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Indian food is fast taking on the nature of an evolving language, like English, or Spanish.

As more and more Indians spread their wings and build nests on foreign shores, Indian cuisine closely follows them there.

Gradually, they and the local populace set the trends and taste for the cuisine, altering some things entirely, keeping others authentic as ever and overall moving the taste profile forward.

I started my hunt into trying Indian foods in other countries and learning more about them, in an effort to understand how they marry with wine and how I could bring the same to India.

While I have tried many Indian restaurants in France, I have to admit most of them tweak the cuisine a bit too much to be considered anything remotely representative.

The French palate is as stubborn as their national symbol (the rooster) and spice is something few are able to conquer, let alone enjoy.

The English, on the other hand, can down spice better than your average Indian!

They have taken to it like fish to water.

In fact, ordering an Indian dish in England has a spice-chilli chart-like efficiency — curry means the least spicy, korma is spicier, vindaloo spicier still and the final, fal which, I assure you, could burn down a house!

With vindaloo and fal, most people preferred lager. I can see why.

The dishes I tried weren’t meant for pairing exercises, they were solely meant for macho displays at the pub — to see who could down the strongest flavours without bringing them up a moment later!

But outside of this pub grub, England has some great Indian food. The Curry and Balti Miles in Manchester and Birmingham respectively do a good job of the food with much Punjabi pomp!

Restaurants like Chor Bizarre and Sitaarey do Indian food with utmost respect to the flavours. La Porte des Indes won me over completely with their take on Franco-Indian food. Such a cuisine is unknown even to Indians.

So what is so wine-friendly about these versions and what wines do I conclude work with such foods?

Well, the difference lies mainly in the attitude. Indian food is perceived by these people (the chefs, the managers) as wine pair-able.

Then, the food was just worked upon to retain flavours yet not over-douse the dish with unrestrained spices!

Also, the food is served in courses so that gives more leeway to pair each dish with wine.

Pinot Noir remains a popular choice for the main courses — meats as well as the veggie sides. In the whites, the people have stopped serving sweet Gewurz or Riesling wines but they may still rely on such aromatic grapes.

I had a lovely Gewurz-Pinot Blanc blend which went really well with my Malabari Crab. Viognier is another popular white, especially the ones from Australia or Chile.

The Chicken Tikka Masala is much like a boneless butter chicken and can team with any light fruity red like Loire valley.

But most people preferred Korma, which is more flavoursome and for that, I was shown the light with some excellent Italian reds (Chianti, Dolcetto d’Alba).

The kebab platters were rich and authentic and a good Amarone, or a Californian Meritage really complemented them.

The writer is asommelier.