The ‘once-in-a-generation’ India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has made Shubham Upadhyaya, sommelier at the Manish Mehrotra-helmed Nisaba restaurant in Delhi, a very happy man.
With the FTA greenlighting the reduction of the peak tariff of 150 per cent by 66 per cent to 83 per cent on New Zealand wine imports over the next 10 years, Upadhyay believes the seven New Zealand labels he has on his impressive list of 98 wines from around the world will get cheaper over the next two or three years – and these are more likely to be picked up by customers.
Will one have to wait for 10 years, though, to benefit from the trickle-down effect of the proposed duty reductions? Citing the impact of the India Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), sommelier and corporate Trainer Gagan Sharma says that though the accord was signed in 2022 and the wine duty reduction was spread across a similar time range, price drops are already evident on restaurant menus. “New Zealand wine prices, too, will be impacted within a couple of years,” Sharma says.
Manish Mehrotra, Nisaba’s multi-award-winning chef, who has had New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs on his menus for as long as he can remember, explains why. A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc – or ‘sauv blanc’ – is fresh (a benefit of the country’s idyllic air quality), gently acidic (which helps to cut through the ghee, butter and masala), and mildly sweet – just the three qualities that help a wine to sit well with Indian food.
More importantly, it is best for the summer months, which comes as a relief at a time when the media is spilling over with stories of how we must brace for torrid months ahead because of the El Nino Effect.
The chef’s choice for an accompaniment with the ‘sauv blanc’ from New Zealand, preferably from its Marlborough wine region, is chaat! Yes, whether it is the standard bhalla papri chaat or the party must-have, palak patta chaat, you have your perfect match. Did anyone say wine pairings are for food snobs?
For Abhiroop Dey, the young restaurant manager and sommelier of Captain’s Cellar, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, a New Zealand ‘sauv blanc’ pairs seamlessly with the Triphal Spiced Pan-Seared Chilean Sea Bass that you get at Varq, the hotel’s pan-Indian restaurant. Triphal is a variety of pepper popular along the Konkan Coast and Goa.
“The beauty of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is that it pairs well with both Indian and Chinese food,” Ray says. Reacting to the FTA, he adds that prices of New Zealand wines have been a barrier for the customer, so any movement downwards will not only increase the interest in New Zealand wines, but also make his guests more amenable to checking out different wine varietals and boutique labels.
There’s been a lot of interest, for instance, in the New Zealand Pinot Noir, a red wine varietal popularly associated with Burgundy in France. Again, the New Zealand one is lighter bodied and more fruit forward than its French cousin.
The Delhi Wine Club’s founding president, Subhash Arora, recalls a recent dinner he had at Banng, the Modern Thai restaurant promoted by the Michelin two-star chef Garima Arora in Gurugram, where he kept drinking a Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s Otago wine region, deep down to the country’s south closest to Antarctica. “I chose Pinot Noir over the other options available,” Arora says.
Talk about the Pinot Noir listed on the Olive Bar & Kitchen, Mehrauli, menu, and the restaurant’s Executive Chef Dhruv Oberoi insists that it is the perfect match for his Nilah Cheese Souffle, whose base ingredient is the English Stilton-inspired blue cheese from Eleftheria, the artisanal cheese maker recently in the news for winning a ‘Super Gold’ and two gold medals – an achievement noted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – at a prestigious global competition held in Brazil.
Blue cheese figures again in Mehrotra’s choice for the best pairing with a New Zealand Pinot Noir. It’s his popular Mutton Seekh Kabab with Butter and Blue Cheese. The Pinot Noir, the chef says, is the perfect foil for the butter and blue cheese.
The FTA is most likely to renew popular interest in New Zealand wines. For Upadhyaya, Nisaba’s Sommelier, it will definitely lead to the discerning oenophile discovering New Zealand’s lesser-known wine regions – notably Otago, Hawkes Bay and Martinborough – and getting to taste the depth and diversity of the country’s offerings. That seems like a great way to start the FTA party.
(Sourish Bhattacharyya is a noted New Delhi-based food columnist, author and blogger, and a print journalist with more than three decades of experience.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author