What wine to go with curry? How about a crisp, zesty white from Portugal

We bought some Indian food takeaway from Curry Gardenn at HillV2 the other day and popped into the nearby wine shop, the  Wine Connection,  to see what interesting wines they had to offer.  Our query, “which wine to go with curry”,  elicited several possibilities. In the end, we had to make a decision.  There were a lot of reasonably priced wines recommended, all in their wooden crates, all looking very interesting.  What do you do when confronted with so many choices, none of which you are familiar with?

Our un-oenophilic approach was to select the one which looked the most attractive. That was how we ended up with a bottle of Casal Mendes Vinho Verde from Portugal. It stood out from the crowd as the bottle was cute – short and stumpy and unlike the usual wine bottle shapes. The colour of the Casal Mendes has an attractive champagne-like hue. It was “on offer” at the price of $19.90 and the fact that they also had a chilled bottle in their fridge sealed the deal for us.

The screw-cap made the opening of the bottle hassle-free.  The bottle when frosted with condensation looked even better.  There was a mild fizziness in the wine which made it even more suited to beat the heat on a hot Singapore afternoon.

The chicken biryani with curry gravy from Curry Gardenn was spicy but not extremely so. The cool zesty Casal Mendes wine helped reduce the heat from both the food as well as the air.  With a low alcohol content of 10%, the dry, crisp and mildly fruity wine was an easy-going drink. The slight fizz and acidity helped to cut through the oiliness of the Indian food,  refreshing your palate with each mouthful.   At $19.90, the Casal Mendes wine was also not too hard on the wallet  and is one we will be happy to get as a wine to go with curry. The most important thing is to serve it well chilled.

Wine Connection

#02-05/06

HillV2 Mall

4 Hillview Rise, Singapore 667979
Phone: (+65) 6710 7138

Curry Gardenn is at #02-03