Notes for Robert Joseph

 1) The range of wines, especially from S Africa, illustrates the international interest in the Indian market.

2) we had a good set of international and local judges, including Angela Mount, former buyer of the UK Somerfield chain - whose tastebuds were insured for £10m; Joel Payne, former editor of Meiningers wine Business Intl and editor of the Gault Millau Guide to German Wines, the leading book of its kind in Germany; Yegas Naidoo, leading S African based taster and John Quarisa, the Australian winemaker who in 2004 won two of Australia's top wine awards, the Jimmy Watson Trophy in Melbourne and Stodart Trophy in Brisbane, for wines he produced for Casella. The local palates included Subhash Arora and Alok Chandra who, like John Quarisa, took part in the previous two Challenges and London-trained, India-based wine professional Sonal Holland.

3) Medals were hard to come by and the most highly rated Indian wine was the Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc which earned a Silver Medal.

4) Robert Joseph, Chairman of the event, said "I am very happy with the toughness of the judging. Having run over 50 wine competitions across the world, I would rather that medals were truly fought for; that's what gives them real value. The makers of the Indian Wines that went home with Bronzes and Seals of Approval can take pride in the fact that their wines have genuinely stood comparison with wines from countries like France, Italy, Chile and Australia.