Cecilia Oldne who works with Sula Wines has always been very gracious and willing to share her knowledge with the uninitiated like myself, so I was thrilled when she agreed to write a guest blog on our wonderful wine gala experience courtesy the Wine Society of India 🙂 xoxo
The Wine Society of India’s Gala dinner has been a must-visit event for me over the last few years. The event is a showcase of the finest new wines available for retail in the Indian wine market, as selected by Steven Spurrier and the WSI’s Board of Wine Advisors.
This year featured a line-up of 65 wines, out of which 7 wines were from my portfolio! Strongly supporting and also sharing the WSI’s spirit and vision of working towards increasing wine knowledge in India, we also sponsored the organiser with our imported Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Brut NV which was served as a welcome drink. Sparkling wine is an ideal start off of a festive and tasty evening! It awakens your taste buds and puts you into a cheerful mood (sparkling wine hits the bloodstream faster.)
While sipping on my glass of Piper I had an interesting chat with the WSI’s Chairman, the ever charming, British gentleman Steven Spurrier. Spurrier created the famous 1976 Paris wine tasting, the “Judgment of Paris” and is a legend in the wine industry. A major Hollywood film that I strongly recommend watching – Bottle Shock – was based on this tasting. Steven is a big fan of Piper-Heidsieck. This Champagne is always associated with extravaganza, elegance and glamour and is also a sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival. From Hollywood to Bollywood, as Steven says!
The welcome drink was followed by a tasting of 65 wines, from all over the world, in all categories. The sequence was sparkling, whites, roses, reds, ending with dessert wines. While moving to the whites, excited about how well our beautiful Sula Riesling 2011 showed against Frits Zimmer’s Riesling 2009 from Germany, I caught the co-host Reva K Singh, Editor and Publisher of my favorite Indian wine magazine – Sommelier India Wine Magazine for a chat. Reva was excited about the turnout and the increased interest in the event and was looking absolutely stunning in her green sari. Among the two hundred people in attendance were the who’s who in the Indian wine industry as well as new faces eager to learn more about the world of wines. I couldn’t help but agree it was all very encouraging.
Two other exciting wines at the white wine table were the Trapiche Pinot Grigio 2010 from Argentina and the Neethlingshof Gewurztraminer 2010 from South Africa. These grapes are usually associated with Italy and Germany respectively, but recently the most impressive of these varietals have come from New World countries (Germany and Italy falls under the category of Old World wine producers – Argentina and South Africa fall under New World wine producers). Another Indian winery that has achieved success with this is Reveilo, growing the Italian Nero d’Avola in India, which was also selected for the evening.
The highlight for me, however, was the selection of Pinot Noirs. Pinot Noir is the most difficult of all varieties to grow and is known to be the sexiest grapes of all. Some even compare it to a woman: high maintenance, demanding a lot of attention, sensitive and seductive! I believe Pinot Noir is the red wine that goes best with spicy Indian food so this is indeed a wine for this market! Common aromas in a Pinot are strawberries, violets and vanilla. It is velvety smooth on the palate with silky tannins. Rajeev Samant, CEO of Sula Vineyards/Sula Selections had a re-fill of our newly launched Bicycle Pinot Noir 2010 from Cono Sur, Chile. What makes Cono Sur an outstanding winery is that not only do they produce amazing value wines as one of the world’s largest producer of Pinot Noir, but they also do so with a strong commitment to sustainability. They recently won the Green Company of The Year Award in the Drinks Business 2011. Cono Sur and Sula share the same passion for reducing their impact on the environment – Hats off to us!
Another Pinot Noir that stood out was the Bouchard Aîné et Fils Pinot Noir 2008, imported in India by the Wine Society of India. A new interesting acquaintance – Antoine Leccia, CEO of AdVini, the 3rd largest wine company in France, shared my appreciation.
I managed to get through all 65 wines, and exchanged opinions and ideas with other wine lovers including Simon Mcmurtree CEO of Direct Wines (which has recently invested in the WSI), India’s first sommelier Magandeep Singh, fellow industry colleagues Sanjoy Menon of Sonarys and Yatin Patil of Reveilo. I also had the opportunity to reveal some secrets on sparkling wines to the bubbly and as sparkling MissMalini and her guests. And, before pushing off to another event, I re-freshened my taste buds with… yet another glass of Piper!
Cheers, Cecilia
Other Sula wines selected and served at the event:
(*NV means non-vintage)
Hardys Chardonnay Pinot Noir NV* (Same grapes as in Champagne, same wine making technique, and best of all, 1/4th of the price!)
Sula Brut Rose NV – Possibly the best sparkling rose in India!
Dindori Shiraz 2010 – The King of Indian red wines!