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| New labels designed by Sanjay Ghosh |
Vinner Enoteca, owners of Vin Opera label that has become synonymous with diverse Italian wines celebrated its first anniversary at the lawns of Forte Grande Restaurant in Chanakyapuri, Delhi last night. In today's bumpy world of foreign wines, the promoters have not only made a statement that they are here for the long term but also that they are going to make Opera brand a vinner.
What better way than to combine an evening like that with Art- not a novel idea per se (Opera had already sponsored a wine and cheese evening for an art show during its infancy last year)! But to organize an evening with a preview of over 2 dozen paintings by the well-know Kolkata artiste Sanjay Ghosh shows the company is really passionate about wine and the culture that surrounds it- well justifying their label, Opera.
What is even more significant is the fact that they have commissioned the artiste to design labels of their new wines based on the actual paintings which were also unveiled. Speaking on the occasion, Vir Sanghvi, the well known food journalist and political commentator did not comment on the wines as he had not yet tasted them, but talked about Mouton Rothschild which is credited with initiating the labels with artistes painting exclusively for the First Growth's Chateau wine, every vintage.
When he congratulated the company for being the first one in India to engage an artiste for wine labels, he was apparently referring to an Indian artist-first. Chateau d'Ori in Nashik debuted last year with all their labels designed by a well known Spanish painter Christina Alba who lives in Bordeaux.
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| Vikash Gupta, Anand Khattar,Meera Kakar, Sanjay Bansal and Vipul Nanda-Directors of Vinner Enoteca |
The wines to be introduced are Barbera Piemonte, Rosso di Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino and Amarone, each with a distinct label designed by Ghosh. 'Barbera is the first one to be introduced-an entry level wine at less than Rs.800 a bottle,' says Vikash Gupta, adding that the other three are premium labels for on-trade as ' many of our hotel and restaurant customers have been asking us about some premium wines from Italy.'
'We had started thinking of the premium Italian wines when our partner Vikash Gupta went to Montalcino this summer with the delegation of buyers and journalists organized by Indian Wine Academy,' says Anand Khattar who is very pleased that wines from this region will enhance the prestige of the product range they carry. Although the prices have not yet been worked out, most of the new range will be available during the next couple of months, says Vikash.
It will be an interesting development to watch for future importers. Italians are very possessive of their appellations. Barbera being a grape would be a generic wine while the others are from very prestigious appellations. Incidentally, Barbera d'Alba, Barbera d'Asti and Barbera del Monferrato are the only three existing DOC Barbera wines from Piemonte- there is none known as Barbera Piemonte.
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| One of the paintings used in the wine labels |
While the Consorzio of Brunello di Montalcino would certainly want to make sure that the wines exported meet their specifications, The Association of Valpolicella producers is not likely to take kindly to the ' Amarone' label. Amarone della Valpolicella is a DOC wine from Valpolicella, made from a special process using partially dried indigenous grapes- Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara.
It would be interesting to see how the appellation authorities react to a generic name Amarone which allowed lightly could perhaps be otherwise made by Wines of Nashik too! Amarone della Valpolicella is one of the top Italian wines and one hope it does not leave an 'amarone' taste (big bitter) on the palate and wallet of the promoters.
Great time ahead for Italian wine lovers! Watch out especially for Rosso di Montalcino, one of the best value-for-money Italian wines even though it is not the least expensive Italian export.
Subhash Arora
October 21, 2008 |