Pulished: 29 November 2009, 13:40am IST
Mumbai: When a person sees a glass of wine, s/he sees a red or white, and may wonder about the vintage and country it comes from. But when Subhash Arora looks at the glass, he sees the history, geography and culture of a place. "There is so much to wine," says the Delhi resident who runs Indian Wine Academy, a company specialising in food and wine events. "The region it comes from, the soil and climate of the vineyard, the grape it's made with, the people and food they eat with the wine, and more," says Arora. "When you know all this, you can enjoy the wine better." Most people, when they grab a bottle, don't care to. That's why in 2002, Arora founded the Delhi Wine Club: To 'educate' wine drinkers and swell their ranks. Last week, the club inaugurated its Mumbai chapter, Terroir One.
The first meeting at JW Marriott, which will host some subsequent events, had potential members being wooed with some Australian and German wines, and a lavish spread to accompany them. The Rockbare Barossa Babe Shiraz, for instance, was meant to be sipped with kebabs, tikkas and tandoori items, while the German Riesling Spatlese Hattenheimer Hassel was best had with Thai food and sushi. The Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz and the Parker Estate First Growth go better with keema and halim, and ravioli respectively, while mozzarella brought out the flavour of the Yerring Station Yarrabank Cuvee. As people tucked in, sommeliers were at hand to provide more information about the wines. The evening, organisers say, was a success: About 80 people, paying Rs4,000 each, signed on to become members (the Delhi club has about 160).
What happens next is more interesting. The club plans to, over eight or nine events a year, popularise wine drinking. "There is so much snobbery associated with wine that people get intimidated," says Bindu Malhotra, president of the Mumbai chapter. "We want to break that." Among some unlikely tasting events planned for members is a wine-and-health do at the Marriott spa, a wine-and-music festival and a wine-and-art event. The idea, says Malhotra, is to project wine as an 'anytime drink' that can be teamed with a host of things and occasions. "We would even encourage members to serve wine, instead of hard liquor, at weddings," says Malhotra.
Terroir One will follow its parent body in having sit-down dinners for members, with new wines being served each time. But the accent -- keeping in mind the snobbery-smashing -- is on the informal; members can show up in jeans but preferably not in suits. "It's a great opportunity for networking," says recent member Faiek El Saadani. "I will meet like-minded people who can, in time, become friends." Think golf with fancy eats. The club, however, bars importers and other tradespeople, to prevent them from using this forum to plug their products or snag business deals. Mumbaikars like Suraj Samat, who works in real estate, are certainly excited about the club. The teetotaler picked wine over other alcohol because he was required to drink at social dos. But after a vacation to the Australian wine country Hunter Valley, Samat wanted to know more about his favourite tipple. Except he could never find a connoisseur to talk to. "Also, we never get to know what new wines are available in the market," says Samat, hoping the wine club will address these things.
On the side, members can also hope to pick up tips about how to serve and preserve wine. For instance, the idea that white wine should be chilled and red served at room temperature is wrong. All wines should be served slightly cold -- reds at between 18 and 14°C, and whites at a cooler 14-6°C. Wine bottles should never be stored horizontally, but kept at a 30-40 degree angle so that the liquid insides touches the cork and keeps it moist, preventing air from seeping in. And 'vintage' refers, not to the number of years the wine has been stored, but to the year the grape was harvested. "Wines are like human beings. Not all of them age well," says Arora. "Some people buy bottles and bottles and keep them in storage for years, hoping this will improve the quality. It doesn't happen that way. Some wines, especially some whites, are meant to be drunk young." With so much to learn and do, members are now looking forward to the next event. A class in a glass, anyone?
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