An annual Wine Festival being organized since 2008 in GOA by GTDC

A four day extravaganza of wine, cuisine and entertainment.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation Limited (GTDC) had arranged its annual wine festival, “Grape Escapade 2013”, from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th on the Sports Authority of Goa’s ground at Campal on the outskirts of the city.

Inauguration of this grand event was done by Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parikar, Chairman of (GTDC) Goa Tourism Devlopment Corporation and BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral Director of Goa Tourism Shri Nikhil Desai,, Chairman of (IGPB) Indian Grape Processing Board Shri Jagdish Holkar, President of (AIWPA) All India Wine Producers Association Shri Shivaji Aher, Secretary, Co-ordinator and Event Co-ordinator of AIWPA Rajesh Jadhav, Manoj Jagtap & Sameer Rahane.

Eco friendly Night lanterns were left free in the sky.

The festival showcased the multicultural Goan lifestyle and artistic flavours that made Goa an ideal lifestyle destination.

Among others this year, there was an exclusive wine-tasting and appreciation session scheduled with acclaimed wine educator, consultant and commentator Sonal Holland on Friday 25^th at 5 p.m.

Mumbai-based Pratap Arora was the wine consultant for “Grape Escapade 2013”.

It provided wine lovers an opportunity to sample outstanding domestic and international wines and various cuisine options.

The Participating wineries from Nashik were Sula, Reveilo, Grower Zampa, Nine Hills, Rio, Vallonne, and Pause Wines.

MANOJ JAGTAP

Co-ordinator,

All India Wine Producers Association

Cell: 9822439051

Email: winefriend907@gmail,com

India Grape Harvest

Wine Festival 2013 Dates: March 2 & 3, 2013

Venue: Meuse

JUPITER

Business & Luxury HotelPathardiPhata, Mumbai Agra Highway, Nashik

Maharashtra, India.

Stuttgart meets Mumbai – 9thWine festival

Meeting point for partners from politics and business, film & media, tourism and the wine industries

Press Invitation Contact: rajeena.pflug@indo-german.com

Mumbai, 08.01.2013 Tel.: 022 66652121/132, M: 9821838553

On the occasion of the

9^th Stuttgart Meets Mumbai Wine Festival

The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce on behalf of

Mr. Andreas Lapp, Honorary Consul of India

invites you to a Wine Tasting Session of

International Award Winning Wines from Baden-Württemberg, Germany

on Friday, 11th January 2013 at 5:00 pm at the Konkan Room

Hotel Taj Lands End, Bandra (W), Mumbai

Thereafter you are invited to the “9^th The Stuttgart Meets Mumbai Wine Festival” to savor authentic Stuttgart specialities and watch cultural performances by award winning Indian and German artists on the lawns of Hotel Taj Lands End.

Agenda:

5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Registration at Konkan Room

5:30 p.m.-6:15 p.m.: Wine Tasting Session with

Mr. Rolf Wilhelm Hauser, Principal of the Weinsberg Viniculture
Participants/Wines : Mrs. Heidi Heid, Vineyard Owner (Heid)

: Mr. Jörg A. Heinrich, Vineyard Owner (Heinrich)

: Mr. Steffen Pfisterer, Vineyard Owner & Rep. (Pfisterer)

: Mr. Rainer & Mrs. Daniela Schnaitmann, Vineyard Owner (Schnaitmann)

: Mr. Kilian Graf von Bentzel Sturmfeder & Mrs. Susanne Siegmund, Vineyard Owner (Sturmfeder)

: Mr. Andreas Unser & Mr. Kay Papp, Vineyard Ower & Rep. (Unser)

Looking forward to your presence and media support!

Background information:

Mr. Andreas Lapp in his capacity of Honorary Consul of the Republic of India and Rhineland-Palatinate has been the driving force behind the promotion and celebration of the partnership between the twin cities of Stuttgart and Mumbai since 2004 through the Stuttgart Meets Mumbai Wine Festival event. This year for the first time a record number of vineyard owners are present with their award winning wines which led to having a Wine Tasting Session. Germany is famous for its Riesling wine and some of the international as well domestic award winners come from the State of Baden-Württemberg. Details of the wines and their owners will be distributed at the session.

The Sicilian Master classes on wine conducted by Subhash Arora and Michele Shah in the presence of the producers who came with the delegation organised by the Sicilian Regional Institute of Vines and Wines in four Indian cities were so successful and appreciated by everyone that they have decided to visit India again on January 21-24 with top producers like Tasca d’Almerita, Planeta, Benanti , Valle d’Acate and Castellucci Miano, as a part of the delegation that includes Mr Diego Planeta, the Wine  Brand Ambassador of Sicily. Even the quality of the wines has been higher.
 
Susan Hulme MW of London will be the key presenter this year for the programme designed to highlight Sicily as a region producing high quality of wines and olive oil. Organised by IRVOS, Michele Shah and the Indian Wine Academy, the Masterclass on Sicily will be for 90 minutes and include tasting of 7-8 wines in each of the four cities- Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai. There will also be a small olive oil tasting in which 3 different olive oils from Sicily will be tasted. We are very pleased that the top luxury hotel chain of ITC Hotels has joined us in co-hosting the events at all venues.
 
It is our pleasure to invite you to attend the Master Class being conducted by a Master of Wine perhaps for the first time in India. Seats are limited specially for professionals like you and are on a first come first confirmed basis.
 
Date: January 23, 2013 at 3:30 pm Venue: ITC Gardenia, No.1, Residency Road, Bangalore
 
You may be interested in the following articles for an idea of the program and the participating wineries:
 
http://www.indianwineacademy.com/item_3_533.aspx 
http://www.indianwineacademy.com/item_5_532.aspx
http://www.indianwineacademy.com/item_5_531.aspx

Sula, which has a 70 percent share of India’s wine market, is using the vineyard visits to this end. The company says 600 to 700 day-trippers or resort guests drop by each weekend for a tour, a meal or a drink on the balcony bar.

The mixed clientele on a recent Saturday suggested that wine’s appeal is broadening: motorbikes as well as BMWs filled the car park, while some women in saris and others in jeans enjoyed the sunset views.

“They’re coming with their families and they’re open to the idea of wine,” said Sula’s hospitality executive Swapnil Dangarikar.

Much of the surging demand is said to be driven by women, who have rising disposable incomes and see wine as a more sophisticated and socially acceptable drink than beer or whisky.

“We’re going to see a tipping point in the next couple of years in domestic wine,” said Myles Mayall, a buyer and educator at The Wine Society of India, which sells imported and local cases.

More: Daily Star

Jagdish Holkar, chairman of the board, said, "Our first board meeting with the government departments on wine legislation was held on Friday. The discussions were held on product definition, quality standards, standard label and standard practices. It was also decided to take the wine industry into confidence and invite suggestions from them. Thereafter, the IGPB will make a final draft on wine legislation, which is expected to be prepared in the next three months. The draft will be submitted to the central government. Thereafter, a government will issue a notification on wine legislation, which will take at least a year, by December 2013."

More: The Times of India

Cecilia Oldne, the head of international business and the global brand ambassador of Sula Vineyards, says “consistency can make India a leading wine producer.” Oldne, in her five years with the company has taken its products to 20 countries, 10 more than when she came on board.

Over the years, Sula has pioneered many classic grape varietals in India like Sauvignon and Chenin Blanc in 2000, Zinfandel in 2001 and Riesling in 2008. In 2005, Sula launched its first reserve wine, the Dindori Reserve Shiraz, as well as India's first dessert wine, the Late Harvest Chenin Blanc.

The company produced 475,000 cases (12 bottles/9 litres) of wine last year and hopes to raise this to 650,000 cases in 2012.

More: NDTV

Even as wine making is still to be legalized by the state government, the 'Scotland of East' has been raising a yearly toast every winter for a decade now.

"People know about the local rice-based brew called 'Ka Kiad' in Khasi, but few are aware of wine being made of rice," said Derby Shullai, whose rice-wine was a major attraction at the 10th Shillong Wine Festival organized by the Forever Young Club at the scenic Crinoline Water Falls in Pine City on Saturday.

"While the local rice-based brew is crude as it is not properly distilled, the rice wine that I prepare is distilled over a year in hygienic conditions," she said. There is a great demand for her rice wine.

More: Times of India

In Bangkok at the Indian dinner at a Conference on Indian Writers in English, a fabulous insight was shared by a very sophisticated Thai academic who’s a Sanskrit scholar and world traveller and also very knowledgeable about wine. Sipping a glass of our homegrown red, he said, “Indian wine reminds me of South African wine, it’s the same soil.”

I got goosebumps when it hit me that he was referring to the continental drift aeons ago. Maybe there’s something to that Samudra Manthan story, for Prithvi seems to bear witness to it in the oddest ways.

More: Hindustan Times

The founder and editor of the country's leading wine magazine Sommelier India is a woman. Reva Singh saw an opportunity back in 2004 'when India had no wine culture', as she puts it, but today she has about 20,000 regular readers, and subscribers in such 'second tier' cities as Allahabad and Shillong. Even the prime whisky state of Punjab is being converted to the grape, she reports.

There is currently no effective wine law in India and therefore no controls other than cost on blending and labelling different wines. The outfit in charge of wine is known rather ominously as the Indian Grape Processing Board, but India is a recent recruit to the OIV, the international body for wine regulation and technical advancement, which bodes well.

The following wines were chosen as best in a recent blind panel tasting organised by Sommelier India.

BEST WHITES
Fratelli Chardonnay
Fratelli Chenin Blanc
Nine Hills Viognier
Reveilo Grillo
KRSMA Sauvignon Blanc
Sula Sauvignon Blanc
Big Banyan Sauvignon Blanc

BEST REDS
Grover Cabernet/Shiraz
KRSMA Cabernet Sauvignon
Four Seasons Barrique Reserve Shiraz
Fratelli Sangiovese
Sula Rasa Shiraz

ROSÉ
Grover Shiraz
Sula Zinfandel
Nine Hills Shiraz

SPARKLING
Zampa Brut

More: Jancis Robinson

Into a very niche profession of a sommelier or a wine taster, Sovna Puri is at present the marketing head of tasting and training at Sula Vineyards. She is also working as an educator of wines and conducts courses run by UK-based WSET, in Mumbai.

Puri finds a certain curiosity factor around this drink in India. "Wine lovers are eager to know more about the drink and adapt it to their tastes. I am getting calls from cities like Ludhiana, known for its whisky guzzlers, to conduct wine tasting sessions there," says Puri, who has also held sessions in Nagpur for the Wine and Cocktail Society.

More: The times of India

All Things Nice, the Indian Wine Consumer's Choice Awards 2012 (IWCCA) was held on Nov. 10 at ITC Grand Central in Mumbai. Godrej Nature's Basket was also a partner for the IWCCA. As part of the partnership they allocated a shelf showcasing the winning wines for a month at all their outlets pan India.

Commenting on the event, Mohit Khattar, MD, Godrej Nature's Basket, said: "The idea of getting consumers to judge India's most preferred domestic wines is a very unique concept and we are extremely proud to be associated with it. Having been a destination that strives to create a brighter shopping experience for all food enthusiasts, the IWCCA concept further strengthens the commitment that Godrej Nature's Basket stands for."

Nagpur Wine Lovers' Club is organizing a home made wine making competition to promote wine culture in the city. "There are several families of the city, most of them Parsis and Christians, who have been making wine at their homes since ages. The aim of the competition is to bring the wine enthusiasts at the same platform," said Sharad Phadnis, founder of the club. He believes there would be more than 500 such families in the city and it would be good for the club members to interact with them.

The samples are to be submitted before November 19 to Phadnis or Mohile's at Plot Number P-2, Laxmi Keshav Appartments, RPTS Road or Hotel Machan on Wardha Road. More information can be got from Phadnis (9970882351).

More: Times of India

Pune-based Akalpit Prabhune, an alumnus of the city’s most premium engineering college gave up a 10-year long career in IT to set up Hill Crest, a new wine company, and go commercial with pineapple wine a year ago. The product, branded Rhythm, has been so well-received in Pune that he and his Mumbai-based partner Gulu Jagtiani are now launching a strawberry wine under the same label, he says.

A little over a year ago, Nirvana launched lychee wine under the brand name Luca, following this with a mango wine six months on. It also has grape wine under this label and estimates it will make a total of six lakh litres this season.

Gupta says, adding that the mango wine has met with a warm reception overseas and the company recently despatched a large export consignment to Japan where it sells for as much as $ 40 for a bottle.

Nirvana plans to introduce edible rose and herbal wines too and if the trend continues may consider converting the entire facility to fruit wines, Gupta says observing that with over 500 varieties of mango, India is sitting on a huge and monopolistic opportunity.

Fruit wines have existed in India in States where grapes cannot be grown, says Jagdish Holkar, Chairman, Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB), revealing that he has been invited by the Arunachal Pradesh government to give a fillip to local products such as kiwi wines.

Remember Maharashtra govt.’s support for Karaunda wine?

More: Wineclub.in

All Things Nice has announced the first Indian Wine Consumer's Choice Awards 2012 (IWCCA). IWCCA 2012 is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2012 at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. All Things Nice will bring together all domestically produced wines (premium category) and will have these wines tasted and assessed by the actual consumers themselves. The consumer will taste the wines blind, unaware of the brand name, thereby allowing an unbiased judgment based on the quality of the wine itself.

More: Express Hospitality