The Pune Gourmet Club's December meet with 26 persons (including members’ guests) attending featured a selection of 8 Indian brands of Cabernet Sauvignon followed by a gourmet Greek dinner served buffet style.
Guests of the evening Girish Kamble and Amrut Vare, budding entrepreneurs and wine consultants currently setting up the first winery (Deccan Plateau Wines) in Pune district, brought a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon personally made by Girish at Renaissance winery. Vinsura’s Nitin Rao sent a complimentary bottle of Cabernet Syrah in lieu of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Girish & Amrut guided the members thru the tasting session with specific pointers on how to check for colour, aroma and flavour. 
Their website has a comprehensive note on wines and their markers – Colour, clarity, depth, intensity, aroma, complexity etc.
See http://www.deccanplateauwines.com/wines.html
All wines were blind tasted and members were asked to rate them by awarding points on a scale of 5 (Very Good), 3 (Good), 2 (Average) and 1 (Bad). The results of the rating are given below.
|
Wine Index & Final Rating Sheet Dec 16, 2006
Cabernet Sauvignon |
|
Rank |
Brand |
Price
Rs. |
Vintage |
Packing |
Year |
Total Points |
|
1 |
Renaissance |
480 |
|
Aug |
2005 |
68 |
|
2 |
Shavari (NC Fine Wines) |
390 |
2004 |
Sep |
2004 |
55 |
|
3 |
Vinsura Cabernet Syrah (Sankalp Wines) |
480 |
|
Sep |
2006 |
54 |
|
4 |
Morande Chile (Indage) |
558 |
2000 |
Feb |
2005 |
49 |
|
5 |
Spaga (ND Wines) |
582 |
2003 |
Nov |
2004 |
45 |
|
6 |
Nine Hills (Seagram) |
550 |
|
Nov |
2006 |
44 |
|
7 |
Baagloni (Prathamesh) |
396 |
Jul-04 |
Feb |
2005 |
38 |
|
8 |
Chantilli (Indage) |
438 |
2004 |
April |
2006 |
34 |
Well known brands Indage and Seagrams graced the bottom of the list. They seem to be riding the market more on their brand reputation than the quality of their wines. Renaissance won 1st place by a huge margin.
Renaissance and Vinsura seem to be consistent in their quality. These might be the wineries to watch out for as the years roll by.
The Greek dinner, created by eight members using authentic and traditional Greek recipes, 
was a sumptuous feast fit for a king. Special thanks to Mr. Nitin Rao and Vinsura who organized the picking and transportation of fresh vine leaves from the vineyard to Pune at a day’s notice. The vine leaves were used to make the famous Greek appetizer Dolmades.
The gourmet Greek menu featured the following:
Starters/Appetizers:
Salata me domata kai feta (Tomato and Feta Cheese Salad) by Shubha Gadkari
Eliopsomo (Greek olive bread) and Mediterranean bread stuffed with mozzarella cheese and sun dried tomatoes accompanied by parsley garlic butter by Vandana Inamdar
Tzatziki (Cucumber yoghurt dip with garlic and olive oil) by Deepak Bajaj
Dolmades latheres (grape vines leaves stuffed with a pilaf of rice, black currants, pine nuts, dill and parsley) by Shankar
Main course:
Moussaka (meat mince and eggplant pie baked in a clay pot) by Sheela Narayan
Souvlaki (boneless meat cubes with baby onions, cherry tomatoes, bay leaves and dry herbs, skewered and grilled on a charcoal barbeque and then dipped in lime juice, coated with Tzatziki and served in warm pita bread wrap) by Anselm Thomas
Fassolakia Freska me Domata (Green Beans with Tomato) by Veena Vora
Dessert:
Amigdalota me mandarini (A dessert from Chania in Crete –almond meal balls with pureed tangerine peel and dusted with caster sugar) by Meghna Desai.
Savyasachi Nafrey, gourmet *** DJ, played Greek music, Shankar and Gogi dressed up in togas and Veena Vora looked regal dressed as a Greek empress. That completed the Greco Roman Puneri evening.
PUNE GOURMET CLUB'S GREEK EVENING
Held on Saturday December 16, 2006
At the residence of Ms Vandana Inamdar