Pairing wine with chicken curry

Think aromatic

My husband made a big batch of chicken curry with chick peas Friday afternoon, left it to stew all evening then to chill overnight, and we reheated it for supper Saturday when the skiers came home from the slopes. The curry was mid-hot, spicy but not burning, but those spices required some reflection when it came time to pick out a wine.

Two whites with curry

I brought up two wines from the cellar, one of which says on the label that it is good with chicken curry.

We began with a Viognier 2012 from Frères Dutruy in Founex, Vaud, which they suggest with Asian foods (curry isn’t what they had in mind, I’m guessing). It’s their Grande Réserve from the line called Les Romaines. I did it a disservice; they recommend drinking the wine in 1-5 years, but since it was oaked I was hoping it would have held up well. In fact, it was still good, but the freshness and acidity that would have marked it when younger and made it a powerful match for the curry had slipped away, leaving a rounder, gentler wine that would have been good with a less spicy dish. I do recommend it, but a more recent vintage! 10C was a good temperature for it, as well as for the second wine, which probably warmed up to 12C while we ate and discussed the state of the world. CHF27, cellar price.

The second wine was from Jean-Michel Novelle in Geneva, a 2017 white blend called Empreinte Aromatic. It was perfect – aromatic enough to match the curry flavours in strength and hold its own, acidic enough to be refreshing. At CHF16, the price seems to me to be right for a big pot of homemade curried chicken with chick peas. The grapes: Sauvignon Blanc, Savagnin Blanc and Savagnin Rose, Viognier, Muscat. The first gives it acidity, the Savagnins (Paien, Heida are the same grape) structure and a higher alcohol content, the last two give it notable aromas of rose and grape.