|  Robert had taken the opportunity to visit Sula winery at Nashik and taste some of the wines being produced there. He also met Kapil Grover in Bangalore before coming to Delhi.
His first impression was that there were too many people in the business for wrong reasons. 'True, Rajeev (Samant) and Kapil (Grover) have other businesses. In fact, it is very important to have a flourishing business that can support you when the wine business is not doing well for whatever reasons. But they are totally into wine production and are passionate about their wines. But Renaissance Winery has a petrol pump business and wine making as a side business. It is not easy for such people to make good wine,' he opined.
French style does not suit Indian wine production techniques, he added. There is general lack of ripeness in red wines. France has a history of making wines from unripe grapes. Michel Rolland wants to have the grapes ripened and that is why he is considered sometimes, aping the New World style.
'Jacquinot, who is wine maker for ND Wines and now also for Seagram's, is a great sparkling wine maker. But there is no evidence of his being a red wine maker. These red wines won't cut it for the UK market. I am frankly, disappointed both by ND and Nine Hills wines.' Incidentally, ND Wines make wines from their own grapes while Seagram's is sourcing them from contracted farmers.
So which are the wines he liked? 'I liked Sula's Sauvignon Blanc. Less said about Chenin Blanc, the better. Dindori is a nice wine but nothing great about it. What I really liked was La Reserve from Grover. At Rs.440 the wine is definitely under-priced I feel. I am not sure if Dindori is worth Rs.650', he added. 'I won't rate Vinsura high. I haven't tasted other wines from Champagne Indage but their Marquise de Pompadour used to be good: not anymore.' 'I would have liked to taste wines from Vintage Wines, which I believe are premium wines selling at 750, 800 and even Rs. 1500,' he added.
He showed a lot of concern over wine lying stored in S.S. tanks in Nashik. 'Too much of 2005 white wine is lying in the tanks at the moment in India '. 'It would lose its freshness if it lies for much longer period', he commented. He also expressed surprise on the popularity of Red wine in India and the obsession of Indian producers to go for red wines so seriously. ' India is a warm country. People should be drinking more of white wines-it is only right for your climate,' he added.
Of the wine personalities he felt 'Rajeev will be a big star. He looks like the Yellow Tail story at the moment'. Yellow Tails is the biggest selling brand in the US , perhaps the whole world. It is owned by Bill Deutsch who made Georges Duboeuf popular in the US . Despite a slump in the Australian wine export, the sales grew at 18% last year in the US . It is being imported in India by Sonarys of Mumbai. 'Kapil is more intelligent wine producer. I would be happier being in Bangalore .'
Robert does not support having too many laws for winemaking. 'New world does not have any laws on yields. Nashik may give a yield of 10 tonnes of grapes per acre instead of 5or 8. But we can taste and tell if it is higher yield. The market forces should decide the quality/price equation. For instance, to be told by the government as it does in Bordeaux which day to start the harvest is not right. The farmer should be able to decide that. Similarly when and how much to irrigate should be the grower's choice. At the end of the day, his quality of wine will be judged by the experts and the market only. Even Italy had to evolve the IGT appellation to give the farmers liberty of taking relevant decisions', he suggests
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