W I N E S

A Library Of Wines
A prominent aspect and integral part of the décor of a
restaurant, a wine library takes the experience of exclusivity to
another level altogether. Here, LIVING catalogues the plush
fine dining restaurants that showcase shelves of their exclusive
selection of wines.

W
ine lists aren’t exotic Guests can either choose their wines
anymore. Almost every from the list or walk up to the library to
restaurant with a bar menu make their selection and even read the
will have at least one Indian labels before ordering. In most cases,
red and white wine on its list. Higher the wines are placed within temperature
up the ladder, fine dining restaurants controlled units which ensure that they
across the country offer a reasonably are being stored in optimum conditions
representative international selection to prevent damage.
of wines. Five-star hotels have always Not all hotels have wine libraries,
had the best collection of wines with and in those that do, the library will
each of their restaurants, even the basic normally be found only in the plush
coffee shop, having a fairly generous fine dining restaurant. The selection is
choice of internationally recognisable usually exclusive to the restaurant with
labels. Speciality restaurants, which aim many of the wines not being available
at offering a unique dining experience, in the casual dining restaurants. The
will always have the best wine list, specially crafted menu maintains a
usually featuring a carefully chosen balance between offering a premium
portfolio of the most highly rated and international selection and a signature
expensive wines. The wines are chosen range that pairs well with the food.
based on how well they pair with the
food or in the case of cuisine-specific
restaurants a large selection of the
wines will be from the same country as
the food. While wine lists are
While wine lists are plebeian in their
ubiquity, wine libraries by their rarity
plebeian in their ubiquity,
take the experience of exclusivity to wine libraries by their
another level altogether. You won’t find rarity take the experience
them at any stand-alone fine dining
restaurant in the country and even of exclusivity to another
amongst five-stars only a very select level altogether. You
few will have restaurants showcasing a
won’t find them at any
wine library.
Unlike wine lists which are a stand-alone fine dining
catalogue of wines that may or may not restaurant in the country
be available in the hotel’s cellars, the
wine library is a prominent aspect of
and even amongst five-
the restaurant. Not only does it form stars only a very select
an integral part of the décor of the few will have restaurants
restaurant but, like a library of books,
the wines in a library are arranged on showcasing a wine library.
shelves in clear view of the guests.

106 Hi! LIVING JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010

 Golden Dragon, Taj Mahal
Palace & Tower
In all fairness, Zodiac Grill with
450 labels has the best wine list. But
the wine library which offers half the
number of wines has been introduced
into the recently renovated Golden
Dragon. At 300 wines, this popular
Chinese restaurant still has one of the
best collections in the city, especially
for an Oriental restaurant. Unlike most
other restaurants, the library at Golden
Dragon is unique. Instead of the usual
gleaming glass and metal, the wines are
arranged in pristine white wine racks
designed in a very modern honeycomb
style. Golden Dragon itself has a very
contemporary minimalist look, and the
latticed wall which encloses a private
dining area gives it a nice elegant touch.
The wines are mostly for display as the
serving wines are stored in wine coolers
under the sideboards along the side of
the restaurant.
Recommended Pairings:
• Dragon Chicken / Dragon Crab / Dragon
Vegetables with Chardonnay, Cloudy
Bay, New Zealand or Sauvignon Blanc,
Duckhorn Vineyards, Napa Valley.
• Water Chestnuts Garlic Pepper or Steamed
Dim Sums with Riesling, Hugel & Fils,
Alsace.
• Chicken Supreme in a Chilli Oyster Sauce
with a chilled Pinot Noir, Kendall-
Jackson Vintner’s Reserve, California.

n Unlike most other restaurants, the library

at Golden Dragon is unique. Instead of the
usual gleaming glass and metal, the wines
are arranged in pristine white wine racks
designed in a very modern honeycomb style

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China House, Grand Hyatt
While M, the recently shut down
fine dining restaurant, had one of the
most well-stocked libraries in the city,
China House, the Sichuan-influenced
Chinese speciality restaurant at the
Grand Hyatt is no pushover. One of
the few recipients of the Wine Spectator
Award of Excellence, which is awarded
to restaurants that offer a well-chosen
selection of quality producers in the
country, along with a thematic match
with the menu in both price and
style, the wine list here boasts of an
impressive collection of 180 wines.
Situated near the entrance of the
restaurant, opposite the open bar, the
walls of the wine library separate the
private dining room from the rest of
the restaurant. While the international
range is focused largely on Italian
wines with a touch of American, China
House is the first, and so far the only
restaurant to offer French-style Chinese
wines.
Recommended Pairings:
• Peking Duck with a Pinot Noir from
America or Burgundy.
• Soft Shell Crab with Chilli Sauce with a
French or Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.
• Beggar’s Chicken with an Italian Pinot
Grigio.

n One of the few recipients of the Wine

Spectator Award of Excellence, which is
awarded to restaurants that offer a well-
chosen selection of quality producers in the
country, along with a thematic match with
the menu in both price and style, the wine
list at China House boasts of an impressive
collection of 180 wines

108 Hi! LIVING JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010

Thai Pavilion, Taj President 022/Botticino, Trident, while only marginally inferior to the
A series of broad wine cabinets
Bandra-Kurla prestigious first growths are available at
close to half the price.
running along one arm of the One-storey high, the wine wall
Recommended Pairings
L-shaped restaurant at the side of the stretches from 022, the all-day dining
022:
open kitchen serve a dual purpose. world cuisine restaurant below,
• Rosemary Baked Chicken with
They offer the tables behind a sense to Botticino, the Italian speciality
Australian Mount Pleasant Hunter
of privacy from the guests entering restaurant above. Glass encased and
Valley Shiraz Viognier.
the restaurant, as well as separate temperature controlled like most other
• Grilled Malabar Prawns with
them from the central hub of activity wine libraries, the 1,500 wines placed
Californian Jordan, Russian River
whilst creating a sense of proximity. in the wall however uniquely sit on
Valley.
Stacked on the shelves is a 175-strong custom-made glass racks and not on
• Pepperoni pizza with Chilean Cabernet
assortment of wines starting from steel racks. Comprising 117 labels, 31
Sauvignon, Escudo Rojo, Baron
whites and ending with reds. Matching of which are Italian, spread over 23
Philippe de Rothschild.
wine with complex Thai flavours can be varietals, this is unquestionably the
a bit of a challenge and the collection most reasonably priced wine collection Botticino:
which offers many Old World labels in the city. A bottle of Moët & • Carpaccio or Prosciutto with melon with
does also lean towards New World Chandon champagne usually available spumante Prosecco Special Cuvée.
wines. Rieslings and Merlots have been between Rs 11,000 to 11,500 at any • Seafood grill of clams, prawns, scallops,
found to pair most successfully with other five-star hotel is available for just salmon, tuna, garoupa, lobster and crab in
Thai food, which is why most of the Rs 9,200 at the Trident. a Sicilian caper sauce with Garganega,
Merlots are available by the glass and One of the unique features of the Calvarino, Soave Classico Pieropan.
the restaurant has a good selection of library is the attached tasting room • Chargrilled tenderloin fillet with
fruity Rieslings. The new menu will where a few reds and whites are Ornellaia, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia,
have the widest range of Indian wines arranged on a table for guests to try Tuscany.
amongst five-star hotels. for free. If they like the wines, they can
Recommended Pairings: order it by the bottle or by the glass.
• Steamed fish with lemongrass and basil In order to offer a great selection of
with a young Merlot or Riesling. value-for-money wines, the collection
• Stir fried fish in soy sauce spiced with Thai includes a number of Bordeaux second n Stacked on the shelves of the Thai
chilli with a chilled German Riesling or growths. These are wines like Alter Ego Pavilion is a 175-strong assortment of wines
Shiraz. de Palmer from Chateau Palmer, which starting from whites and ending with reds

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Fratelli Fresh, Renaissance
Mumbai Hotel & Convention
Centre
It is difficult to miss the wines in this
restaurant. Almost all the walls of this
Italian restaurant, whose constantly
changing menu revolves around fresh,
seasonal ingredients, are made up of
wine racks. Around 2,500 bottles fill up
the walls on either side of the entrance,
with most of the columns separating
the various seating areas of the private
dining room. Of the 103 different
wines stocked here, nearly 83 are from
Italy. Very tightly focused, the library
includes not just big names like Gaja
and Antinori, but also many boutique
Italian wineries. Interestingly with
wines made by winemakers of Italian
origin but settled in other wine regions
of the world, this portfolio is probably
one of the most genuine repertoires of
Italian wines in the city.
Fratelli Fresh is the only restaurant
in the city to offer different vintages of
two Italian wines that are very highly
rated by the Wine Spectator. It has six
vintages of the Super Tuscan Il Blu
from the boutique winery Brancaia
and four vintages of Amarone from
the well-respected winemaker Bertani.
It was also the first restaurant to serve
wines from the Tuscan Ferragamo
range.
Recommended Pairings:
• Carpaccio di manzo (Cured beef
tenderloin with Parmigiano Reggiano
and rocket) with Umani Ronchi
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
• Linguine all’aragosta (Home-made
angel hair pasta, lobster, chillies and
tomato sauce) with Tenuta di Salviano
Orvieto Classico Superiore DOC.
• Branzino al Cartoccio (Oven-baked sea n Around 2,500 bottles fill up the walls on
bass with tomato, eggplant and olives) either side of the entrance of Fratelli Fresh,
with Masi Levarie Soave Classico DOC. with most of the columns separating the
various seating areas of the private dining
room. Of the 103 different wines stocked
here, nearly 83 are from Italy

110 Hi! LIVING JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010

Stella, The Leela Kempinski
Gleaming rows of wine bottles in
glass encased steel racks line either side
of the passage leading into the fine
dining Italian restaurant. The restaurant
which opened in 2006 was amongst the
first in the city to have a wine library.
Of the 300 labels that are available to
choose from, around 160, over half, are
Italian. Stella is the only restaurant in
the hotel where all the wines are stored
in the restaurant itself. Though they
have an amazing collection of Tuscan
and New World wines, you won’t find a
single great wine missing from their list.
Recommended Pairings:
• Terrina Di Fegato Grasso Con Port Wine
Cipolla Marmalade (Goose-liver terrine
with port wine onion marmalade and
Belgian endive) with Batar, Querciabella
2005, Tuscany.
• Ravioli Di Branzino Con Ragout Di
Capesante, Broccoli E Zenzero (Sea bass
ravioli with roasted scallops, broccoli
and ginger ragout) with Chardonnay,
Pouilly Fuisse, Louis Latour 2007,
Burgundy.
• Porchetta, Spinaci All’aglio, Lenticchie
E Vincotto (Slow roasted pork, garlic
spinach, crunchy lentils and spiced
cooked wine) with Barolo, Elio Altare
2001, Piedmont. ¨

Copy: Antoine Lewis

Photographs: Dharmendra Kanani
Photo Courtesy: Grand Hyatt, Taj Mahal Palace
& Tower

n Gleaming rows of wine bottles in glass

encased steel racks line either side of the
passage leading into Stella, the fine dining
Italian restaurant. Of the 300 labels, around
160, over half, are Italian

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