Aaron Berdofe's Wine and Food Experience

Rating: 2/5

Shrimp bisque made from pureed rice and shrimp (no cream), green onions, shrimp broth, dash of cayenne and some other good stuff.

Wine: Sula Vineyards Chenin Blanc 2009

Notes:

Anytime you pair a decent meal with a mediocre wine, all you can hope for is that the wine doesn’t detract from the experience.  Shrimp Bisque made from pureed rice instead of cream is a nice way of lightening the bisque part of the soup up.  A Chenin Blanc would pair nicely with this if it had a bit of grassy-ness to it and a touch of minerality.  The Sula Chenin Blanc  didn’t have that.

Given that this was my first foray into the wines from India, I will withhold judgement for the entire country as a wine-producing region.  However, Nashik, where Sula Vineyards is located, sits at 20º latitude.  This is 10º off of being between the classic wine growing latitude lines of 30-50.  I can see the potential to grow wine grapes above 50º given the temperature climb over the years expanding their growing seasons, but 20º seems a little hot to me right now.  The Sula Chenin Blanc has a bit of sweetness to it and the body seems a little heavy for a Chenin Blanc. The fact that the finish started dissipating before it began didn’t help either.

Is this wine horrible? No, but it certainly didn’t add anything to the dish.  It certainly do for a summer sipper, aperitif, but then again at ~$13, you could get the same thing for a cheaper price too.