Home Archive Subscribe About Contact     The Best Oak Aged Red Wines of India By Rajiv Singhal In the early eighties, some foresighted businessmen (they were not called entrepreneurs, then) thought of leveraging the country's grape growing expertise and roped in the Government to set up production facilities for wine. Against all odds, an attempt to create the culture for drinking wine was made in the nineties and the noughties - much before many people in India would want us to believe. Today, Indian wine is still, at best, in its infancy. Yet strides have been made with seemingly bottomless investments (in viticulture and vinification) to follow best practices. The genesis The seed of this tasting - The Best Oak Aged Red Wines of India - germinated in conversation with Arjun Sachar, the India representative of Tonnellerie Demptos, a world renowned cooperage. Arjun and I were lamenting how "Reserve" wine is such a misnomer, even if for once India is not the only wine region to be guilty. He flagged the visit of François Witasse, President (who had first introduced me to oak influences in wine some years ago at the ITC Windsor in Bangalore) and Nicolas Vivas, Head of R&D. We thought why not get them to evaluate some aged wines from India. The parameters for this tasting were set – only oak aged wines from any winery in India would be eligible. Self declaration from the wineries would be accepted. All wine companies from both Maharashtra and Karnataka (using barrels) were contacted, but their contribution was restricted to no more than 2 labels. Ten brands responded to our request with 19 labels, which was a good, manageable number. A few did not, and one very strangely asked to be present at the tasting to evaluate the styles with the panel! I reached out to Neha Chhabra, the Executive Assistant Manager Food & Beverage Service at the Trident, Bandra Kurla, Mumbai who agreed to play host and set the tasting room to precision – the "right" Chef & Sommelier series glasses, the right temperature for the wines, the seamless sequential service, and the light bites.   The right temperature   The tasting was blind, and the panel of 12 persons was constituted by the two international visitors who were joined by sommeliers, judges, media, and specialists from Mumbai and Delhi. On the very auspicious day of Dussehra, our tasting panel sat down to the daunting task assigned. The panel would diligently evaluate the Indian reds according to the scoring sheets that was prepared by vino india. These had been personalised for each member of the panel and bound into a book for ease of the scorer. The panel was requested to mark for Appearance, Nose, Palate, Finish and Overall Impression. In what Nicolas Vivas remarked was a first for him, points were also given to the packaging – this, after all, is the first impression of the wine.   The table set up   As the wines were poured into the tagged glasses, it was a challenge to prevent any guesses about the wine which would defeat the purpose of the blind tasting – we juggled the wines in some kind of "systematic random" order, stripped the capsules off the neck, and hid the odd shaped bottles. Benchmarking standards The tone was set by the visitors from Demptos, who detailed the influence of oak on the taste profile of a wine in a presentation that highlighted the role of the cooperage in the complex wine making process. To guide the tasting panel, and set the benchmark for the evaluation, François and Nicolas shared four examples of French wines which they had specifically chosen for this tasting (and brought in with them) that had seen barrel ageing and initiated the discussion with the panel on how varied results were possible with a combination of different type of barrels and the time spent in ageing. François Vitasse told us that he noticed that most Indian wineries have upped the ante on quality in the few years that he has been coming to India and now present a flagship – some of which had been collated for the evening – and he was looking forward to the tasting. In his presentation, he focussed on how oak ageing can uplift the structure of the wine and also emphasised the aim for perfect harmony between the wood and wine so that none of the elements expressed themselves individually. Nicolas Vivas gave us an insight into the decision that the winemaker makes as (s)he uses a barrel to its correct potential. Every wine has its own unique profile that derives from the different grape varieties in the blend and their maturity levels at the time of harvest. The winemaker has to choose a barrel type that assists the wine and has to be careful not to steer the wine towards a profile that doesn’t describe its best potential – because the wine always has the last say! The best     Comments that were shared ranged from well integrated, smokey, fruit forward, and toasty to bitter, weak structure, high alcohol, totally off balance, nail varnish, closed, oxidised. The Nashik burnt rubber taste popped up through the evening. A wine was described with a funky nose, one was too cloyingly rich and flabby and one was described as very close to Goan "port" – almost insulting the reserve character!   The lineup   Vaniitha Jaiin shared her thoughts, "I knew that oak ageing imparts flavors and aromas such as smoke, toast, vanilla, spice, etc., but beyond that I learnt that oak naturally clarifies and stabilises the wine. My key learning from the vino india tasting was how oak aged wines showed proof of balance and how integration was the key." The most important take away from this tasting was that some wines stood out with a good oak integration and highlighted the passion of the winemaker. The others it seems will be punished by the consumer for trying to extract a premium for a less than ordinary wine. vino india is delighted to present this tasting to you, our reader, and hope that it will enable your choice.   L to R: Ajit Balgi, Rajiv Singhal, Aneesh Bhasin, Nicolas Vivas, Rojita Tiwari, Neeraj Kapri, Vaniitha Jaiin, François Witasse, Sonal Holland, Arjun Sachar, Bhisham Mansukhani, Viraj Sawant. Not in the picture: Neha Chhabra   vino india is grateful to our tasting panel (some travelled to Mumbai to join the tasting) for agreeing to judge our line-up, and for their time. vino india did not impose any charge on the participating wineries. One sample of each of the 19 wines was received in our Mumbai office, and some wines were collected by us from the donors.   O T H E R     S T O R I E S Celebrating Champagne The Pull of Wine And Who's Where