What wine with Indian food?

Going out to the best Indian restaurant in DC tonight. I have done some reading and am no closer to a recommendation. With possibilities like Tandoori chicken, curry and other spices, satay and all the other flavors, I've read that everything from Cab to Chenin, Gewurztraminer to Barolo is good. Anyone have a favorite?

Depending on who we are with, we usually either drink Gewurztraminer or Zinfandel with Indian.

[Robin Garr]

Jon, I love Indian food, but to be honest, I rarely drink wine with it. It doesn't seem to me to be either culturally or culinarily appropriate.

Cold beer (maybe a big 22-ounce bottle of an Indian brew such as Flying Horse, Kingfisher or Taj Mahal) or hot tea or, maybe best of all if you're going the really fiery route, a tall salty <i>lassi</i>, the Indian yogurt drink - tangy dairy makes a great companion with the hottest vindaloos and curries. That's my choice.

But if it has to be wine, I'd think about bubbly first, and an off-dry, food-friendly white like Chenin Blanc or Riesling second.

John, I usually go with Gewurz or an off-dry Riesling to pair with Indian food, particularly if it's spicy.

I could not imagine drinking a Cab with a curry or vindaloo. Ouch!

Among the fine suggestions, Robin, I think I'll go with having an Indian beer. Another complication is that my son is not able to drink, legally, at age 20 whereas his girlfriend, who is visiting us, is 21. I was thinking about a bottle of wine and my son not being comfortable having a glass but his GF having a glass - sort of awkward. A beer makes that situation go away. Thank you for the suggestion.

My choices have been : Zinfandels, Gewurz and Rhone Blends. With all due respect, I disagree with Robin that wine is culturally or culinarily inappropriate with Indian food. With the tremendous geographic variations in the cuisine within India, I have never had any trouble matching a wide variety of wines with my native cuisine. In fact it is often fun trying odd combinations and discovering another way to enjoy foods I have grown up with. I have tried New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with fiery southern fish curry and Chenin blancs and gewurz with foods from Maharashtra. Rhone wines go superbly with various delicately flavoured Mughlai foods and even with some of the complex Kerala cuisines. Sometimes a simple meal of rice, dal and chicken curry is enhanced by a a nice Dry Creek Zin. My lament has been that most "tandoori joints" hardly keep any wines that go well with their food. That's where take-out is such a nice convenience

Saying what wine matches with Indian food is bit like saying which wine pairs with European food. As Shaji notes, "Indian food" is not one cuisine, but a group of regional cuisines. The wine for a Goan dish is not neccesarily going to be great for Punjabi, Bengali, or Southern Indian dishes. And the same wine is probably not best choice for chicken, lamb, pork, and seafood dishes within a region.

Most US generic Indian places tend to serve mostly Northern Indian (Punjabi, etc) dishes- tandoori dishes, kormas, etc. I tend to find Punjabi cuisine to be pretty easy to match. Dry to off-dry Riesling, though lighter reds do well with goat, lamb, and tandoori chicken. I also like Riesling or bubbly with East Indian (Bengali) and Goan foods. I truly think that Southern dishes like vindaloos are just too hot for wine, but will take suggestions from Shaji!

by the way, as far as cultural appropriateness, all the major Indian beers were established by Brits during colonial period to supply troops.

Thank you, Shaji. I appreciate your thoughts. Regarding your comment that most "tandoori joints" hardly keep any wines that go well with their food, I am pleased to say that the sommelier at this particular restaurant is highly regarded in this town. As I said, I may go with beer, in spite of its British beginnings, just because of the situation with my son and his girlfriend.

My favorite Indian beer is Kingfisher. I also like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or a Full Sail Amber Ale if you can find those in your neck of the woods.

Shaji - Kingfisher is just what I had...and I agree, it was very good