The winter blues can be cast aside by eating hot spicy food that reminds us of the beauty of warmth, writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER. 

CHILLI is exercise for the insides. Recently, I dined at Dosa Hut in Civic with a friend and we ate well, especially enjoying as our first choice the fish curry with the contrast of the crisp fish and the creamy sauce.

We were somewhat more tentative in our decision-making with the drinks because it is often difficult to get a wine that matches well with a curry. 

I’m a fan of red wine with ripe fruit flavours such as complex pinot noir or tannin-laden cabernet sauvignon, but these varietals tend to clash with the flavours in many Indian dishes. 

It seems that this problem is given more prominence when the drinks solution lies elsewhere: the coolness and refreshing taste of beer is the go-to drink with Indian curries. 

Dosa Hut has Kingfisher beer on tap and its malty lager taste cleans the palate as well as complementing the spiciness of the food. 

And even though I’m a wine writer, my recent sojourn in the UK has reinforced my liking for beer, not just for taste but on a value-for-money basis. And you don’t fuss with a beer: pouring, swirling it in your glass before you taste and pontificating before you swallow. It’s just beer. 

The wine choice by the glass at Dosa Hut features a NSW winery, Kosciuszko Wines. The winery is located in the Tumbarumba wine region. 

On a day out to Jugiong a few years ago now, I recall that Kosciusko Wines were on taste with a great number of other local wines at an excellent tasting room in the town. 

The cool-climate wines on display reflect the vineyards of Tumbarumba, that are sometimes snow-bound, located west of the Kosciuszko National Park at altitudes from 500 to 900 metres. 

At Dosa Hut, the matching with fish curry was the Kosciuszko chardonnay, 2021. It has a good crisp finish, somewhat fruity and has enough body to pair with the creamy, lighter curries. I prefer an off-dry riesling with Asian food, especially where chilli is involved because the residual sugar reduces the fire of chilli. 

The red wine offered by the glass was a Kosciuszko Tumbarumba Pinot Noir 2021. The pinot had enough vibrancy to fit well with the dahl that was soft and not too spicy, a good protein hit of lentils. 

Any red that is low tannin should match with dahl but my favourite with Indian food, especially where there is a tomato influence, is a grenache. The juiciness and lightly spicy flavours in this varietal match curries that are often acidic. I’d suggest a local Collector Night Watch Grenache 2019 that costs around $40. 

I believe that the essence of the matching process with Indian food is to ensure that the flavours in either the food or the wine don’t swamp the other element: it is a process of matching and melding, avoiding a clash. If that’s too much trouble, order beer.

Many Indians don’t trust wine as an appropriate drink with their cuisine and prefer a good belt of whisky to go with the food (although the lower the alcohol in a wine the lower the heat, so low-alcohol wines might match with a curry). 

I finished the meal with a scotch (my friend was driving) and that was a real treat, another drink that I’m a fan of. It turned up the internal heat even further. 

The inventor of the air conditioner has died. His funeral was attended by thousands of fans.