By Kriti Malhotra
Indian wine industry has seen many ups and downs in last few years and the graph is going up with every passing year. Good quality wines and India were never spoken together, but the perception has changed in last few years. Today, I can say with confidence we are a top quality wine producing country, after tasting the launch of new wines of Grover Zampa. Grover Zampa Vineyards has won 148 international grand awards for 13 wines since 2013, from 7 competitions, across 3 continents, which is a manifestation of its true craftsmanship and unwavering fortitude.
I was a part of the tasting of GZV’s launch of new wines. The visitor centre and winery are in the same complex along with a gorgeous looking restaurant, which serves world class food. The winery is spacious and equipped with state of art technology and international practices. We were lucky enough to be given a guided tour of the winery by the winemaker himself. He not only explained the poduction of GZV but also made us taste some wines from the barrel itself.
Then there was a Master class, which couldn’t be conducted better by anyone in the country but by the one and only MW of our country Sonal Holland MW. The master class took place in their newly renovated visitor centre in Nandi hills near Banglore.
The tasting started with La Royale Reserve Brut. 100% chenin blanc. A perfect and a rare combination of freshness, purity, effervescence, mousse and toasty aromas and palate. A brave step by the winemaker for ageing on lees for 30 months in bottle(most of the champagnes keep it for 24months). The bubbly was very refreshing in the scorching heat. Aroma & Tasting notes included green apple, lemon, lime, melon with undertones of wet wool on the nose. Wet wool aroma generally is a sign of ageing. This wine is very delicately produced with soft/first press juice. First press is a soft press where pure pulp is only extracted and which gives out freshness to the wine.
Alcohol- 12% abv
And then came the protagonist of this movie, the “Insignia, 2016”. 100% Shiraz. Comes in a magnum bottle (1500 ml). The wine is definitely for mature drinkers and not for the amateurs. Deep ruby in colour with amber hues. The wine gets its grainy tannins and colour from 3 months of maceration of juice with skin. 3 months is a very good time for a wine to become “bold & beautiful”. Vanilla, chocolate, mint, dark fruit is what you should be expecting from this multi-layered and textured wine. After taste of toasty and smoky character pleasantly lingers on the palate. The wine has experienced 24 months of barrel aging to get its character and 12 months of bottle ageing for all the flavours to marry each other. A wine that would definitely gain from agening for another 4-5 years.
Last but definitely not the least “Vendange Tardive”
A french term which means late harvest. It refers to a style of sweet wine where the grapes are allowed to hang on the vine for a longer period of time so that the grapes dehydrate and the sugar concentration is high when harvested. This helps in making a sweet wine. 100 % Viognier with floral notes, sweet spices like cinnamon, nutty flavour and very interesting strong aromas of bubble gum. A great wine to be had by itself or as dessert on its own.
The evening ended with fun, frolic, live music great wines & food accompanied by great people at India’s finest winery. It was definitely a pleasure to taste these wines with industries other esteemed and humble individuals. My favourite was the Insignia and we are eagerly waiting for it to hit the delhi market.
