Wine and dine in Nagpur

The 500 or so Parsis in Nagpur who enjoy a customary community dinner every year at Jamshedi Navroz raised a cheer when the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana teamed up with the Nagpur Wine Lovers’ Club (WLC) to celebrate the occasion on a high note on March 21, 2012.

Apart from wine tasting and wine making, the discussions included the pairing of wines with food. Ashwin Deo, founder of Turning Point Wines, dismissed the western concept of pairing white wines with fish and red wines with meat. "In the Indian scene, wines are all about ‘mood pairing’ rather than ‘food pairing.’” Ulhas Mohile, a founder member of WLC declared, "A wine made by combining ginger, orange and honey goes very well with spicy Indian food.” WLC member Sharad Phadnis observed that instead of enveloping wine drinking with an air of mystique, it should be promoted as a healthy alternative to the consumption of hard liquor at social get-togethers.

(Clockwise from top l): Ashwin Deo of Turning Point Wines; wine selection and tasting at Nagpur Parsi Gym

Eruch Bhamgara won the snowball of Rs 1,000 at the housie that preceded the wine and dine session. Khursheed Dalal, who conducted the housie, was ably assisted by Peenaz Mavalwala. Shiraz Gimi, president, Shiraz Doongaji and other members of the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana worked hard to organize the evening which ended with a dinner catered by Nergish Karbhari that included mutton pulav dar, papeta-ma-marghi, dahi vada, rotli, kachumber and Dinshaw’s falooda.

Dilnavaz E. Bhagwagar