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The website of Delhi Wine Club had published the launch
of 30 Latt wine from Nashik. Produced by the Holkar
Estate Winery in Nashik, it had been launched at Rs.
450 a bottle in Mumbai. Details at http://www.delhiwineclub.com
The report had described, ‘The wines have been
named as 30th Latt to indicate that this wine comes
from vineyards situated at 30° Latitude, claims
the company sources. Traditionally, wine grapes have
been growing in vineyards between 30-50° Latitude
in both the Hemispheres.’
During my visit to Chandigarh earlier this week, I
noticed the bottles with this label displayed at many
wine shops, retailing at Rs. 470 as compared to Grover’s
Sante and Sula Satori and Cab Shiraz at Rs. 550. The
back label indicates that the wine has been made from
grapes from Nashik which is at latitude (latt.) of 30°.
The producers are declaring explicitly that Nashik
is at 30º latitude and falls within the traditional
band of 30-50º .
I know that none of our present wine producing areas
fall in this range. I had even discussed this with Michelle
Rolland a couple of years ago. His comments were that
due to improvements in viticulture and wine making technology,
this is not so critical anymore.
Bangalore is at a latitude of 12.6º. Nashik is
between 19º 33’-20º 53’; much
lower than described by the company sources.
In a recent issue of delWine, an article
captioned 'Old World, New World & Now the New Latitude
Wines' <Visit http://www.indianwineacademy.com>,
and I quote, ‘Jancis Robinson says
the new latitude wines are not a threat to the best
that Bordeaux or Northern California can offer. But
she acknowledges that most of the upstart nations are
at the same stage of development the French wine regions
were at centuries ago.
"I still find it hard to believe
that new latitude wines will ever be seriously good,"
Ms. Robinson wrote on her Web site. "But then that's
what was said about New World wines not that long ago."
Unquote.
It looks to me that the label is misleading
the customer. There are no real laws in the Indian wine
making world. In this context, the label is confusing
at best and deceptive at worst.
We seek comments from wine producers and
consumers if it is fair to label a wine as such?
Subhash Arora
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