the protagonists and that set the tone of the evening. Arora presented the five wines of the evening procured from NBD Spirits and Wines, a relatively new and small importer with big ambitions and eyes on the future. He explained that the clean, crisp, fresh and elegant sparkler with deep and attractive fruit flavours was made from Hunter Valley Chardonnay and Semillon grapes. The crisp finish was particularly pleasing as it cut into the fat of both the fish and the meat balls.
As we sat down in the comfortable settings in the Cilantro Restaurant, we were welcomed with an Amuse Busche and a generous pour of Te Mata Woodthorpe Sauvignon Blanc 2011. We have enjoyed the classic from several Marlborough wineries but the Hawkes Bay on the east coast in the Northern Island with mountains on the West giving it a temperate climate and a unique terroir gave wines with different flavours. Woodthorpe Sauvignon Blanc was a straw coloured, light bodied wine with green reflections. It tasted full of passion fruit, pear and citrus flavours that persisted till the back palate and ended in a very satisfying crisp finish, leaving one with a strong desire to take the next sip. There was nothing substantial to accompany it but it was very pleasantly fruity and complex by itself and with the ingeniously created breads by Chef Sandeep Kalra.
Pave of sun-dried tomato marinated watermelon with roquette and feta foam was a very refreshing first course that was delectable on its own but had to be paired with Maison Champy Bourgogne Chardonnay 2009 due to practical constraints. Novices would find this wine a bit too oaky though very complex and mineral with a long end, especially with this dish. However, the Chardonnay was a heavenly match with the Thai steamed Tasmanian barramundi with oriental vegetable slaw and stir fried vegetables, with the flavours of both the fish and wine complementing each other to the C. We had paired it with Te Mata Estate Gamay Noir 2011, a wine more like a Cru Beaujolais, with softer tannins and slightly sweet, juicy fruit flavours. No wonder those who ordered the cheddar and mushroom filled chicken or the tomato cream and pesto emulsion in the main course were very happy with this wine.
 As the last course before the dessert-the Trident signature Belgian butter chocolate mousse- we had deviated a little from our usual 5-course dinner style and had selected a mixed cheese platter for the sixth course (prior to the main course we had refreshed our palates with a sorbet) to go with the Tyrrell’s Brokenback Shiraz 2010. We don’t normally match cheese and wine specifically but it is generally accepted that white wines go better with soft cheeses and seasoned, hard cheeses taste better with the reds. It is difficult to say if it was because most of the cheeses were soft and unseasoned, but the Shiraz did not show off its best, despite its good balance, berry fruit and the spicy flavour.
The general consensus for the most liked wine by the members tilted slightly towards the Te Mata Gamay Noir though as a food-wine match the Champy Bourgogne was a perfect match. The wine service, with the right glasses, right service temperature and the discreet waiters present out of nowhere as one needed them to pour, made one think it was No Big Deal to make this wine dinner a big success but the role played by Rohit Dasgupta, the EAM for F & B, was quite laudable too. A very dynamic manager, Rohit seemed to lead the entire team for the evening from the front, ensuring the success of the evening and it left members wanting to come back soon for an encore for the Exec Chef Sandeep Kalra’s different cuisine matched with another set of wines.
Subhash Arora
Gallery
Tags: Tyrrell’s Moore's Creek Sparkling Brut NV, NBD Spirits and Wines, Woodthorpe Sauvignon Blanc, Chef Sandeep Kalra, Maison Champy Bourgogne Chardonnay, Te Mata Estate Gamay Noir, Tyrrell’s Brokenback Shiraz |