October 2017

Risotto, reservas… and a winemaker’s selection

October 16, 2017

The boutique SDU Winery in Karnataka’s Nandi Valley is all set to amplify its presence with its coming-of-age Winemaker’s Selection wine. And this one has Italy stamped all over it….

It was in 2014 when people first sat up and noticed Karnataka’s SDU Winery. Mere months after its launch, with little fuss or fanfare, the boutique winery beat India’s biggest wine producers in a blind tasting competition held in Mumbai, Top 25 Finest Wines in India, to claim top spot with its SDU Reserva Syrah 2012 as the best wine in India (read about it here). To add to its stash, three other SDU wines – the Reserva Chardonnay 2012 placed 7th and two of their entry-level Deva range (Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay) also placed at the same competition. As the shock waves receded around the wine industry, SDU retreated to its home nestled in the luxuriant greenery that is Karnataka’s Nandi Valley and life went on.

But the retreat was tactical, as SDU’s owner Shambhavi Hingorani and chief winemaker Andrea Valentinuzzi went about their business quietly making their wines. So three years on, curiosity drove me to seek them out again. What improvements might I see? Valentinuzzi was visiting Bengaluru to oversee the bottling, and this would be an interesting revisit.

So on a bright, sunny Sunday morning, I took the 90-minute drive to the winery with SDU business head, Mohit Nischol. I watched the landscape change as we drove along; the abundant treeline got more verdant as we drove past Karnataka’s TG Halli reservoir. Nischol pointed out SDU’s own TG Halli vineyards dotting the far landscape. The other SDU parcel, ID Halli was two hours away, both vineyards totalling 75 acres of vines. “Our vineyards grow 60% Syrah, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon with the rest Chardonnay and a little Chenin Blanc,” he told me. SDU makes about 10,000 cases a year, split between Deva (80%) and Reserva (20%). While the Deva range starts at Rs 590 for 750 ml (in Telengana), the Reservas are from Rs 900 (Karnataka only). “The Deva is made to be drunk young by early wine drinkers and our USP is affordability.” A Deva Chenin Blanc is to be added to the portfolio shortly.

Tasting the Winemaker’s Selection 2014 with winemaker Andrea Valentinuzzi

Despite their early victory just months after their official launch, SDU decided against testing their mettle at many wine competitions. “We were too young and preferred being selective,” Nischol explains. The focus has been on the markets in India’s south and SDU Deva is currently available in Karnataka, Telengana (newly adopting wine-positive measures, he adds), Kerala, Pondicherry and Goa. “The Wine Board is making a good effort, but a movement needs to happen and that can only happen if the government joins hands with the Indian wine industry to promote the cause of wine.”

Soon, we wound our way past the scenic Makalidurga hill range – a destination for trekkers and climbers – and pulled into the winery driveway. The winery is built like a gracious home, and in part, it is one – the owner’s, who often retreats here for quiet family time. There is a spacious, cheery terrace overlooking more lush greenery, a verandah dining and BBQ space opening out from a chic, comfy lounge dominated by a long bar counter. Valentinuzzi is in the kitchen where he’s been cooking lunch, I’m told – he loves to cook. That’s delightful. I have never had both food and wine made by the same person and I can’t wait.

Valentinuzzi is a maverick winemaker. As an old India hand of 13 years with (more…)

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Interviews / Tastings / Winery Visits

Fine dine, and drinking wine

October 11, 2017

There are many ways to promote the culture of wine in India. One of them is via high-end wine dinners, where food is paired with wine over several courses. Is this format the one that works best? A recent wine dinner I attended made me stop and wonder…

The Polo Club’s Artisanal Burrata paired with Montes Reserva Chardonnay, 2015. Photo: Food Lovers.

It rained in Bangalore last Friday night. Scratch that. It poured.
But that did little to dampen the spirits or lower the attendance at the Best of The Oberoi wine dinner organized by Food Lovers India to celebrate its 25th anniversary of existence in the city. It was a full house (56 guests) at the glass-fronted Le Jardin for the multi-course repast, each one a small gem selected from the individual restaurants so long a part of the hotel’s history: Rim Naam (Thai), Szechuan Court (Chinese), Polo Club and Le Jardin (European). Four wines selected from premium wine retailer La Cave were paired with the meal. The city’s wine lovers turned out in good numbers and the room hummed with mellow conversation for hours while the rain drummed against the window panes.

Rim Naam’s Thai chicken dumplings with the Henri Bourgeois Pouilly Fume 2015. Photo: Food Lovers

Of course, The Oberoi has, over 25 years, arguably set the gold standard in terms of culinary excellence coupled with refined service. This evening brought back those memories as I wound up the evening close to the midnight hour, well-indulged by the culinary team led by chefs Ajit Raman, Hitesh Pant and Bhuvan Ravishankar. That was the (sugar free) icing on the cake.
I recall several conversations with wine industry influencers about how India, a relatively late entrant into the joys of drinking wine, needs to devise new and multiple ways to draw new wine enthusiasts into the fold. India’s wine community of experts and influencers has been constantly seeking ways to tickle the fancy of these newbies. The consensus was that more informal and easy formats which educate while they innovate are called for, especially targeting millennials who are keen to learn but sans fuss or frills. The jury’s still out on how to make that work. But wine-paired dinners, today a tried and tested method of popularizing wine culture, have been around since the days of the maharajas. Even if, on the other hand, the whole concept of food paired with wine is relatively new to the Indian population.
So why does the wine dinner in its most refined form as this one, continue to exist, even thrive, here?
The answer, I believe, lies in its enduring allure to the senses.
For instance, The Oberoi’s ‘reconstructed’ Thai chicken ‘dumplings’ from Rim Naam, paired with the Henri Bourgeois Pouilly Fumé 2015 was a seamless match, as was the fresh, fruit-rich Montes Reserva Chardonnay 2015 which I had with a warm salad of mushroom and avocado, while others enjoyed it with burrata. Crispy lotus stems or roasted duck came with D’Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz, 2011. The main course, a lobster moilee was more unusually paired with a Valpolicella DOC (Allegrini Corte Giara 2015) from Italy, a red wine. My own excellent dessert – a refined sugar free/dairy-free jaggery and coconut milk pannacotta, had me dreaming of a wine to hold up to it. (An off-dry Viognier comes to mind? If you’ve had an aha moment with a similar dessert, do write in to tell me).
From personalized, monogrammed white damask napkins to the impeccable service (every requirement attended to smilingly at the speed of light by our young server, Abhijit) and meticulously created food, it was a memorable wine dinner among a sea of similar wine dinners.
New concepts and formats would certainly work if they are special, says Kripal Amanna, publisher and editor of Food Lovers who curated the event. “Many young people are looking for experiences like this, where the food and wine are taken care of ahead and you can sit back and enjoy a unique experience.” So while other formats will come, the gala wine dinner will remain the summum bonum of wine and food experiences as long as it offers a dash of that extra special something, he adds.
I agree. As millennials embrace new formats – wine picnics, tasting sessions with some of the best wine brands in India, winery visits and educational sessions in their quest to embrace wine culture, the curated wine dinner will remain at the top of the heap, providing that genteel balm of luxury to those to whom wine and food remain a passion.