Shimla Merry Hai!

Cheers! Guess, what have I discovered in Shimla? Yes, the Himachal wines!

During the past twenty five years or so in the army, I have been exposed to various desi and phirangi wines, including the bubbly, sparkling ones, but I never really developed a taste for them. I had long concluded that I was not the wine type. (Perhaps one needs a very refined palate for appreciating fine dining, and my North Indian, small town palate was not discerning enough!) Himachal’s fruit wines have relegated all those thoughts to the history books now. I have discovered the manna, and I am lovin’ it.

Shimla’s markets (especially the Mall) are inundated with a wide range of the local wines. In fact they are as readily available as a bottle of coke (even our neighborhood kirana store stocks them!). I have tried them all (one by one of course!): peach, plum, strawberry, kiwi, apricot, and, yes, Himachal’s pride, the apple. But my favorite remains the exotic rhododendron wine. These young wines are fruity (with a mild and subtle bouquet that gets infused in your entire sensory system!), sweet, light bodied and just right.

Served in the right glassware these wines display their beautiful range of colors and clarity. (Pour them out gently into long-stemmed clear, crystal, red wine glasses; never more than half full!). I have had them served in tumblers as well, but that not only takes their charm away but is also a downright insult to these lovely drinks. My husband tries to teach me how to sip a wine. “Take small sips.” He instructs, “Swirling and aerating them in your mouth to bring out their bouquet, before you allow the mellow liquid to trickle into your gullet. Sip, after sip, after sip.” But these elaborate rituals are not for the rustic me. I follow my own heart. I love to take a mouthful, close my eyes and savor its divine flavourful sweetness. If these are the typical symptoms of a person in love, then I confess that I have fallen in love with these enchanting wines. Yes, Siree! And it’s a heady feeling indeed!!

My sister-in-law (from Kolkata) lugged two cartons full of these Himachali gifts to the rest of the world. She was extremely excited with her shopping: after all the bottles are so contemporarily smart and reasonably priced - it is a total bargain, almost a steal! I hope that the wine merchant lobby isn’t reading this piece; otherwise they might get ideas about upping the prices overnight!

So, those of you who have not yet tasted these exotica, please do it NOW. You do not know what you are missing (at least I did not know!). Go ahead and try them, I promise they won’t get you drunk; they are far too genteel for that! The best part is that they go very well with our desi cuisine. If you are planning to serve these fruit wines with a meal, I recommend the rhodo, plum or strawberry (at room temperature) with red meats (mutton or pork curries) or rich and masaledaar vegetarian dishes. The others (chilled for half an hour in your freezer) go well with poultry, fish and blander vegetable preparations.

Speaking of desi cuisine, you can find the freshest of vegetables in Shimla to put together a great Indian meal (my waistline is in complete agreement!), but when it comes to trying out something different, Shimla’s sabziwallahs do let you down. Over the past five years or so, the Indian Bazaar has been metamorphosed into a gourmet’s haven. Homemakers like me who had to improvise every second ingredient in a recipe from my well thumbed cookbook (ajwain for oregano, onions for leeks, spinach for kale, desi cabbage for the Chinese purple one, synthetic vinegar for wine vinegar, etc.), now take great pleasure in buying red and yellow peppers, asparagus, artichokes, avocados and all kinds of exotic veggies and fruits, available across the Indian urban landscape. Broccoli, lettuce and brussel sprouts are as common as kaddu and lauki in most cities.

But not so in the Summer Capital of the Brits! It is surprising that while kiwi fruit and persimmon are available at every street corner, not a single green grocer stocks any thing other than the very regular (and locally seasonal) stuff. So putting together a slightly-out-of-the-ordinary meal remains a challenge. I have to re-visit my improvising days. The other day, I wanted to serve a basic Chinese dessert of litchis with vanilla ice cream. I was in for a surprise as no shop (however ‘fancy’) had any stock of tinned litchis and we could find only one vanilla brick (with a prehistoric packaging date!) in the entire market (I wish I could do with the ubiquitous ‘softy’ instead!).

No, I am not complaining. I am just too much in love with Shimla to complain about anything, but let’s be honest; even our most loved ones also display warts from time to time…. it is just one of those times!

Shimla nights are slowly getting longer, the sun sets earlier and the air is nippier. All is well and romance is alive!!

Until next time……..

The Times of India, Shimla Plus, 17th November 2007, Chitra Jha