Simon Hoggart

My day job keeps me in Westminster, where we are lucky enough to have two...  

My day job keeps me in Westminster, where we are lucky enough to have two superb Indian restaurants. The Cinnamon Club, in an old public library, is the one where the politicians go. You would be unlucky if you went on a weekday lunchtime and didn’t see someone who was sitting on the TV sofa with Andrew Neil half an hour before. The food is subcontinental haute cuisine. Quilon, near St James’s Park tube, has a Michelin star. It offers subtle south Indian dishes — delectable thin rice pastry stuffed with spiced potatoes, curried halibut, guinea fowl. Like the CC, it also offers a lunchtime menu, which is fortunate, since neither place is cheap in the evening.

So we are left with the quandary of which wine to drink with spicy food. I don’t suppose anyone would go to Corney & Barrow, this week’s merchants, demanding a single bottle to go with the takeaway vindaloo. Much Indian food is washed down with beer, and that’s fine if you like the taste and the sheer bulk of lager. Many people prefer a bone-dry white wine, which works well against the oiliness of a curry. But for fine foods such as you get in these two restaurants, you need something that will stand up to the powerful flavours, which is why I like a really fruity, robust red.

This offer certainly has one, at a very reasonable price. To which we will come later.

In the meantime, I can hardly recommend more highly C&B’s delectable Blanc de Blancs (1) (12.5%), a sparkling wine from the Jura which has, time and again, won blind tasting tests against Champagne — at roughly half the price. This is made in the Alps, and it has the tang of fresh mountain air combined with lovely fruit flavours and that nice undertone of toast (or brioche) that you get with a really good Champagne. It has also got a stylish label, which means you could serve it at your daughter’s wedding, please all the guests, and save yourself a lot of money.
Our middle-priced white is a Chardonnay, El Campesino, a 2009 (3) (13%) from the Central Valley in Chile. This too has a charming label, retro in style (why don’t more winemakers realise the importance of a good label? If you’re serving first-rate wines to your guests, you want the bottle to look appealing). Even chilled, it has a warm flavour, with peaches and vanilla. A real glugger, perfect for parties, aperitifs and just drinking on your own.

La Tunella is one of the leading brands making fine Italian whites, and their Pinot Grigio (13%) is bursting with flavour. This, from the eastern hills of Friuli, is a 2009 (4) and seems to leap out of the glass begging to be drunk.
The last white is the Mont de Joie Sauvignon Blanc 2010 (5) (12.5%), which is grown in the Loire near where the much pricier Sancerre is made. Frankly, this is superior to many Sancerres I’ve tried, having a forward fruity freshness which makes it a very happy wine.

We have two reds, including the one that would be perfect with Indian food. The Cabernet Sauvignon from the Domaine de Saissac 2008 (13%) (7) is great value. It is so packed with what the bald one on MasterChef would call ‘fly-ver’ that I found it hard to believe they could get so much excitement into a glass. Once again, proof the most thrilling new wines in France are made in the south.

Finally, for lovers of Loire wines we have another treat — the Saumur Champigny from Les Villaises, Caves de Saumur, 2009 (12.5%) (8) It’s made from Cabernet Franc which is usually a late and small addition to the party in Bordeaux, but here comes into its own. It has a slightly slatey, gooseberry savour, and is perfect chilled for just a short time in the fridge: just right for summer drinking.

We are also offering C&B’s two house wines, both familiar to readers by now. They are excellent value, and a good way of activating the fabled Brett-Smith Indulgence, a reduction of £6 per case for deliveries of two or more cases within the M25, three or more outside. C&B’s nationwide deliveries — which are free — are now shipped in their own vans, so you won’t arrive home to a scrawled note from some lazy delivery man who can’t be bothered to knock on your door, and who expects you to drive miles to an airport shed to pick up your wine.