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Although Indian wines have been awarded ‘Commended’ for wines from Indage Vintners, Zampa, Sula, Fratelli and York since 2008, the first time a real medal was won by Fratelli in 2013 for its Chenin Blanc 2012 which received a Bronze Medal. There were no medals for 2014-notwithstanding a few Commended wines. In fact, KRSMA had bagged this ‘consolation prize’ for Chardonnay 2013 as well as for Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and 2012 last year. The otherwise well-regarded Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 was also ‘Commended’.
Although KRSMA’s main focus has been Cabernet Sauvignon which has been winning laurels from the consumers in India and now in the USA, their Chardonnay has been getting attention from the beginning. When Krishna and Uma Chigurupati travelled to Villa d’Este in 2013 to attend the annual Villa d’Este Wine Symposium at the suggestion of Subhash Arora who has been invited for the ‘Davos of Wine’ since inception, they also carried with them a few bottles of the first vintage of Chardonnay along with Cabernet Sauvignon. The response had been better than cursory and polite. (Visit KRSMA Wines Shine at the World Wine Symposium)
Producer- delegates are welcome to bring their wines to showcase them to the other 250 delegates at the VDEWS held at this luxury resort every November. The delegates include producers, consultants, sommeliers and other top wine professionals and experts. Initial reaction had been very good and almost everyone who tasted the wines said they would love to have a glass or two of the wines at any time. Willi Klinger, MD of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board whom Arora invited to taste the wines when Krishna was busy, felt that the Chardonnay was very clean and a nicely drinkable wine. He was in fact, surprised that the Indian wines had improved to such a fabulous level so fast. It was heartening for Krishna as he had grown only 600 kg of the grapes that year as an experiment. His New Zealand winemaker had advised him to throw the grapes away as the quantity was too small to tinker with, but he had insisted on making a trial batch to get some feedback from critics and journalists and the VDEWS experience had been quite encouraging for him.
Although Indian wines from Indage Vintners, Sula, Zampa, Fratelli and York have managed to bag ‘Commended’ since 2008, the first ‘real’ medal ever was awarded to Fratelli in 2013 for Chenin Blanc 2012 which received a Bronze. (Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are awarded; wines are also ‘Commended.) ‘There were no medals in 2014. Therefore, KRSMA bagging 2 medals this year-with a first ever Silver medal for an Indian wine, is a historical event and deserves kudos.
Though Krishna is quite pleased for bagging two medals, he is disappointed that the Chardonnay did not bag Gold. He also clarifies to delWine that they did not enter the Cabernet Sauvignon because they did not produce it in 2013. ‘We should have entered the 2012 again since it mellowed down and is wonderful now. It was recently rated at 95 points by Tasting Panel magazine recently,’ he rues.
During the first leg of the competition, Charles Metcalfe, Founder and Co-chair of the International Wine Challenge had told Subhash Arora in an interview that he had seen the quality of Indian wines getting better every year and he was confident that they would do better and better in future.
While we congratulate KRSMA for achieving the highest honour so far of Silver, we hope their quest for Gold will continue.
KRSMA Wines Shine at the World Wine Symposium
The results for IWC were announced yesterday. For complete results, visit http://www.internationalwinechallenge.com
For an earlier Article about this year’s competition where Arora had also judged, visit #IWC2015: Wine Challenge with a Difference
Other related earlier articles about the competition:
Fratelli wins First Real Medal at IWC London
Subhash Arora |