Soundtrack: BugaBlue / http://freemusicarchive.org/music/US_Army_Blues/ / Public Domain Mark 1.0

Four courses at four different restaurants and lots of wine. That was the menu for the day at Sula Wine Rides, a Sula Vineyards sponsored event for a few of Mumbai’s food bloggers, conducted by Sovna Puri, Sula’s Head Tastings, Mumbai.

The idea was to popularise wine and food pairing and to break certain notions that wine goes best only with certain cuisines. The group sampled some starters at Café Zoe in Lower Parel, dropped in at adjacent Busaba for some Maki and Salad, went on to Spaghetti Kitchen and ended at Vinoteca, Sula’s wine and tapas bar.

“You have to try it for yourself to know whether a pairing works or not, no matter what the cuisine,” says Puri. You know the marriage is working, she says in the video, when the flavours of the wine and food don’t overpower each other and you get a third pleasant flavour.

The Busaba course was experimental, says Puri, and at the end of sampling wines while trying the Stir Fried Salad in Peanut Sauce and Maki, the table of 15 was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness that an otherwise dry Sauvignon Blanc yielded. Maulshree Shah, one of the bloggers at the table, also learned that brute is ideally paired with foods that are fatty, heavy or cheesy.

Indian Food Isn’t Doomed to Wed Beer

Watch Sovna Puri talk about pairing wine with Indian food.