Days of wine and roses

Wine drinking is no longer a pastime of only the rich and snooty in the country. It is fast becoming a rage in the social drinking scenario, as TWF correspondent Ranjita Biswas found at a wine festival held recently against the scenic backdrop of the Sahyadri range.

It is not a sacrilege any more to raise a tulip glass of 'India-made' sparkling wine and toast a 'Santé', cocking a snook at those who swear only by Bordeaux. The wine-drinking culture, stoked by plenty of choices from local vineyards, is bubbling in a country where whiskey has held sway long after the colonists left for England. And how! At the Wine Festival held recently by Chateau Indage at Amby Valley, Sahara's show-piece hill town, wine lovers of every hue, as well as the cognoscenti and the beautiful from Mumbai and Pune, mingled together in the heady atmosphere of wine tasting, from Riesling to Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon and cocktails like Sangrias with a robust disregard to the hot sun of March beating down on the winter-dry Sahyadri range. Frankly, visitors would have preferred a gentler sun, and be encouraged to shake a leg on the dance floor on Fisherman's Wharf, designed like the famous San Francisco Bay area. But if Frisco's wharf speciality, sour-dough and chowder was missing from the menu, there was plenty to go around, though the salads wilted a bit under the fierce sun. But the excellent wines, locally produced or bottled from imported classics at Indage's production hub Nayangaon erased the initial discomfort.

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According to the industry buzz, the wine market in India is growing at around 30 per cent a year. Upmarket bars and eateries which stocked a limited number of brands in the past have multiplied their orders for newer brands. Indigo, Mumbai's fine dining restaurant which became the first Indian restaurant to win the coveted French wine guide Wine Spectator award last year, stocks at least 220 varieties of wine. At parties these days, it's de rigueur to serve wines alongwith hard liquor. The knowledgeable hostess makes it a point to chill a Chardonnay in the fridge or serve Shiraz at a cool room temperature for the right taste to come out. What's more, there is a genuine desire to know more about wine drinking and how to serve wine, in which type of glassware, etc. as illustrated by queries to websites exclusively designed for the purpose, and they are all home-based too. Experts observing this trend opine that the appeal of wine, as against the traditional gin and tonic, whiskey, Vodka or Rum, is a result of a combination of factors. For one, the urban young professionals, who are increasingly into the fitness regime, are well aware of the findings of international health experts who vouch for the salubrious effect of a glass of wine (not in excess) on youthful looks and a sound heart. Its alcohol content is less and even women who avoid any kind of hard liquor don't mind a glass of wine. Besides, with more disposable income, people are travelling more and getting exposed to international cuisine and trends and their outlook is changing. Also, due to more availability of products in the market today, consumers have a choice too.

But then those in the know will also point out that wine is not something introduced by the West to the country. There is enough reference to 'Soma' in the scriptures of the Vedic age. European travellers to the court of Mughal emperors praised the wines of Hyderabad, Surath and from royal vineyards of Kashmir and Baramati in Maharashtra. But late in the 19th century, like other places in the world, the vineyards were destroyed by a pest. In recent years, entrepreneurs like Sham Chougule, chairman of Indage group, the Grover vineyards and the Sula vineyards, who are the foremost wine producers in the country, have tried to revive the old tradition. The Pune-Nasik belt is particularly conducive to growing grapes and the Indage group brought rootstocks of Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir from France for the vineyards at a height of about 850 meters above sea level. The Maharashtra government too has given incentives and there is even talk of developing wine-tourism. These are very popular in wine regions like Bordeaux in France, Napa Valley in California and Yarra Valley in Australia.
And why not, when India is even exporting wine these days? Said Sudip Purkayashtha, commercial manager-exports, Champagne Chateau Ltd, "We are getting more and more enquiries from abroad for brands like Tantra and Soma (names only used for markets abroad while over here they carry the French names)." For example, at Amby Valley was Oliver Dixon, trade manager, wine, of Maritime & Mercantile International, Dubai - a first-time visitor. "We don't have any Indian wine available in Dubai and now we are here to explore the possibilities." Ashwini Mehta, president, Western Liquors Inc, California, said emphatically, "We are going to put Indian wine in the cellar for sure." This coming from someone with business near the famed Napa Valley is a stamp of approval indeed.
Purkayashtha added that if the government considered reducing tax, " it's as much as on hard liquor" both consumption and exports will increase more.
He, however, endorsed Dixon's view that to stand on its own Indian wine will have to prove its quality in a sustained manner. It's not enough to sit on the exotic value and be slack after the initial break-through because the international customer of today, whether at home or abroad, is much more discerning and knowledgeable. As restaurant owner Ritu Dalmia says, Indians today don't just ask for red or white wine, they ask for brands.

So far, the mood and performance on the wine-front have been upbeat indeed.
Santé !