Wein in Wien (Wine in Vienna)

Heuriger Wine "Mugs"

I recently got back from an amazing trip to Copenhagen, Prague and Vienna. All of which were beautiful cities, each unique in their own special way… sigh, if only I had more time to explore. It was an eventful trip that started with a really fun wedding, followed by a ton of sight seeing and some really great beer throughout. Amongst it all I made sure to include a trip to some of the traditional Heurigers just outside Vienna’s city-centre. We took a short trip to Grinzing, one of the more commonly known areas for Heurigers (there are many others). So you ask, what is a Heuriger? Simply put it’s a wine tavern that serves the most recent harvest’s wine. In fact the word “heurig” actually means this year’s. What makes them so special is the atmosphere at these places. It’s the complete opposite of your stuffy wine bar and more like a casual night out to the local pub with friends. The places we went to and walked by all had cute little patios with wooden tables. One Heuriger we went to served wine in 1/4 litre glasses with handles, almost like a beer mug… now that’s how I like to drink wine! Back in the day guests used to bring their own food consisting of mainly meats and cheeses which can get messy, hence the handles. Nowadays buffets with a variety of hot and cold dishes are generally offered at these places.

Me @ Weingut Heuriger in Grinzing

There’s also an important musical component to these places, Schrammel music (Austrian folk music that usually involves an accordion and guitar) is generally performed at Heurigers. Although I’m not sure how common it is considering the Heurigers we went to didn’t play any music. Nonetheless we had a really fun time and if you ever find yourself in Vienna I definitely recommend you check one or two out!

Mughal Wine Flask

The Clive of India Flask

I paid a recent visit to the AGO‘s Maharaja Exhibit, The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts. The exhibit presented a vast array of stunning paintings, pieces of jewelery and artifacts between the 17th century and 1947, the year of India’s independence. The attention to detail, especially in the paintings, blew me away. One of the pieces that stood out most was a wine flask (displayed left) acquired by Robert Clive aka “The Clive of India” in 1757. The flask was created and acquired during the Mughul Empire when wine was first introduced to India. The bright colours of the emerald bands and ruby flowers jumped out against their gold settings and jade stone of the flask. The picture doesn’t do it the justice it deserves, the piece has been preserved extremely well and looks nowhere close to it’s age of over 350 years.

In 2003 the flask was purchased at an auction for £2.9 million by Sheikh Saud al-Thani for the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.

Another piece that stood out was a watercolour painting of Chand Bibi of Bijapur shooting with her ladies. Throughout the exhibit there was much to see and learn about the Maharajas of India but it was gratifying to see a Maharani warrior represented in such a positive role. See the painting and learn about Chand Bibi here.

If you haven’t already, make sure you pay a visit to the AGO in Toronto. The exhibit is on until April 3, 2011.

Biodynamic Wine

Tawse Winery - Biodynamics at it's finest

My very thoughtful and loving hubby recently surprised me with a birthday trip to the Twenty Valley wine region, just west of Niagara-on-the-Lake and an hour outside of Toronto. While we were there we visited Wayne Gretzky Estate, Tawse Winery, Megalomaniac, and Vineland Estates Winery. They were all interesting in their own ways, and I may touch on the others later, but what really intrigued me was the biodynamic processes implemented by Tawse. Biodynamic – it sounds pretty fancy, and to be honest, it is. The concept was developed by Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, in the early 20th century. The idea is that the vineyard is it’s own ecological entity. It’s self sustaining and doesn’t require any additional help from external sources such as fertilizers or pesticides. For example, when we visited Tawse they told us that they kept goats, chickens and ducks, among other animals, on the vineyard. Each contribute to the system in their own way, some keep away pests, others eat weeds and excess foliage and all will help maintain a healthy soil. Other crops are planted around the vines to provide them with shelter. This also means that the nutrients in the soil have to be shared causing the vines to grow their roots deeper providing them with access to more minerals in the soil. In addition, the winery aligns the timing of their cropping with the lunar calendar and positioning of the planets. But not just any winery can call themselves biodynamic, there is a very strict process that they must adhere to to become certified. By the way, all biodynamic wines are organic, not vice versa.

Luckily, we got to taste the Tawse wines while we were still thinking straight (things started getting fuzzy at the the third winery). The clean and vibrant taste of the wines were very apparent. In this article a blind tasting of 10 wines took place where 9 out of the 10 biodynamic wines were deemed superior to their conventional counterpart.

So what about Indian wineries, have they caught on? They are certainly embracing the sustainability and organic shift taking place but considering the youth of the industry they have a ways to go before they can take that next step. The immediate goal right now seems to be to get the industry off the ground before taking that plunge, but it’s nice to know the big wigs in the industry, such as Rajeev Samant CEO of Sula Vineyards, are talking about it.

My first taste of Indian wine

Sula Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2009

The other day I paid a visit to my local LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario aka the store in Ontario to buy your alcohol). As I was perusing the aisles of the Vintages section I stopped to take a look at the organic wines available. A familiar looking label with a bright yellow sun jumped out at me, it was a bottle of Sula Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2009. The time for The Indian Winer to try Indian wine had finally come! What did I think of it? Let me start by saying that I am nowhere close to a being wine expert, but for me I liked the crisp and herby flavour of the wine. Below I provide a proper description of the flavours but when I read that there was a taste of green pepper, it totally jumped out at me. I thought it was very good, especially considering the low price of $11.95. If you’re a fan of crisp, dry whites then you’ll like this but I recommend going to the LCBO website first to see if your local store has it in stock.

Sula Sauvignon Blanc has won a Bronze Medal at IFE India 2008 and a Commended Medal at International Wine Challenge 2009. It is described as herbaceous, crisp and dry, with hints of green pepper and a touch of spice at the finish, this wine is well balanced with good acidity. Pair it with spicy food, especially coastal dishes as well as lightly flavoured Asian cuisine and serve chilled, 8-10°C.

If you’ve tried, or plan on trying it, I’d love to hear what you think!

Who’s Who

Recently, CNNGo posted an article titled “Stars of the Indian wine world” where they profiled six of India’s most influential wine experts. Check it out here or for a brief low-down of the Who’s Who in the Indian wine industry have a read below.

Kiran and Yatin Patil, Vintage Wines

Vintage Wines, marketed under the brand name Reveilo, is a family run business by Yatin and his wife Kiran. They’re noted mainly because of the many “firsts” they have brought to the Indian wine industry. They’re the first winery in India to age Chardonnay in oak barrels, the first to employ air conditioned warehousing and transportation, and the first to produce wines from Italian grape varieties Nero D’Avola, Sangiovese and Grillo. The premium quality of their wine is supported by the fact that they are the only Indian winery to sell to more hotels than retail outlets.

Sanjay Menon, Sonarys

Sanjay Menon, owner of the wine importing company Sonarys, is known for his extensive knowledge and enthusiasm of international wines. He has a huge portfolio of wines and has even set up a wine school. Menon has made strides in getting Indians interested in international wine and the wine making world interested in India.

Kavita Faiella, Aman Resorts

Kavita, originally from Australia (don’t let her name fool you), is the regional cellarmaster of Aman Resorts, a high end hotel in New Delhi. Her love of wine began in Italy when she was working in a wine bar and was offered a scholarship for a certified sommelier course. She gave up the opportunity to work alongside celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal at Fat Duck in the UK and instead chose New Delhi as her next stop. Like Menon, Faiella is excited to play a role in the development of the wine drinking culture in India.

Rajeev Samant, Sula Vineyards

Rajeev Samant is the founder and CEO of Sula Vineyards. You can read about Sula in my entry titled The Big Guys. Samant attended Stanford University in California where he studied Economics and Engineering management and even did a short stint working at Oracle. When he eventually returned home to Nashik he decided to grow grapes on his family’s 20 acre estate for wine making. It was Samant and his company Sula that transformed Nashik into the wine destination of India.

Rajesh Rasal

Rajesh Rasal is an oenologist and freelance wine maker and has worked with over 14 Indian wineries while juggling at least 2 simultaneously. His first real job in the industry was alongside Indage‘s winemaker John Locke, he started off as his understudy and was quickly offered the title of Quality Control Officer. In 2000 Rasal was able to carve out a niche for himself when he moved to Nashik to help small wineries that wanted to transition from table grapes to wine. They couldn’t afford to bring in hot shot international winemakers so they leaned on Rasal’s expertise. More recently he has been working with Good Earth Winery where he helped them choose a site in Baramati, which is outside India’s typical wine regions. Rasal’s knack for selecting ideal soil and climate conditions for wine is a clear indication of his vast knowledge on the subject.

Magandeep Singh

Last, and definitely not least, we have sommelier Magandeep Singh. Out of a population of over 1 billion people Magan is India’s only French-certified sommelier. He studied Hotel Management in Mumbai and went on to complete his Masters in France. After that he obtained a post graduate diploma in Wine Tasting from a prestigious institute in France, where the course was taught in French no less. He returned back to his homeland and has been beefing up his resumé ever since. He has trained hotel and restaurant staff, implemented storage and logistical plans, judged competitions, held countless wine tastings and events, started up a wine training facility, lead a group of sommeliers consulting to hotels and restaurants, wrote numerous articles and even wrote and had published his very own book titled “Wine Wisdom: Buying and Drinking Wine in India”. Magan is living proof of the vast potential India’s wine industry has to offer.

Gary V

If you like wine, social media or both then you may have heard of Gary Vaynerchuk or Gary V for short. Gary V is not your typical “wino”, yes he’s a wine expert but he is also a very successful entrepreneur, author and social media expert… there’s not much he can’t do. A couple years ago he posted a video on his wine review site, Wine Library TV, where he took a “sippy sip” in Mumbai and reviewed 3 Indian wines: 2007 Tiger Hill Sauvignon Blanc, 2006 Sula Dindori Reserve Shiraz and 2007 Chateau d’Ori Cabernet Syrah. It was that particular video that spurred my interest in wines from India and motivated me to create this blog. I highly suggest you check it out. Also, for a great read on how to expand your business using social media tools let me recommend his book Crush It, you won’t be disappointed!

Bringing the Thunder to India – Episode #533

Angoori Wines

Being a lover of both wine and Indian food I was intrigued when I came across Angoori Wines. Angoori partnered with Angels Gate Winery, just outside of Niagara, Ontario, to develop a red and white wine that pair well with Indian food. The red is a  2004 Cabernet Merlot and the white is a 2005 Vidal Blanc. Their wines can be ordered on their website and are distributed through Everest Traders Inc. (a wholesaler and distributor of ethnic, mainly Indian, food products).

Check out Angoori Wines’ website here.

Have you tasted their wine? If so, I’d love to hear about it and look forward to trying them with a spicy and flavourful Indian meal soon!