Fine wines and the spice of life

Siam Winery celebrates its two latest awards with a wine dinner at Nahm

Thereâ??s no better couple in Thailand â?" at least as far as cuisine in concerned - like spicy Thai dishes washed down with our very own wines. The dining experience becomes a little more special if the wines have won an award or two. And thatâ??s exactly the kind of exuberance experienced at a recent wine dinner held at Nahm, the newly opened Thai restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel.

It was a major Thai wine dinner in the capital held to mark yet another victory for Siam Winery at an international wine event. This time round, its Monsoon Valleyâ??s Cuvee de Siam Rouge won a gold and the Cuvee de Siam Blanc bagged the commendation award at Viennaâ??s AWC International Wine Challenge 2010.

The AWC International Wine Challenge 2010 is a highly regarded international level wine challenge with an international panel of experts including oenologists, wine experts, sommeliers, gastronomes, traders and journalists. All wines entered into the competition are subjected to blind tasting where they are rated according to the international 100 points system.

The latest win at this prestigious event has not only brought joy to the fledgling local wine industry, but also raised the industryâ??s international profile.

So the head honchos of the Siam Winery â?" led by marketing and sales director Daniel Schwalb and business development director Kim Wachveitl â?" were keen on celebrating the victory of their Thai wines at Nahm by familiarising members of the media with the winning products and their compatibility with our own food.

Courtesy of Michelin-star chef David Thompson, the four-course Thai dinner set out to reflect a gradual move up the scale of spiciness, from mild to intense. The first three courses were accompanied by Monsoon Valleyâ??s Cuvee de Siam Banc 2009 and Monsoon Valleyâ??s Cuvee de Siam Rouge 2008.

The dinner started with Thai-style tapas including pomelo and grilled prawns with toasted coconut peanuts, palm sugar sauce and betel leaves; crispy noodles with prawns; southern grilled mussels and smoky Chiang Mai chilli relish with pork scratchings and quail eggs.

Next up was the yum, or salad. This was a healthy course indeed using plenty of fresh green leaves and herbs. On the table was a lemongrass salad of prawns, crispy squid and pork with toasted coconut; grilled chicken with Bangkok plum leaves and chilli jam; and minced prawns and cucumber salad with green mango.

As the first two courses were not that spicy, the dishes went well with both the red and white.

But as the spiciness built up in the third course â?" the gaeng, or curries, many readily grabbed the white. The course opened with Royal Project guinea fowl curry with shampoo ginger and holy basil, followed by coconut and turmeric curry of blue swimmer crab with calamansi limes; grilled beef curry and spicy stir-fried frog with chillies, turmeric, holy basil and cumin leaves.

Nahmâ??s spiciest dish, gaeng tai plaa, was not served, not were Thompsonâ??s other notable highly spicy creations, as they were probably considered too hot to handle for many wine drinkers present.

The last course consisted of sticky rice with durian, bua loi and assorted fresh fruit. Despite its richness, Nahm is still the best place to try sticky rice with durian. Itâ??s delicious, thick and sticky without being too sweet, and went down well with Monsoon Valleyâ??s Chenin Blanc (late harvest) 2010.

Wachveitl said the two Cuvee de Siam wines are made from Siam Wineryâ??s best and oldest vines grown at Hua Hin Hills Vineyard. The fully ripened grapes were selected and harvested by the viticulturist team before being transported to Siam Wineryâ??s winery in Samut Sakhon. There, under the close supervision of the professional winemaking team, the wine was matured in the wineryâ??s premium barrels before making its first debut to the public in 2010.

Thereâ??s something special on the labels too. Siam Winery called in Thawan Duchanee, the national artist in visual arts, to design the label featuring the image of a tiger. The label of Cuvee de Siam rouge portrays Thawanâ??s signature colours of scarlet and black, creating a powerful image while Cuvee de Siam Blanc is designed with gold and black, representing the smooth characteristic of this white wine.