| The high profile wedding of Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar in Jodhpur on March 9 in Rajasthan will see guests sip Sula wines once again.
Last year, at the engagement party in London , Sula wines were present too.
Confirming to Subhash Arora, President of Indian Wine Academy, Rajeev Samant said, 'Yes, we have been requested to send Dindori Shiraz Reserve and Sauvignon Blanc for the occasion.' He declined to comment whether there would be other Indian or international wines at the parties being organized in Mumbai or Jodhpur .
Dindori Shiraz Reserve to be served at the high ranking social affair will not be India 's best or indeed Sula's best red wine, though.
In all likelihood, the Dindori '04 or '05 will be uncorked. Their best wine however is Dindori 2003. Although still improving in the bottle, for the next couple of years, the '03 is drinking delicious and at its best right now. The dark coloured, full bodied, fruity, spicy and luscious beauty has soft and rounded tannins, leaves a great impression on the mouth and is well balanced. Full of spicy aromas, it leaves a long impression on the palate and memory.
Bad news is that there couldn't be enough of it in their inventory to serve at the wedding. (If there is, Rajeev should set it aside for his own wedding- it will certainly improve during the next couple of years and stay for another year or two.)
A little over a year ago, when Dindori Reserve '03 was served along with Grover's La Reserve at the wine dinner organized by the Delhi Wine Club at Olive Bar and Kitchen Restaurant, the chief guest Adam Strum, the owner of Wine Enthusiast had commented, 'History of red wines in India will be written around wines like these.'
However, the signature wine of the rapidly ascending wine company has been the white Sauvignon Blanc which put India on the world map as a varietal. The 2002 vintage remains the best produced by the company. Significantly, it had impressed Angelo Gaja who visited Delhi , Mumbai and Bangalore recently to promote Gaja wines. Angelo's distribution company even imported it for marketing it in Europe . 2003 was not as great a vintage, however and '04 certainly went down in quality for reasons best known to the company.
However, it seems that Rajeev's team pulled up its socks and brought up the quality level of 2005. Their efforts to maintain the same style and flavour of Sauvignon Blanc 2006 were commendable. '07 is now evolving in the barrel and if my recent tasting at the winery is an indication, it will certainly try to match the standards of '05 and '06.
Whether it is '05 or '06 vintage (I suspect it will be more fresh and crisp, screw-capped 2006) that is served at the wedding, it should touch the right cord with the likes of Sir Elton John and 'Bend it like Beckham', David and his Spice wife Victoria Beckham, and the herd of international guests likely to adorn the invitee list of 'wedding of the year'. |
