The Challenge of India Wine Challenge
Subhash Arora (in London and India) has been drinking and studying wine for over 25 years. He has been an international judge at Vinitaly, MundusVini (where he was the first Indian invited to judge wines). During around 15 overseas visits during the last 2 years alone, he has tasted well over 3000 wines, excluding over 1000 wines tasted in the Delhi Wine Club during the last 5 years.
Stephane Soret, the French Head Sommelier at the Imperial Hotel is the highest qualified professional sommelier working full time with experience in France, UK and USA with an enviable record.
Bill Marchetti, the ex- ITC Chef from Australia needs no introduction- with a lifetime of cooking food with, and drinking wine (even though he may be biased towards Australian wines!)
This is not to say the others were not invited. Magandeep Singh declined as he has been in Europe. Akash Singh Rathore, who has also authored a book on Indian wines, was in Pakistan where his wife is a diplomat. Ritu Dalmia confirmed to participate but had to drop out as she had to go out of town, suddenly. Ditto with Ronnie.
Omissions and Exceptions
Supposedly, one could have started from the top and invited Robert Parker to judge. If someone was willing to sponsor their trip, even Jancis Robinson, Steven Spurrier or Hugh Johnson might have come along. I personally know over 2 dozen international juror friends-many of them MWs who would have loved to come provided they were extended the full hospitality.
'But that is not the point,' insists Robert. 'Why should a foreign expert impose his or her taste on the Indian palate? Theoretically, I would like to see most of judges from India.'
Perhaps the legal minded enthusiasts would have liked to see the Supreme court of high Court wine loving judges to decide the medals. It might not even be a bad idea to induct a retired judge or a lawyer to oversee the competition, like an Election Commissioner. At Vinitaly, they do follow this policy. 'Italians love to control everything through laws and more laws,' he says with sarcasm.
Two persons who were considered as judges were Sanjay Menon of Sansula and Hershel Shah, a sommelier from Australia who is working with Brindco. To avoid any controversy, it was decided not to involve any importer.
To avoid any possible controversy, Robert had taken a sworn-in letter from all those judges who might have any connections with the entrants- an established norm for international wine competitions.
Abhay who decided to enter UB's Bouvet Ladubay wines was not allowed to taste his wines. -the tasting flights were re-aligned accordingly. Being an ex-Grover person, it was considered prudent not to allow him tasting the Grover wines either.
Procedure and Methodology
There were two panels of judges picked out at random by Robert, both in London and Delhi. Random numbers were assigned to each label submitted. The bottle was enclosed in the masking bag. Each juror was told that the bottle might have been decanted and put back in a different container - for instance a wine originally in a burgundy bottle might have been re-bottled into a Bordeaux shaped bottle.
Each tasting flight had some varietal sequence. For instance, it could be Chardonnays from different producers and countries or Pinot Noirs, Shiraz and Cabernet from other regions.
The marks from 0-20 were to be assigned by each judge individually. Average of 18.5 and above was a Gold while 17+ entitled the wine to a Silver. 14 was the minimum to get a Seal of Approval and so on.
When there was a unanimous decision on whether the wine deserved a medal and which one, it was so declared by the chairman of the jury. When there was a wide disagreement, the judges were encouraged to discuss the difference of opinion and come to a consensus. Otherwise, the wine would be passed to the other panel for their individual opinion. If there was a general agreement among both panels the decision was so recorded by the chairman.
In case there was no consensus or where the debate involved a possible Gold, the other panel was consulted for their opinion. In case of any lingering doubt or unreachable decision, Robert's opinion was also sought. Though it was not binding or final, it helped the judges resolve the issue.
