A Taste of Californian wine was offered to members of the Delhi Wine Club on Monday by Z Group International, a Las Vegas based wine export company. The venue was Defence Colony, at the residence of Arvinda and Subhash Arora

The event, aptly named as ‘You Be the Judge' was organized with eleven Californian wines covering a vast range of $8-$45 wines selected from Napa Valley , Alexander Valley and Lodi . Each member was expected to judge the wines based on the criteria of sight, bouquet, flavour, end, and overall impression through a guided tasting.

The idea was primarily to have fun drinking wine, the basic objective of the Club. The members were also given the onerous task of assessing the quality. It was also a study to evaluate how many would be in a position to cross the 13th hurdle and still rate the wines fully- first two being the warm up wines from Nashik - The Sauvignon Blanc was quite well liked by the members but the red really sucked and was rejected unanimously.

Entry level Sauvignon, Chardonnay, White Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet were selected from Crane Lake Winery in Napa . Hundred Acre ‘Gold' Chardonnay from Barossa Valley (bottled in Napa ), Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay 2005 from Alexander Valley and Grgich Hills Chardonnay 2004 were the premier Chardonnays. Lodi was represented by a small family owned, Cranston Winery making small quantities of premium wines. Heitz (2002) and Ch. Montelena (2003) were the super quality Cabernets.

No spittoons, and only bread and cheese-were provided as the palate cleansers.

Out of the five Crane Lake Wineries, White Zinfandel was not liked by most members as they found it too sweet with no personality, though a few were happy for the same reason. Sauvignon Blanc was aromatic and zingy but slightly weak on the mid-palate with a simple end. A great summertime, no brainer wine was the majority verdict.

Chardonnay was medium bodied, quaffable and also acceptable daily drinking wine.

Merlot was lacking in the personality but Cabernet Sauvignon came out yards ahead. The tannins were mild. It is ready-to-drink wine with a decent balance and even some after taste. Must be drunk now, though. The ‘03 is not going to get any better.

The mid-prices Chardonnays had a chequered response. The ‘Gold' Chardonnay reportedly has real gold wafer-thin chips that keep on dancing in the bottle. Most people found this to be a distraction than an additive charging up the wine. There was a toss up between Ferrari-Carano and Grgich Hills Chardonnays. Jury was split though the Ferrari has a certain ring to its name and the later, named after the Polish owners does have a twist to its name but also was more mature, fuller bodied and had better balance – a slightly more complex wine.

Cranston Cabernet 2003 showed the common thread that runs between wine drinkers and lovers. It was the darling of everyone without exception. Dark red colour-almost inky, it had subtle aromas of berries and spices. The flavour was dry, fruity with soft tannins that imparted firm structure to the wine but were not too astringent. The mouthfeel was full and pleasant taste of coffee and molten chocolate, dark cherries was predominant. It lingered in the mouth.

Chateau Montelena was the star of the show (Heitz was not tasted due to the galloping time and accelerated levels of alcohol in the system). The pre-mature info given out to members that Montelena had been a winner of the historic Paris 1976 blind tasting (albeit Chardonnay) must have biased the palates of our ‘tasters'. The superlatives were aplenty. Priced at more than twice the Cranston Cab, this was a wine that did not require any explanation, just refills till it evaporated in the nose and the palate. Very smooth, delicious, full bodied wine that dances on the tongue, you don't want the sip to leave you. The long end makes you savour the taste longer and entices you to drink slower.

Elizabeth Sudhakar, young and pretty CEO of Z International, who grew up drinking California wines, said she is not married to California wines though. We shall be importing some interesting Italian wines too and if the market demands we shall consider importing wines from other areas as well, since we have an excellent working relationship with many regions. But, for now I wanted a select group to enjoy that Taste of California.'

Wines had been selected in conjunction with Bob Cranston, VP of Z Group, during my trip to Las Vegas last month. Soaked with knowledge of wine, especially the Californians, we had selected a complete range of Californian wines which were hand carried by Elizabeth who is visiting India with her family. A word of thanks to her and Ash Sudhakar, who is also her mentor and guiding spirit, for this gesture.

A unique first time event, we hope to repeat more often- with wines from many different areas.