Sparkling red wines with curry

I like a Sparkling Shiraz with a hot mutton curry. Banrock Station do one and also Seppelt produce a rather good one.

I tried one cooled to 4ºC. Not much sign of the carbon dioxide in the wine due to the wine's opacity. So the sight of the fine mousse or head was a bit disconcerting. Was I about to drink a Lambrusco? Why was it on special offer?

A bit of a blackberry bouquet but overall not much of a nose - probably because of the temperature of the wine. But then one can't have it both ways. A mature cheese straight out of the fridge smells much less than one at a room temperature.

But cool and sparkling be it beer, water or wine are my requirements of a drink to go with a curry or spicy food.

Deep plummy red in colour; rich yet light and refreshing; voluptuous chewy mouthful of ribena / vimto blackcurrant flavours with wonderfully peppery hints; good strong alcohol content at 14.0% vol.; The bottle says "Medium Dry". The percentage of sugar in the shipping dosage seemed on tasting by me to be just a touch sweeter than that. Does anyone know the sugar content in this?

I thought the wine went very well indeed with the Lamb Rogan Josh and rice. The chewiness of the wine was just right for the chewy (in the tenderest possible way) lamb.

The cool and sparkling aspect was refreshing and cooling though perhaps a bit too much gas and a semi-sparkling version at 2.5 bar atmospheric pressure would be easier to drink. Whilst sparkling water has a higher gas content, the gas is not endogenous so escapes in the bottle and glass before drunk.

The sugar content seemed a bit too much for the "chilliness" of the curry. But on adding hot mango pickle the sweetness seemed to tame the flames.

In summary, I am quite impressed and I'll be buying it again to drink with spicy food until I commission a Pasha Plum as a naturally semi-sparkling red wine

I had not quite finished the bottle of Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz on the 17th and finished it yesterday on its own and with Steak pie and today with Paella.

What a contrast to having it with a spicy curry! I just found it to be unpleasant and took me back decades to the last time I had Lambrusco. Just much too sweet with plain food or on its own. It perhaps might work for me as a dessert wine with chocolate but for that it is not as sweet, rich or as full as a Port or fortified Muscat dessert wine.

.......... Warren EDWARDES ............

Hyde Park Wines - Sticky Wines and Wine for Spice and GrapesTALK