On a sunny Saturday afternoon me along with 2 other bloggers decided to go and attend the Wine Trail event at one of the top hotels specializing in Mediterranean food – Fava @ UB City Bangalore. Since I was alone, I went to my food blogger friend Valarmathys place and from there we met another food blogger Satrupa. Thanks to Satrupa’s hubby for dropping us to the metro station. From thereon we started enjoying the afternoon.
We reached Fava at 1.00 PM and we had a warm welcome by Kamakshi from Team Ginger Claps. The ambiance at Fava was awesome and suited the Meditterean theme. We were seated right in the middle of the restaurant in a place which was booked specially for us. We met few more bloggers there and we all got busy introducing each other and clicking pictures. At the same time Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc White Wine was served to everyone as a welcome drink.
After sometime Mr. Amit Chavan gave us a brief intro on the basics of food and wine pairing. He said that if we are hosting a dinner party, then to first find out what we will cook or what we will eat and last to pair it with wine. He started the talk by telling us to drink the wine using all the 3 senses i.e. eyes, nose and tongue. First see the wine, swirl it, then smell it and finally drink it.
Some myths about food and wine were discussed like cheese paired with white wine and meat paired with red wine.
Then he told us about the “Complementing and Contrasting” principle. That is to choose a wine which is similar to the dish – Complementing.
Wine should not dominate food neither should food dominate wine, always the balance should be right.
Always choose light bodied wine with lighter dishes, medium bodied wine to do with fuller dish and full bodied wine with heavy dishes.
Amit also told us how to identify the viscosity of wines. He told us to swirl the glass of wine. If the wine settles down soon, it is heavy wine and hence higher acidity content and if it takes time and shows the particles means it is a lighter wine to drink and hence lower acidity.
Foods like tomatoes, lemon and curd are all having high acidity. Wine with low acidity will taste less vibrant and less refreshing and therefore the acidic ingredients in the food should be matched.
Contrast principle involves characteristics of food and wine that are dissimilar to each other. The contrast principle seeks to find flavours or textures in the wine that aren’t in the food but that would enhance it.
Salty food is enhanced by the touch of sweetness in the wine.
Wine with touch of sweetness can tone down the spiciness of the food and make more pleasant dining experience.
Another experiment was to have few drops of lemon juice after having a sip of white wine and to see how the entire taste of wine changes and this helped us understand the acidity in the wine.
Soon after this session, we started tasting the wine. First, the Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc was served. It had a light and refreshing flavour. It tasted like champagne. Next the Four Seasons Viognier was served which was more of a fruity flavour. Next we tasted the Four Seasons Blush Rose. This was what me and everyone liked. It had a mild rose flavour. Some of my friends just loved having filled their glasses again with this wine. Next the Four Seasons Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was served. This red wine was left open in a decanter. This wine had a woody flavour. The woody taste comes from the oak barrels in which the wine is kept for several months or years. It is said that old wine tastes better and so is this one. The year on the wine bottle tells the actual year in which the wine was made.
Along with the wine we were served with authentic Mediterranean food at the restaurant. The first one which was served was Chicken and Red Grape Salad which tasted the best and had a mild flavour of pepper and parley. The dish was a good one and tasted great with white wine.
The next dish served was Caramelized Onion Stuffed Chicken Breast. The onions were caramelised and were too sweet. I had never had sweet chicken dish and kinda did not like this dish. The dish might have been better with a bit less sweet stuffing or maybe a bit spicy one.
The next to come on the table was a dessert – Peach and Yogurt Pannacotta. This turned out to be my favorite dish as I love Peaches.
Some more pictures of the food served as below. I did not choose the following items, but I tasted them and were also good. The first dish is the Plated Crabmeat Hummus. The one below it is the Harissa Grilled Fish and the dessert is Turkish Coffee and Chocolate Pudding.
The Chocolate Truffles were served on the table. But I was so full that I did not feel like eating them nor did I feel like clicking them 🙂
On the whole, the event was a great one. I met some of the fellow food, lifestyle and travel bloggers whom I met only virtually. The afternoon ended on a sweet note and we bloggers had a great bonding.
Special thanks to Kamakshi for sending me an invite for this wonderful event.
To know more about Four Seasons you can visit the below pages:
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