Your top 5 white wines...
Among Indian wines I think the Sula Sauvignon Blanc is a good entry level wine. It’s clean fresh and crisp; a dry wine with citrus notes and very grassy. The Reveilo late harvest Chenin Blanc is a lovely Indian dessert wine. It is sweet and best had after a meal. Among international wines, The Cloudy Bay chardonnay from New Zealand is a beautiful, creamy full-bodied typical chardonnay. It is barrel fermented and hence dense and creamier, making it easy to pair with a main course or heavier foods. Its screw cap feature makes it convenient to open anytime, anywhere. Domaine Schlumberger Les Princes Abbes is a Gewürztraminer wine from Alsace. It’s a mildly spicy dry white wine. Albert Bichot, Domaine Long-Depaquit, Chablis is another beautiful burgundy white. Chablis is a region in Burgundy where this wine comes from and it’s made from chardonnay grapes.

Which meals do these best complement?
The Sula Sauvignon Blanc has a herbaceous nature and therefore goes very well with herbed foods and anything that has lime and lemon in it. Since it is an everyday wine, it also goes well with a basic light home-cooked meal. The dessert wine is obviously to be had as or paired with dessert, but to enjoy it best is to have it on its own. The Cloudy Bay chardonnay will pair very well with soft cheeses or with any dish that is cream-based, or butter- or cheese-based e.g. white- or cheese-sauced pastas, risottos, chicken or fish. The Gewürztraminer goes very well with spicy Indian food. The Chablis goes well with salads, fried starters and is also good as an aperitif.

How do you choose a wine while cooking?
The thumb rule when you want to use a wine for cooking is to always use one that you have tried before and one you enjoy drinking. It is a myth that cheap table wines are used for cooking. If you want to enhance the flavour of the food, it has to be a good quality wine whose taste you enjoy, as it has to bring about the same flavour in the food.

Your favourite white wine cocktail...
Honestly I don’t enjoy white wine cocktails. I’d rather drink the wine on its own to enjoy it fully but champagne cocktails are fun; try adding a dash of Crème de Cassis (Blackcurrant liqueur) to your champagne. Champagne mixed with orange juice is great for breakfast.

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