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It was 10:30 pm on the Tuesday night on December 4. The
venue was one of the booths of The China Kitchen, the exciting new restaurant
in Hotel Hyatt Regency, where the final round of India Wine Challenge
was being held. Six of the judges were sitting, waiting to go home after
an eventful day during which each of them had blind tasted and judged
at least 80 wines from India and overseas.
Robert Joseph had requested us to stay back and help
choose the Best of Wines in each category- one of them being the top Indian
Red- not an exciting prospect since all three wines to be judged had been
able to muster only a bronze. Everyone had generally been satisfied with
the proceedings. There had been a few disagreements and debates, but generally
there had been unanimous agreement on the medals awarded.
The bottles were still completely masked in the non-descript
grey bags imported from the London proceedings. After tasting the wines
in contention using a point system, pretty much like in a 3-ball on the
golf course, the best Indian wine had been picked out by the judges but
we still did not know the winner.
'Normally, we do not disclose the winner before the
award ceremony which is at IFE-India tomorrow afternoon,' said the chairman
of the jury and the Challenge. 'But I am making an exception for the first
time as we want to be transparent and we don't want any accusations later.'
With a request to keep the result for the top Red Indian, and in fact,
any top wine, Robert proceeded to slowly take the proverbial cat out of
the bag.
With an air of excitement we were waiting to know who
the winner would be. At this point we did not even know which wines had
won the bronze-we would find out the next morning at IFE- where Robert
would have the list displayed.
'And… the …winner… is…. Nine
Hills from Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Seagram's,' announced Robert to
the disbelieving five.
In an instant, Nine Hills had become a zero to hero
in the first-ever India Wine Challenge.
What happened during the last one year could be a matter
of speculation for other producers and consumers alike, but not to Rukn
Luthra, Business head of the Nine Hills Nashik project from the beginning.
When I called him up later and asked him what he thought might have helped
them improve quality he was lucid. 'As a company with many resources,
we are clear in our long term objectives. Last year was our first year.
The vines were new and perhaps the grapes harvested were slightly unripe.
W knew improvements were necessary.'
A view that has been often expressed by Robert Joseph
who had tasted their 2006 and was not impressed. He feels this is a universal
problem with most Indian wines. Another aspect Robert cannot comprehend
is their using French winemaker Jacquinot. 'I have a great respect for
him as a sparkling wine producer. But being a cooler climate and different
varietals, the viticulture techniques are quite different in Champagne.
I am not sure he is the right person for red grapes because of his experience.'
For that matter Robert is foxed at the obsession of Indian
producers with the French winemakers. 'There is hardly any compatibility
with the soil, climate and the viticulture practices between the two wine
regions. Why should the French dictate the way wine should be produced
in India?' are his forthright comments.
But he did feel a positive change would be visible in
the Nine Hills 2007 vintage since he had heard they had been consulting
Peter Hayes, the chief viticulturist at their sister winery producing
Jacob's Creek, one of the biggest vintners in Australia- a fact that Rukn
corroborated when he told me that, 'the chief winemaker from Australia
had come 2-3 times this year to the winery.'
'Of course, we also learnt a lot from our mistakes from
last year. We made sure we harvested the grapes at higher Brix, so the
grapes were fully ripe, and wines are more fruity, with a better mouthfeel
and generally better balance,' he added.
Another factor that could not be confirmed is that perhaps
the winemaking was a bit too reductive last year and the wines did not
catch the right flavour. Apparently, this year an assistant winemaker
from Sula had joined them for a short while. Despite the instructions
to the contrary, he dared to make a batch with less reductive technique.
When the tastings were being done, wine from that batch
was found more suitable, and rest is history. The fact could not be ascertained
but next couple of vintages might confirm what is merely a conjecture
today.
'We are also putting more emphasis on white wine quality
which is about to be released.' They had entered some white wine label
too but that did not get an award.
Progressive nature of the company can be gauged from
the fact that when other producers were dithering and sitting on the fence,
Seagram's had entered several labels of Jacob's Creek in London months
ago. It came as no surprise to Rukn that 8 of their Australian labels
judged in London had won medals.
'I had met Robert Joseph last year and we knew that a
competition organised by him would be of international class and according
to our normal policy, we had decided to submit samples long time ago,
even though we were a year old in Indian wines.'
Understandably, Rukn Luthra and the whole team at Seagram's
must be very pleased with Seagram's Nine Hills Shiraz also winning a Seal
of Approval.
Rukn is fully aware that despite winning the coveted
title of Best Indian Wine, the wine had won but a Bronze. 'We have a long
way to go. But we are working hard to bring our quality to higher levels,'
he concluded.
There may not be a Seagram's Nine Hills from the next
vintage. Seagram's India announced yesterday a change in their corporate
name from Seagram's India to Pernod Ricard India Pvt Ltd. Surely, they
would substitute the pre-fix with the next vintage. Nine Hills, of course,
should be as permanent as the nine hills that surround Nashik, where their
winery is located.
Subhash Arora
December 23, 2007
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