The Indian wine day

The very first Indian Wine Day was celebrated on 16 November 2017 with simultaneous dinners at six Lalit Hotel properties (Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and London) where Indian cuisine from their Baluchi restaurants was paired with select Indian wines.

This novel concept was the brainchild of Subhash Arora, who is surely the foremost ambassador of wine in India: he heads the Indian Wine Academy and the Delhi Wine Club, and was awarded the “Order of Star of Italian Solidarity” by the Italian Government for his role in promoting Italian wines in India (Arora gets the official title Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella della solidarietà italiana, hence the prefix “Cav” to his name).

Subhash roped in Keshav Suri, scion of the Lalit hotel group, Ravindra Kumar, Corporate F&B Manager, and Charles Donnadieu, Corporate Sommelier (a Frenchman) to help implement the vision of crafting a pan-Lalit Hotel event promoting Indian wines with Indian food. 

Indian wine companies invited to join this jamboree included Sula, Fratelli, Grover Zampa and Krsma; at some venues wines from Chandon, Charosa and York were also available.

There are nearly 50 wineries still operating in India — however, most of them are small units producing wines of different (and indifferent) quality, selling their wares mostly within the state where the winery is located.

This is partly because in India alcoholic beverages are a “state” subject, so every one of our 29 states and seven Union Territories have their own rules and regulations (and duties and taxes) on the stuff — which makes it both difficult and expensive for small wineries to sell their wares in other markets.

The Fratelli Sette 2012 quaffed at the Indian Wine Day in Bengaluru was a revelation. A 70 per cent Sangiovese and 30 per cent Cabernet blend that had 14 months in French oak barrels

In Bengaluru the event was marked by a day-long festival of (free) tasting wine and grape stomping, capped by a brilliant sit-down pre-plated five-course dinner for 50 people (including members of the Bangalore Wine Club) with some of the top Indian wines: sparkling wines from Sula and Grover Zampa, a white wine from Grover (the La Reserve Blanc), topped by the best Indian reds (the Fratelli Sette 2012 and Krsma Cabernet Sauvignon 2015).

There is no doubt that Indian wines are “coming of age”. Quality is going up all the time, and it is only a matter of time when the perceptual bias against the domestic is overcome. There was a time when no Indian wine was priced above Rs 1,000, and no imported wine below that. We’ve come a long way since then — Fratelli’s Sette is priced Rs 1,700 in Bengaluru, while entry-level imported wines proliferate at the Rs 1,200-per-bottle level.

So, congratulations to all who helped organise and participated in this pioneering event. I look forward to annual repeats that rope in many more hotels and people.

Wines I’ve been drinking: the Fratelli Sette 2012 quaffed at the Indian Wine Day in Bengaluru was a revelation. A 70 per cent Sangiovese and 30 per cent Cabernet blend that had 14 months in French oak barrels, this wine was at its peak: a complex aroma of berries, cherries, spice and oak was complemented with a smooth full-bodied taste and a long finish. Well worth the price of Rs 1,700.

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant