Curry & Bubbly

Time for your usual weekly curry? Move over beer, it’s time we treated ourselves to a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine with our meal and it tastes even better.

The finer bubbles in sparkling wine stimulate the palate and the aromas of Champagne (and many other sparkling wines) compliment the delightful spices in Indian food. With many different curries and sparkling wines available, which goes best with each other?

First, try Indian bubbly with your curry.

There’s York Winery, Sula and Chandon.

Semi-sparkling wines go especially well with curry as the fine and delicate bubbles refresh the palate and provide a balanced acidity. So consider Asti, Spumante, Frizzante and Lambrusco.

However, heavier dishes can handle bolder sparkling wines, so there’s always room for Champagne, English sparkling and other more complex fizz. Luckily, it’s quite versatile so don’t worry too much and just experiment!

Mild & Sweet
Tikka masala and korma are some of the UK’s most popular dishes, made with yoghurt and coconut for a sweet, delicious flavour.

A light bubbly, such as a Cava, Asti, Spumante or Prosecco would go well with the sweet and savoury in these dishes. A rosé would nicely compliment the sweetness too.

Lamb and Beef
Meaty curries would go great with a red sparkling wine such as sparkling Shiraz and sparkling red Lambrusco. Traditional method wines such as Champagne, Franciacorta and English sparkling wine would go great too. In fact, new world wines would be perfect; check out sparkling wines coming from Australia, South Africa and the USA.

Spicy
It helps to go for a low alcohol sparkling wine with spicy food, at least not more than 12%.

Curries with Ginger
Curries containing ginger, such as ginger chicken, go great with Champagne.