Whining about wine?

THE WINE CLUB

As some people are no doubt aware, Delhi allowed sale of imported alcoholic beverages in retail liquor shops in November 2004, and it's so good to see some decent brands at last also available in the capital "" never mind that, since retailing is monopolised by the state government, the average liquor shop is still a squalid, crowded, dirty and poorly lit hole-in-the-wall with surly attendants and badly displayed goods.

Hopefully, that too will change "" one hears that private retail shops are at last being "permitted" to open in selected locations.

Of course, since the chaps manning the shops have absolutely no idea about wine, or how to store it, I shudder to think what will happen a few months down the line when temperatures in Delhi rise to 40 degrees plus.

This is a common problem almost everywhere in India, where poor storage conditions result in oxidised or "cooked" wines (and we blame the producer).

In the meantime, do try the Tarapaca Cabernet Sauvignon or Tarapaca Chardonnay from Chile (Rs 710) or the well-known Australian wine Jacob's Creek (Rs 740). The wines are all well made, with lip-smacking fruit aromas and body, and can be served on almost any occasion you'd care for.

It is a fact that despite a huge increase in wine drinking in India (at last count volumes grew 27 per cent to 6,50,000 cases, including over 1,00,000 cases of imported wines) most people know very little about wine and how to drink it.

Most tend to equate price with quality (not true), the xenophile still thinks that imported is better than domestic (true for wines priced above

Rs 1,000/bottle), and if it's French it must be better (while the best French wines are superlative, 90 per cent of their wines are very ordinary).

Since most wines are dry, they taste sour to the novitiate "" and if you are being subjected to a low-quality table wine (served at 25 degrees or more!), it's no surprise that many think that wine is overrated.

Perhaps the answer is for new wine consumers to start with sweeter wines "" the Rhine Pride Riesling from Indage (Rs 450/bottle), the Carlo Rossi Muscat (Rs 640) or any of the Rose wines (Grover and Sula both make very drinkable stuff at Rs 350-450) come to mind.

Actually, I think most people are not only confused but even intimidated by the number of wine brands now available on retail shelves in the big cities: from a mere 30-odd labels just three years back, there are now over 150 new wines in Bombay and Bangalore (even Delhi has over 30 imported wines).

And this is just the beginning "" in a few years there may well be over 500 labels available here, and that would be fun.

So how does one choose? The shopkeepers are generally no help, wine columns like these can only talk about a few wines at a time, price is not always a reliable indicator, and there is no information about wines in India available on the web.

Quite evidently, wine aficionados in India need a guide along the lines of The Wine Spectator or Decanter. Which is why the imminent launch of The Sommelier out of Delhi is most welcome "" it will fill a big gap for wine consumers in India.

And, hopefully, also provide a forum where people who want to "whine about wine" can get it off their chests. Let's drink to that.