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 The Article in this Sunday’s edition of Livemint was about an Aromaster kit which is an expensive, niche product, concedes the writer. ‘It is not for casual wine quaffers who don’t care about smell or taste but geared towards serious wine drinkers: people who join clubs, collect wine, and make pilgrimages to wine regions.’
Delhi Wine Club
But she also makes a passing reference to the Delhi Wine Club of which I am the Founder President since 2002. I must admit the glowing tribute she pays is exaggerated as she says, ‘It is no longer enough to swirl, sip and swallow your Chardonnay or Merlot. In order to be a bonafide member of, say, the Delhi Wine Club, you need to sniff into your wineglass and spout berry-ripe stuff about blackcurrant on the nose and “ripe fruit notes” of raspberries and cherries.”
It is true that all the members of the Club know the difference between wine tasting and wine drinking- or holding the glass from the stem or the base, swirling, sipping and then swallowing wine. They can generally even tell when the wine is off from the smell; and even if the wine is of good or ordinary quality from aromas. They are quite vocal about their preferences of varietals, regions, countries and even styles. But not all of them might pass the rigorous nosing test suggested.
Not that they do not understand the importance of aromas in a wine. Through various blind tastings where we conduct a mock blind tasting of wines, I emphasize the fact that at the 53 international wine competitions where I have been judging for over a decade now, aromas are given a lot of weightage- generally 30 points on the usual 100-point scale.
But, we do not judge the nosing ability of a person wanting to join the prestigious Delhi Wine Club which just entered its 15th year on the day the Article was published. (On behalf of the Club, I would like to convey our appreciation to the writer for its mention in her Article- editor). Eradicating snobbery is a significant aspect of our main objective to promote wine through awareness and informal discussions even if the number of decibels goes up beyond civil levels during these discussions. It is acceptable at the club events even if the members do not agree on the aromatics of wine.
Proliferation of Wine Clubs...
The Article begins with the Context which declares that the number of wine clubs in India is proliferating like, well, bubbles in champagne.
Granted that the reference to bubbles is metaphorical but has there been a proliferation of Clubs? When the Delhi Wine Club was formed, there was a suggestion from one member who was also the member of another existing Club to merge the two as there was no scope for more than one. My instant response was that there was a need for at least 100 wine clubs in Delhi alone, what with several residential multi-storied complexes!!
Proliferation was the need of the hour-if we wanted the wine culture to grow fast. Not only do the Clubs provide the opportunity to enjoy wine with food in the company of like-minded people, it is possible to take the learning factor to another level where the members could be expected to know all the 88 aromas-floral, vegetal, fruity besides learning to pin-point various faults in a wine through aromas.
Today there are hardly two dozen clubs throughout India-including the Bangalore Club, Chandigarh Wine Club which I had inspired to be formed, Nagpur Wine Lovers Club and the more recent Ludhiana Wine Society. The newest club formed in Mumbai by India’s first Master of Wine, Sonal Holland –named SoHo Wine Club would perhaps aim to teach the members how to master these aromas found in bottles in the Aroma kit.
It is a pity that the proliferation I had projected did not happen. One of the fun ways to learn about wine on a socially compatible platform, the biggest strength of a wine club lies in the opportunity to taste several different labels which may not be otherwise feasible. It also makes a member ask questions and clarify doubts that he or she may otherwise hesitate to ask.
...like Bubbles in champagne
This is another metaphor that gives me an opportunity to share the trivia that it can be fun anytime a bottle of champagne or a sparkling wine is opened. Estimates vary and are always in millions. Most novices would perhaps say 1-2 million going up to seven, while journalists seem to feel it is around 15.
But a scientist Bill Lembeck conducted a fairly scientific study on how many bubbles there are in a bottle and came up with the astonishing number of 49 million bubbles per bottle! But before the oohs and aahs die down around the table, here is another number to consider. One man, Bruno Dutertre, apparently headed a three year, $7 million joint-project in 1986-1989 between Moet & Chandon and Heineken regarding the formation of bubbles and the stability of the mousse. It used a machine which actually recorded the release of bubbles and counted them. According to Monsieur Dutertre, there are on average 250 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne!!
Are the number of wine clubs in India proliferating like the bubbles in champagne? I think not. If the number of people drinking wine in India reaches the bubbles as counted by Lembeck in 10 years or 20, it would be a happy story.
Mastering aromas to become a Master of Wine
‘To pass the rigorous Master of Wine exam, you need to do a series of blind-tastings (drink wines without knowing their provenance, varietal or vintage) and come up with accurate answers such as, “This is a 2011 vintage from Rioja, Spain. The scent of blueberry pie makes me believe that this wine is from the Artadi winery: Viña El Pison to be accurate,” reads the Article.
The closest that I have come to experiencing a similar situation in reality was only when I watched the movie ‘Somm’ where the budding Master Sommeliers go through a regimen after tasting a wine and rattle off words at the speed of a bullet train and deduce the wine-starting with colour and aromas.
 I asked Sonal Holland MW, the only Indian who joined the latest crop of Masters of Wine in September 2016. "Masters of Wine exam questions require you to taste wines blind, and assess, argue and conclude on the grape variety, region of origin, style, quality and/or commercial positioning of the wine. We may sometimes be asked about the vintage, but in any case, we are not expected to identify the specific winery or the producer. Whilst it is important to get a majority of the wines right in terms of grape variety and region of origin, increasingly, there is growing emphasis on being able to assess the quality and style of the wine correctly. To be relevant in the role of a wine buyer, marketer or a consultant, it is more important to be able to place the wine accurately in the context of its commercial position in the wine world and how best to market it, than to be able to correctly identify its origin or its grape variety.” she says.
We discussed at length on the importance of aromas in being able to identify the wine accurately. “During blind tasting, nosing a wine involves assessing the aromatic profile of the wine. Aromas can provide valuable leads into how aged the wine is and what the wine might be, but cannot be relied upon in its entirety. Assessing the structural elements of the wine like the level and quality of its tannins and acidity are also important markers. Take the example of a wine from the Right bank and Left bank of Bordeaux where both regions use Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in their wines, albeit in different proportion. If you rely solely on the black-fruit profile of its red wines, you may be mis-led or confused in a blind-tasting. But the difference in the tannin and acidity profile of a Cabernet-dominant blend will be distinctly different from that of a Merlot-dominat blend. When assessed in its entirety, the wine reveals itself to a trained taster”, Sonal remarks.
Sonal further continues to emphasise that to place the wine correctly, aromas alone cannot be relied upon and the overall quality and style of the wine must also be considered. “A Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand, may be a banker of a wine and very easy to identify from its distinctly grassy, herbaceous and stone-fruit aromas. However, to be absolutely sure, one must consider other New World regions in Chile and South Africa. Although other regions are increasingly producing similar aromatic profiles, they may differ in the overall quality or style, which is important to consider when identifying the wine in a blind tasting. Hence, aromas cannot be relied upon to correctly identify the wine, but can be important leads or supporting arguments when identifying the wine” Sonal concludes.
While on the subject of wine tasting, I ask her to expound a bit more for our readers. ‘Nosing of a wine and exploiting the aromas to speculate can only take you in a direction but increasingly the stress is more on structural aspect of wine like tannins and acidity for instance; alcohol will also play a part. Take the example of Right bank and Left bank in Bordeaux where both sides use Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for instance but in different proportion. Wines from both regions may have aromas of black currant and blackberries. But Cabernet is distinctly more acidic than Merlot. A cooler region may show red fruit while black fruit shines in a warm climate.’
She stresses that aromas may give some clue but the structural elements combined with aromas tell the whole story. Giving the example of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc which even a novice won’t err in identifying after nosing a few, she says, ‘there are other countries and regions which may have a similar profile-perhaps a Chilean or a South African Sauvignon Blanc since many producers from these countries try to reproduce similar aromas due to its popularity. But they have different other features which will help identify whether it is really a Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, Chile or South Africa.’
Although not directly pertinent to the Article she offers a bit more insight for those who may be dreaming of becoming MWs. ‘Today it is not as important to identify a wine as pin-pointing the quality and style of a wine and also how and where one would position such wines commercially. I may be a champion in identifying a wine but how does it help to sell wine better? As a wine expert, this is more of a role to help sell that wine.’
Aromaster Kit
By the way, the Aromaster kit comes in a dramatic square box with 88 colour-coded bottles placed in rows. Each bottle contains a fragrance that is intrinsic to wine. Some are floral: others are vegetal. Then there are fruits. It costs €310.
A well-written Article with floral aromas and passion fruit with a hint of vegetal notes in the back layer that inspired the penning of mine! Millions of sommeliers in the world might endorse it-oops, the numbers of sommeliers in the world is not in millions!! Or is it?? That would be like counting the bubbles in a bottle of champagne.
Subhash Arora |