When Robert Joseph announced last year after his visit to IFE-India that India was ready for the International Wine Challenge, he was forewarned that there would be many doubting Patels (Patils, Peters, Parthos and even Paahjis) who would find the idea premature.

'There is no need to have the competition, timing is not right, where are the qualified judges, how does one ensure that the competition is not rigged? What if the samples submitted by the producers are not imported from Bordeaux or Barossa?' would be but a few of the questions raised.

Well, Robert has not been disappointed. Most of the predicted predicaments came true. After shouting hoarse that the competition was too pre-mature etc. the first salvo was fired by a few self-appointed vanguards and experts that the competition must have been rigged. After all, how could a popular wine A not get the award? Or the other way around?

In a country where every election is claimed to be rigged by the losers, where every cricket match where the Indian team loses or wins beyond expectation is considered rigged, where a nuclear treaty being sought in good faith by two sovereign governments is considered a sell-out, this reaction should hardly have been a surprise for Robert.

Shaken but not stirred ( he is back in February to plan for the second edition) Robert has conducted about 50 of such competitions after initiating the London International Wine Challenge in 1984, which has gone from 50 samples to over 9000 now and is the biggest in the world. 'A sample of 350 wines in the very first year is not bad though I am disappointed by not enough Indian wineries taking part in the programme.'

'I don't know why People in India are so suspicious and negative. These challenges are not the be-all and end-all of judging the wine quality. They simply tell you what the independent panel of judges with good palate and working knowledge of wines feel about wines tasted blind in a transparent and neutral atmosphere.'

Tasting Blind

This should be the most important criteria and as all the judges would vouch for it, IWC was blind with a capital B. Judges had no clue about what they were drinking-whether it was a one Euro plonk (it tasted like there were a few, that got thrown out in nanoseconds) or a Chateau wine from Bordeaux (there appeared to be none). No one knew details of what was being tasted and nobody seemed to care.

At my suggestion Robert had even asked Montgomery International, London where the first round was conducted, to send the same masking bags so that there was no scope of guessing the producer

When the top Indian red wine was being taken out of the grey masking bag after judges had pronounced the winning number (a random number that had been picked up and lodged in Robert's computer and on the bag) judges were betting on Dindori or La Reserve (we presumed both were there, though there was no way of knowing till one saw a bronze medal against Dindori the next morning).

But the winner was Nine Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Seagram's!

Only love could be more blind!

Judges and the Jury

Some people might fault the selection of Jury members and the quality of judges selected. Notwithstanding the fact that some might have felt Sehwaged out, the choice was as judicious as could be expected.

The international judges at London had Australian, British or South African background and were acknowledged wine experts; two were MWs and others were professionals with up to 30 years of tasting experience. Some of them had driven for over 2 hours and spent their own time and money just, 'so they could have the thrill of tasting some new wines including Indian wines that had already been submitted,' explained Robert.

Ronnie Lobo (In London) , the ex Taj Hotel F&B man had his hotel management training in London from where he used to visit French vineyards, set up the Taj wine programme when most of us had barely reached the drinking age. The number of wines he has tasted over the years in India and the various wineries he has been visiting run into big numbers.

Abhay Kewadkar (in London and India) has had a winemaking career of over 20 years with Chateau Indage and Grover that won him the top management spot last year with the giant UB. A frequent visitor to international shows and events, he has perhaps tasted more wines than the number of cups many people go though their lifetime.

Sourish Bhattacharyya has been visiting wineries, tasting wines at wine dinners and visiting wine shows, writing about wines for over 5 years now. He also co-authored the Italian Wine Guide along with Subhash Arora last year.

Alok Chandra has spent over a couple of decades in the wine and spirit industry and now drinks and writes wine only and works as a wine consultant.

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