One of the main objectives of our club is to motivate various groups of people to get into wine drinking as a lifestyle drink, due to the health reasons- positive for wine and negative for hard liquor (bear comes in the first category). Therefore, when the Rotary Club of Delhi Chanakyapuri of which I have been a long-time member asked me to organize a wine tasting evening for its members for the second year in a row, I decided to combine it with a tasting event with the wine club members, who are presumably more serious collectively about wines.

Venue selection was no problem. The previous event at the Olive had been so successful that the club members were very keen to repeat the venue. I knew it would be easier to convince the Director of Olive Mr. AD Singh to give us a once-in-a lifetime offer. He has been in a bubbly mood recently since Olive in Delhi was selected as one of the 60 hottest spots in the world by a leading international Travel magazine a few days earlier. The terrace at the restaurant is so romantic with a beautiful view of the lighted Qutab Minar in the background that we decided to take over the place for this joint event with an expected attendance of about 80 persons.

We selected for wines from Valdivieso of Chile. A Sauvignon Blanc, A Rose`, Merlot and a Barrel Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chilean Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Jorge Heine agreed to attend the event for a while though the notice was very short. Wines were chosen to compliment the 10+ snacks dished out. Fondue was a great hit besides the snacks.

Unfortunately, the wine was not chilled enough, at lest for the most part and before it could be chilled enough it was consumed as a liquid thirst quencher, something one needs to avoid normally. Reason was simple. Due to the bureaucratic procedures the wine was not released till the last moment just when my heart palpitations had started shooting into the danger zone. Rose' is a refreshing wine for this heat but the Sauvignon Blanc was very refreshing with balanced acidity and floral aromas, just a bit off-dry. Merlot was soft and luscious whereas the Barrel Selection had the tannins tamed since we tasted it last year and at 18 degrees it was enjoyable even with the pizza provincale. As I have said before, these evenings may not do much to your serious tasting palate but can be great fun and when some people told me that a few more evenings like this and they may switch to wine, we knew the evening was a success.

WINETASTING NOTES and the GALLERY can be viewed at the website.

Subhash Arora
President