INDIAN WINE ACADEMY
Specialists in Food & Wine Programmes; Creators of an Extensive Database of Food & Beverage Professionals and Food Importers in Ten Cities Across India; Publishers of delWine, India’s First Wine, Food, Retail & Hospitality eNewsletter

ADDRESS
A-458, Defence Colony
New Delhi – 110048
Phone- +91-11- 41622892 & 26438755 T/ Fax +91-11-26430812.
Website: www.indianwineacademy.com
E-Mail: arora@indianwineacademy.com
            wineguyindia@gmail.com

INDIAN WINE ACADEMY’S ACTIVITIES: A SUMMARY
The Indian Wine Academy is a New Delhi-based market development consultancy firm with extensive contacts among food and beverage professionals and hotel management institutes around the country.

The Academy was launched in 2003 by Subhash Arora, President, Delhi Wine Club, Net entrepreneur, and author, and Sourish Bhattacharyya, a food and wine journalist with 22 years behind him in the profession, who, after editing HT City, the daily lifestyle section of Hindustan Times (North India’s largest-selling daily published in English), and HT City Eating Out Guide, is now the Executive Editor, Mail Today, a international joint venture between the India Today Group, the country’s leading media house, and the Daily Mail of London.

Together, they launched delWine, the country’s first eNewsletter on wine, food business, retail and hospitality sectors, which is now in its 134th edition and is being circulated to 5,500 wine producers in 28 countries as well as food and wine importers, hospitality decision-makers, retail sector heads and hotel management institutes. They have co-authored the Italian Wine Guide, a guide to Italian wines listed in Indian hotels and restaurant, for the Italian Trade Commission (ICE).

Subhash Arora
Mr Arora, who's the India Correspondent of Wine Business International, published from Cologne, Germany ( www.wine-business-international.com ), was invited to report on the world's premier olive oil show SOL ( Verona , Italy ) in 2002 and 2006, Alimentaria 2006 ( Barcelona ) and Madrid Fusion 2007. A noted wine writer and wine club promoter, Mr Arora was invited to deliver talks on the Indian market and consumer trends at Fenavin 2007 (Ciudad de Real, Spain), Prowein 2007 (Dusseldorf, Germany) and Vinitaly 2006. Last year, he was invited by the Government of Rioja to participate in the Grandes de la Rioja 2006 to taste the region's wines. Other shows where he went as a guest were TopWine 2006 ( Huelva , Andalucia) and Vinoble 2006 ( Jerez ), the international exposition of dessert and fortified wines. He was recently invited to visit vineyards of Prosecco, Soave, Valpolicella and Friuli . This was followed by another trip to the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany.

Under Mr Arora's leadership, the Delhi Wine Club has successfully conducted 109 dinners in the leading hotels and restaurants of India 's capital, which is why he's respected in the F&B community. He has conducted similar events in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chandigarh,

In the first-ever survery conducted by Wine Business International, Mr. Arora was recently voted the best wine journalist of india . He was recently invited to be a judge at Mundus Vini 2007 in Germany, the biggest OIV-recognised wine competition in the world.

Sourish Bhattacharyya
Mr Bhattacharyya has written the first-ever article on India’s wine culture to be published in an international magazine – Wine Enthusiast, New York, in its August 2006 edition. After winning acclaim for his first book, Sakura’s Kitchen: The Culture & Cuisine of Japan for Nikko hotels, he joined Mr Arora to co-author the Italian Wine Guide.

INDIAN WINE ACADEMY’S TRACK RECORD
Here’s a summary of what the Indian Wine Academy has done in the last two years. For more information, log on to www.indianwineacademy.com and also check out delWine.
Also, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com to Indian Wine Academy’s Subhash Arora and Sourish Bhattacharyya discuss the fine art of matching wine with Indian food in Washington Post, the leading US newspaper.

Market Development Support
(1) India Visit of Dr Franco Oliva: We conducted a market familiarisation tour of Delhi on December 8-10, 2005, for Dr Franco Oliva, Deputy Director, International Olive Oil Council (IOOC). Mr Oliva was in Delhi to study the possibility of launching an IOOC campaign in India in 2007. During his stay, he spoke to over 80 F&B professionals at IFE-India 2005 (December 8-10) on the health benefits of olive oil.

(2) Dr Oliva’s Interaction With Health Journalists: In conjunction with the Health Essayists & Authors League (HEAL), the Academy facilitated an interaction between Dr Oliva and health journalists from different cities of Indian at Hotel Samrat in New Delhi on October 3, 2006. Dr Oliva spoke on the medical consensus on the health benefits of table olives and olive oil.

(3) Partnership with IFE-India, international food, drink and hospitality exhibition: For the last three years, we have partnered with IFE-India, the leading food and wine show organised by Montgomery International, London, to hold:

-- The second national seminar on the Indian Wine Market – International Viewpoint on December 6, 2007, addressed by H.E. Mr Rafael Conde (Ambassador of Spain), H.E. Mr John Economides (Ambassador of Greece), Mr Nicolo Tassoni (Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of Italy), and Mr Robert Joseph, the acclaimed wine writer and organiser of the International Wine Challenge.

-- At IFE-India 2007, the Academy also organised the show’s first Food Retail Seminar devoted to cold chain management. It was addressed by senior executives of the Indian food retail chain, Subhiksha, and ITC Foods.

-- Organised the first-ever national seminar on the Indian Wine Market: The Road Ahead, which was inaugurated with a speech by H.E. Mr Rafael Conde, Ambassador of Spain, in New Delhi on December 8, 2005.

-- Organised the Wonderful World of Wine Workshop (IFE-India 2005, December 9, 2005), where seven international speakers addressed more than 60 young F&B professionals representing Delhi’s leading hotels and restaurants.

(4) Seminar With APEDA at IFE-Poland 2006: The Indian Wine Academy, in alliance with India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), organised a conference on the ‘Indian Processed Foods and Wine Market: Ready for Generation Next’.

(5) Guided Tasting of German Rieslings: We provided relationship-building support to Fritz Hasselbach of Weingut Gunderloch and Marlies Grumbach of Wineland when they visited New Delhi and Mumbai on February 2-6, 2006. For the first time ever in India, hotel and restaurant professionals were exposed to German Rieslings through guided tastings.

(6) Top Chile 2006: We conceptualised and co-organised Top Chile 2006 in association with the Embassy of Chile in India and Hyatt Regency Delhi on February 13, 2006. The Ambassador of Chile in India, Mr Jorge Heine, unveiled the first-ever tasting notes for premium wines from Chile prepared by a tasting panel consisting of hotel industry opinion leaders.

(7) Guided Tasting of Israeli Wines: We organised a guided tasting of Israeli wines for F&B professionals along with the Embassy of Israel at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on October 28, 2005. Israel’s Ambassador in India, Mr David Danieli, inaugurated the session.

(8) Champagne Launch: We launched the Champagne house, Michele Gonet, hitherto unknown in India, at the Embassy of France in the presence of the Ambassador, H.E. Mr Dominique Girard, on April 1, 2005.

Professional Tie-Ups
(1) At Vinitaly 2006, the President of the Indian Wine Academy, Mr Subhash Arora, was invited to speak at a conference on ‘Italian Wines and Emerging Markets: India' on April 6. The conference, organised by Confagricoltura, Italian association of fruit growers and producers, was inaugurated by Italy's Vice Minister for Agriculture, Mr Teresio Delfino. The other speakers included the OIV Director-General, Mr Federico Castellucci, and the Italian Trade Commissioner in Mumbai, Mr Vittorio Mecozzi.

(2) The President of the Indian Wine Academy, Mr Subhash Arora, presided over the pairing of Indian food and Italian boutique wines at Vinitaly India 2006 in Mumbai (January 17) and New Delhi (January 19). The sessions were conducted with the Director-General of Veronafiere, Mr Giovanni Mantovani, present.

(3) We organised the first-ever Indian pavilion to be set up at an international wine show. The show was Wine For Asia 2005 in Singapore (November 10-12, 2005), where we took an Indian delegation comprising Indian F&B decision-makers, wine industry opinion leaders and Delhi Wine Club members.

(4) Mr Subhash Arora, President, and Mr Sourish Bhattacharyya, Executive Director, spoke on the ‘Indian Wine Market: Beyond The Numbers' at Wine For Asia 2005.

(5) We were invited by Sopexa, France's food and beverage marketing agency, to promote the Aperitif de la France, an evening dedicated to French wines and food products, in New Delhi on June 2, 2005.

Delhi Wine Club: A Gourmet Experience
As President and Vice-President respectively of the Delhi Wine Club, Mr Subhash Arora and Mr Sourish Bhattacharyya have organised 109 dinners with the leading wineries of the world.

In addition to these activities, the Indian Wine Academy has also been associated with initiatives to promote wine appreciation among enthusiasts in New Delhi and Mumbai. We’ve conducted wine appreciation sessions for Standard Chartered Bank’s platinum card holders and for IT professionals working with the Delhi-based company, EMC2. Earlier, we had organised similar programmed for a group of 60 women in Mumbai. Another was for a group of 30 Japanese CEOs and leading international journalists stationed in Delhi.

Educational Activities: Keeping in Touch With Tomorrow’s Decision Makers
(1) We were invited by the Indian Institute of Management Technology-Oxford Brookes University, Gurgaon, a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, for a day-long wine appreciation session for its students on September 30, 2005.

(2) We organised the country's first-ever Junior Wine Guru competition at Hospitality Ensemble 2005, the national-level knowledge fest for students of hotel management institutes, organised by the Banarsidas Chandiwala Insitute in New Delhi. Twelve hospitality management institutes participated in the event.

(3) We conducted wine appreciation evenings for members of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi's most elite club for government officials and top corporate executives, on February 12, 19 & 26, 2005.

(4) The Indian Wine Academy was invited to make presentation at the first-ever wine appreciation workshop organised by the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering & Applied Nutrition, Pusa, New Delhi, in October 2004.