There's a lot of wine buzz these days. People are talking, singing and writing about wines. Hardly a day passes when there is no news from the world of wine. In this din and clutter, the 100 th event of the Delhi Wine Club last month went un-noticed. It did not dawn on many that organising 20 wine events a year without making a song and dance about it –or a fashion show, is a feat no one in India has been able to match.

So what was the scene then, five years ago and how has this culture evolved? Well for one, the people then still lusted for hard liquor when the wine was tasted, sipped and gulped.

The club faced a closure in the very first dinner we organised where people started ordering according to their preference and not in the order intended and plonked the wine bottles on the table and started drinking to get the 'kick'. Wine finished well before the dessert arrived. A few forced exits from the club within a few days of the event brought the club on tracks. A sscreening committee was nstalled to screen the potential members.

Room temperature service then meant just that; 'serve red wine at the room temperature was the credo.' That has changed now. But light reds which ought to be served cold or cool, continue to be served warm.

It used to be my favourite pastime to take some friend at a party to the bar and ask for a glass of wine-which always was a small non stem small and inappropriate glass, a practice undergoing change at banquets.

'Which wine are you serving?' I would ask. Pat came the reply, 'red and white, sir'. But from where? 'Oh, we have the best- French (generally B &G or Borie Mannoux table wines). Special cuvee was considered a premium wine. It still is, if you take a peek in the Flamingo Duty Free shop at the Delhi airport, where it is prominently displayed. Blanc de Blanc (white wine from white grapes) was touted as a premium wine. That has changed; Jacobs Creek and Tarapaca have taken over. They barely qualify as quaffable but are touted as premium wines due to brand popularity.

Do people know the difference between varietals; say a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc? Hell, I hope so, but won't so testify.

We have leapfrogged in computers, internet and mobile technology but change in attitudes or wine knowledge is still slow. 'One doesn't need to learn about wine. Taste in the glass is what is important,' is the refrain. Most people still do not appreciate finer nuances of wine.

Being in the IT industry, I firmly believed in spread of wine culture through internet. This website went online before the first club event was organised. As the first wine webzine in India, we disseminated whatever information we could, always publishing  the club events in detail.

The wine world caught on to what is happening in India through this website. Invariably, a Google search would find you this site glaring at you, thanks to hundreds of foreign wine produces and lovers visiting us.

We have astutely stayed away from 'preaching' about wines at our events. We don't make bones about cassis, blackcurrant and leather of the saddle in the glass. Smell of petrol, cat's pea and wet blanket may be positive for western noses, sommeliers or snobs. But one thing we have been able to achieve is improvements of the palate, and making wine drinking a more regular and popular lifestyle drink.

Our members often complain that we have been instrumental in their household expenses going North due to their drinking better wines. Mercifully, their incomes have outpaced the increased expenditure or more members would have fallen off the membership tree.

Availability of wine has improved fairly though not at the pace of 30-35% sales growth one has seen during these five years. Better wines are available at the retail shops though storage control or even air-conditioning is considered an unnecessary overhead by most retail shops. Hotels have a faster learning curve and the problem of bad wines due to improper storage has been eliminated to quite an extent with hotels like Oberoi, Hyatt and Diva etc. even proudly and profesionally displaying their wares.

The bottom lines of hotels have seen a faster growth due to zero duties, with their eyes more on the shareholders than the hapless customers.

The electronic media has been supportive of the club though more often than not they cancel out their outing at the last minute due to lack of fashion designers, models and similar species in our wine events. We pay for our food and wines, and expect members and guests to do so, though we subsidise to some extent and cannot  afford these non-paying guests.