H.E. Mr. Jorge Heine and his wife Norma hosted a unique wine festival for the F & B personnel, wine journalists and members of the Delhi Wine Club last Saturday at their residence. Top Chilean wines greeted wine connoisseurs. An excellent rendering of Indian classical music by the flute and tabla duo was a welcome component added to wine enjoyment this evening at the sit-down event organised on their lawn. The other Indian element at this unique event was the snacks. One of the objectives of the evening was also to try matching of various veg . and non- veg . snacks with 6 wines served.

The event was the grand finale of the first ever attempt made to rate the top Chilean wines imported into India and was the initiative of Indian Wine Academy and the Embassy of Chile. Hyatt Regency Delhi had supported the event.

A panel of wine aficionados and experts from the hospitality industry got together at the Tasting Room of the Hyatt Regency Delhi on Saturday, February 4, to rate the eight top Chilean wines available in India and offered for the competition. The panel's agenda, first and foremost, was to promote the idea that Chile produces quality wines for the discerning segments of the market, apart from acclaimed value-for-money wines.

More importantly, the panel got together for a blind tasting with the express purpose of rating and preparing independent tasting notes for the wines after taking into account the demands of the Indian palate. The implicit objective was to give the on-premise business an alternative to wine -maker's notes and international magazine ratings on which it bases its purchase decisions.

The competitive ranking of the wines that was to be announced at this evening event had been cancelled out of respect for the feelings of local importers, who said the business was still too young to handle the consequences of adverse ratings. Besides, the range of selling prices ($15-$80 for the eight wines that made the list of top contenders) was felt to be too wide to rate on the same platform.

Wines selling for more than $15 in the USA/UK were accepted for tasting as the Top Chile wines. Only red wines had been tasted as Chile is known more for its reds-especially Cabernet Sauvignon.  

The Tasting Panel

H.E. Jorge Heine, Ambassador of Chile in India

Roger Lienhard , General Manager, Hyatt Regency Delhi

Bill Marchetti, Corporate Executive Chef (European Cuisine), ITC Hotels

Thomas Abraham, EAM (F&B), Taj Palace , New Delhi

Fritz Hasselbach, Weingut Gunderloch, the only wine -maker in the world to get 100 points from Wine Spectator three times

Arun Sharma, Member, Executive Committee, Delhi Wine Club

Subhash Arora, President, Indian Wine Academy

Sourish Bhattacharyya , Executive Director, Indian wine Academy

Participating Importers

All importers were invited to enter their premium Chilean wines that met the selection criteria. Those who entered their wines were Brindco, Sonarys , Global, Sovereign Impex, Moet Hennessy India , Ace Beverages and Rhine & Raavi . All but one importer had entered the event.

Featured Wines

1. ERRAZURIZ MAX RESERVA 2003 CABERNET SAUVIGNON

2. ESCUDO ROJO BARON PHILIPPE DE ROTHSCHILD 2002 MAIPO VALLEY

3. CABALLO LOCO NO. 7 VALDIVIESO

4. DON MELCHOR 2001 CABERNET SAUVIGNON PUENTO ALTO

5. MONTES ALPHA M CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2000 SANTA CRUZ

APALTA SINGLE ESTATE (M was not served)

6. TABALI RESERVA CARMENERE 2003 D.O. LINARI VALLEY

 7. TARAPACA GRAN RESERVA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2001

MAIPO VALLEY (not served)

8. CREMASCHI FURLOTTI Venere MAULE ALLEY