Rendezvous with Good life Connoisseurs

India’s relatively a new place for Wine and Cheese as it is still developing by leaps and bounds. One such events was witnessed at Hyatt Regency Wine n Cheese hosted by Charmaine under the leadership of Ms Vidha Jatia. It curates programs to help individuals engage in fun interactive sessions in the company of professionals in five star environment.
 An interactive workshop with the Executive Sous Chef Luca followed by wine pairing session by sommelier Viraj.

Wine & Cheese is establishing strong foothold in India with more and more people getting exposed to its newest flavors. In the first course , Chef prepared Zucchini flan with orange slices (  paired with Cavallina pinot grigio  (white wine) from Sicily in Italy considering its from a warmer part with much more riper fruit flavours which perfectly matches the sweet and sour flavours from the orange). This was followed by  Burrata ravioli with avocado puree ( we paired a lighter and softer style of red wine which was a Thomas Bassot Beaujolais Village from France with softer red fruit flavours, cherries, strawberry, low tannins which go perfectly with the ravioli ). 

In Risotto category a dish called Porcini Rissoto was plated ( This being a fairly rustic preparation with the porcini mushrooms and the cheese we paired a Marchesi Antinori Santa Cristina from Tuscany  (Red wine) which has bright red fruit, sour cherry, cranberry, raspberry and savoury notes with rustic herbal lavendar hints which complements the risotto very well)

Session was concluded by Melting chocolate ( with this rich dessert we have chosen a rose with residual sugar not a dessert wine. Delicato white Zinfandel rose from california which had ripe strawberry, ripe juicy plums, ripe candied cherries with an off dry finish with balanced with the dessert. This wine has some amount of sugar left in it)

In terms of the cheese

Mozarella cheese is a mix product from Buffalo and cows milk. It is full of water. Its quiet fatty in nature that could be paired with a sparkling white wine , unoaked chardonnay, pinot grigio so that the acidity balances the creaminess in the cheese. Another form is Tallegio: This is a cows milk cheese semi hard from Piemonte in Italy, this has a bit strong flavour and slight saltiness so this could be perfect with wines from the region nothing too strong may be a Barbera, or a softer Nebbiolo. Aged cheese is the best in this category.Gorgonzola: This was a 6 month aged cheese, its a blue cheese with salty and more pungent flavours as compared to the other cheeses on the board. This cheese could be perfect with a port wine, may be a dessert wine or some heavy and richer red like a shiraz from Australia or an Amarone della Valpolicella. Parmesan: This a hard salty cheese from Parma in Italy, with hard cheeses wines like a Chianti or a merlot would be perfect. Fresh onion and tomato jam pairs well with this variety of cheese

Wine & Cheese should ideally be from same region.Wine with too much tannin cannot be chilled. We begin ur meals with appetisers which are relatively light and hence should be paired with light wines preferably white wines. For example Salads can be paired with light white dry wine.