Wines of India

Aug 7, 2011
Gail Mangold-Vine

Wines of India - Geneva Festival, August 2011 - Gail Mangold-Vine

Wines from nine of India's best wineries are being featured until August 14, 2011, at the Geneva Festival in Switzerland - but who knew India produces wine?

Gurjit Singh Barry has everything prepared at the Wines of India booth he’s manning in the “Incredible India” village at the Geneva Festival.

Bottles of wine are aligned on the table, along with plastic stemware – fair organizers do not allow glassware, he says. Brightly embroidered parasols hang upside down from the booth ceiling, oil lamps and ribbons of mirrored mosaic adorn the walls along with a few sequined miniature elephants. There’s even a small reclining plush tiger along with winery brochures on the table.

Just across the Food Court from the Wines of India booth, chefs are preparing finger foods that will be passed around by white-gloved male attendants as soon as the VIPs get here.

Opening of the Festival

It’s the opening of the “Incredible India” village on August 5 at 4:30 p.m. on a grey Geneva summer’s day. A light rain is falling. As Indian and local dignitaries approach the Wines of India booth, Barry springs into action, removing bottles of Vallée de Vin Zampa Soirée Brut traditional method sparkling wine from the refrigerator, popping corks, and pouring in the manner of the trained sommelier, with his thumb in the indentation at the bottom of the bottle.

He then lifts filled glasses by the stems to present, with many a Sir/Madam and a smattering of French, to honored guests. What with the décor, the vividly-colored saris, turbans, Nehru jackets, and Indian-accented English I feel transported to India but… Indian wine?

“India is the 45th country to become a member of the OIV,” a multitasking Barry says as he serves, provides expert commentary, and tidies as he goes, first with guests and then members of the public who come swarming in at 5 p.m.

“Le vin indien?” Indian wine? It’s a question the visitors ask out loud, on seeing the Indian Grape Processing Board banner in front of the booth, and make a beeline for it.

84 Wineries in India

Barry’s reference to the OIV is to the Paris-based, governmental International Organisation of Vine and Wine, which did indeed announce, in a July 12, 2011 press release, India’s inclusion in its ranks of wine-producing countries.

India has a whopping 71,400 hectares under vine, according to the release, however only a relatively small percentage of the grapes go to winemaking: most are table grapes. The main growing regions are the states of Maharashtra, on the west coast, Himachal to the north, and Bangalore in the southern state of Karnataka.

Barry tells me the wine industry in his country is about 25 years old, there are 84 wineries in India – and he’s got nine of them represented here. The driving force behind the presence of Wines of India at the Geneva Festival, he says, is the Indian Grape Processing Board, constituted by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The entity promotes Indian wines – here or earlier this year, for example, at the London International Wine Fair – with an eye to creating awareness, so that “tourists in India think to ask for Indian wine in restaurants.”

Another objective is increasing wine tourism to India. “Harvest seasons take place in March and September/October,” says Barry. “Some wineries offer accommodation and, just for fun (pressing is done mechanically), grape stomping.” A third priority, Barry says, is growing the already-existing export market.

Sommelier & Wine Trainer

A sommelier’s pin – a metal cut-out of a bunch of grapes – adorns a lapel of Barry’s dark suit, and his business card says he’s a sommelier and wine trainer with the firm Wi-Not (“The Wine & Beverage Solutions People”) in New Delhi.

Barry says he previously worked as wine steward in a Michelin-starred restaurant in the UK, and is just finishing up a diploma with the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust that will make him an Associate member of the Institute of Wines & Spirits, or AIWS.

The wines Barry is presenting at the Wines of India stand include reds, whites, rosés and sparkling wine. There are blends and single varietals. White grapes include Sauvignon Blanc (2010 vintages from the Vallonné and Grover wineries) and Viognier (a Four Seasons Vineyards Ritu, 2010).

There is a Grover Shiraz Rosé (2010) and a 2010 Ritu Blush.

Red varieties besides Shiraz (Syrah) include Cabernet Sauvignon (a “Proudly Indian” 2009 York Winery Cab), but there are 2009 and 2010 Cabs from Vallonné, Reveilo, and Fratelli. There is also a 2009 Vallonné Merlot. Blends include a Zampa Vallee de Vin Syrah Cabernet (2009).

Mercury Winery’s ArYaa wines present a typical palette of Cab, Shiraz, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. The traditional French varieties represent the majority of grape types cultivated in India, Barry says, although some wineries like Reveilo also grow varieties like Sangiovese, Nero d’Avola and Grillo.

Wine Tasting

The Vallée de Vin Zampa Soirée sparkling wine, a Chenin Blanc varietal, was festive and pleasant, but not coming through with sustained bubble or much of a finish. A Sula (“at the forefront of the Indian Wine revolution,” says its website) Shiraz was spicy – “tangy” as Barry called it, a characteristic which he ascribes to the black soil of the Nashik Valley. Essentially a food wine, it also is a good candidate for a nice heady glass of red. Barrel-fermented Reveilo Chardonnay 2010 was notably buttery but its acidity was not as harmoniously meshed with that butteriness as one might have liked.

That said: the wines were well-made and, mainly, not tasted under optimum conditions. Unsettled from travel, ideal serving temperatures difficult to achieve under the circumstances, and lack of proper glassware to concentrate the nose (plastic and wine are in any case not happy partners) -- so it’s high tribute to them they still came through so well.

In the briefest of lulls between visitors, Barry tells me that Indian wines are both New World in terms of production but also “boutique,” the word he uses for artisanal, terroir wines. Alcohol levels are generally between 12.5% and 14%. Retail prices in India – “in Swiss francs, the equivalent of 8 to 10 francs a bottle, with some in the 15-20 franc range,” which is to say $10.50-$13 and $19.55-$26. These would be average to middling by Swiss standards, but these wines are clearly a luxury product by Indian standards.

I note that the snobbery about corks appears to have less of a hold with these wines – there are screw caps, fake corks, real corks. Barry is nodding assent just as…

“They make wine in India?” This time, the approaching visitors are speaking English, and Barry hastens away to welcome them. Before long, they are tasting red wine. “This is lovely,” says the woman. “Seriously good,” the man agrees. “Do you sell bottles?” “Absolutely, Sir,” says Barry, clinching his first sale of the day.