| It was a collection of antique pre-Independence beauties that were the stars of the show at the wine lunch organised by Titus and Co. to celebrate the first anniversary of its tie-up with Studio Legale Padovan, a leading Milanese firm.
The antique cars, which numbered over 40 and costed perhaps over US$2 million in the international market, included an Alpha Romeo, a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce, apart from Mercs and Cadillacs (and many more on artist Vidita Singh's canvases), but they were not the only highlights of the event, which was attended by the Italian Ambassador Antonio Armellini and the New Zealand High Commissioner Graham Waters.
The highly acclaimed event, toasted by the city's two top newspapers, Hindustan Times and The Times of India, was a testimonial to the fact that wine goes well not only with food, art and music, but also with vintage and classic cars.
These many components were present in sumptuous quantities at the lunch, which was held at the farmhouse of Diljeet Titus, who represents an array of Fortune 500 companies and leading Italian firms like Alitalia and RAI Sat in India. It was christened 'Il Mercato' and there was plenty of all-Italian food presented by the Master Chef Bill Marchetti, who recently gained independence from the Maurya Sheraton and decided to go solo (actually, in co-operation with the seafood restaurant, Ploof). Estimating the exact number of dishes would have been like a hole-in-one in a golf tournament and merited a free trip to the offices of Titus's partners in Italy.
The number of wines would have been easier to guess. There were five wines, Italians all; each crafted from Italian grapes and selected meticulously to go well with the dishes, which included a Sardinian suckling pig, Livornese seafood soup, peppered Norwegian salmon, salad of fresh Chilika Lake red crab, prawn cocktail, fresh Kerala oysters with Bloody Mary sauce, and umpteen different dishes.
The wines had been selected from The Italian Wine Guide , authored by Subhash Arora and Sourish Bhattacharyya, which had been released last week in Delhi and Mumbai. Commenting on the wine menu, Douglas Rife, the visiting head of the US publishing firm, Corwin Press, who had come right after a vacation in Italy , said he was pleasantly surprised to see a Pinot Grigrio from Veneto being served in Delhi.
The well-known rock band, The Black Slade, belted out anthemic songs of the '60s and '70s well after dusk till the guests ran out of requests to make. Titus, a senior partner of the firm, had personally looked into the minutest details, from designing of the invitation cards to providing food packets for the drivers and selecting the Italian music that kept playing whenever the band took a break.
Commented Amitabh Kant, the man behind the Incredible India campaign: "This is what we should do to promote tourism to India !" Titus's vintage and classic car museum is called Pro Bono Public and is open to the public every Saturday (and to school students on specified days). Going by the comments of the guests on these beauties, it may well become a must-visit destination for tourists with a passion for old cars. Let's raise a Bellini to that! |
