Mr. Michel Gonet, the owner of one of the biggest Houses of Champagne in Avize, a village in Cote de Blanc (one of the five Appellations of Champagne, popular for its whites) had specially come to Delhi with his wife, and the General Manager of the company, Mr. Virgile Bechellaoui to attend the event. The Prestige Cuvee, 1998 Blanc de Blanc translates as a champagne made from white grapes (by default, Chardonnay as this is the only white grape allowed in Champagne) of 1998 Vintage ( as compared to an NV-non vintage bubbly) made from a single vineyard with the best quality grapes. Such Champagnes are released usually 8 years after the harvest, but Gonet releases them after 6 years – they had released it recently. With millions of tiny bubbles oozing out of the bottle and the glass, it can be enjoyed with a proper combination of, glasses, food, company and ambience, with a ‘slow-food’ type of environment that will make you say sing, ‘Wah Gonet’ rather than a big gulp and say, ‘Aah, gone, eh!.’ Also, I felt it is still young and will gain complexity and finesse for 3-5 years though not the levels of their 1996 Vintage.

The Rose` champagne had mixed reaction from people as indeed the divide on people’s acceptance or rejection still remains at the same passionate level. This is in contrast to the UK drinkers who seem to enjoy more and more of it for the last 4 years, catapulting its sales

H. E. Mr. Dominique Girard was as warm and hospitable as ever, justifying his being branded as the Ambassador Extraordinaire. I hope we shall be able to take up his offer of ‘as many wine events as we want’, sooner than later. Mr. Jean- Lewis Latour. The Commercial Counselor, who is from Epernay, the wine capital of Champagne, spoke about the wine and his region with passion. Earlier, I had to keep myself restrained as I did not want to ‘light a candle in front of the electric bulb’. The other speakers, Mr. Sinha from the ministry and Mr. Gupta from Apeda were very supportive of the Indian wine industry and VinExpo and were very sincere about inviting anyone who wished to discuss any governmental wine issues. The pleasant surprise was the invitation from Mr. Gonet and Mr. Bechellaoui to all those traveling to VinExpo to come and visit their vineyards in Bordeaux.

For those who were critical about the single point service should take cognizance of the fact that against expected 80 -100 numbers expected, 180 showed up. This is simply a case of overselling without any recourse and the success having its price!

Subhash Arora

President, Delhi Wine Club

President, Indian Wine Academy