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 The Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons is a South African winery in Franschhoek Valley on the foothills of Simonsberg Mountains with a beautiful landscape, which I visited several years ago. It’s a joint venture that was formed in 1997 by the late Dr Anton Rupert of South Africa and the late Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Bordeaux (neither the Laffite, not the Mouton but Chateau Clarke side of the famous Rothschild family) and is a highly acclaimed flagship red wine of the house at affordable price.
After serving Rupert Rothschild Classique at many wine dinners I organised for the Delhi Wine Club, I found it to be the best value-for-money good quality wine-a sort of poor man’s top quality Bordeaux wine. I had then declared it to be the best red wine in a good quality category in Delhi. But then it disappeared from my radar because of the much higher costs and listing prices in the hotels and retail.
Oberoi Hotel Gurgaon has been promoting wines at very attractive prices of Rs. 345 (inclusive of taxes) a 150 mL glass. I reported in delWine only recently about several wines one ought to try there. I was very disappointed when I visited the Deli yesterday and found the availability severely curtailed. I was told that there had been problems of supplies. But knowing the bindaas attitude of the management, they supplemented the list and announced the fresh list this morning making it a total of 30 wines at Rs. 345 a  glass-all sparkling wines were also included at the same price-a really very attractive proposition.
What came to me as a pleasant surprise was the inclusion of this wine in the list too. At Rs. 345 a glass, this Bordeaux Blend with a lower alcohol of 13% 9 in Bordeaux they are touching 14% or more now) this Bordeaux styled wine with Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) and Merlot (40%) is dry, fruity, complex and elegant wine with young berries, plums and white spices on the nose and in flavours. It flows through the palate with the same intensity and has a medium to long end. A very fresh though a bit warm on the palate, the wine has been selling at $21 at the duty free shop at the Delhi airport for the last 4 years-slightly higher than the street price overseas elsewhere. But it makes a great value in India at this price- that too at a 5-star hotel-rated one of the best in the world.
Photo By:: Adil Arora
My only request to our readers would be not to become greedy and pick up more than a bottle at a time. The List is changing constantly and I would hate to  see them take if off the list before many of our readers can benefit.
I salute the management of Oberoi for a fast and focussed action. I saw a Poster outside the Deli advertising 30 wines at Rs. 345 a glass from 7 countries (costing less than a cup of coffee at the Deli!). When I checked up the wine cabinet I could find less than 10 labels. When I queried the concerned people I was told the replenishment was being done-though they were facing a problem in supplies too and that the list would be revised by today.
True to their word, the LATEST List of 30 wines as promised in the Poster, was released this morning. and it included the sparkling wines too this time. At over 50% discount!.It took me only one glancing over to recommend this wine strongly though there are a lot of hidden gems in the List, My advisory is the same, go there as often as you can-go in a group-taste as many wines as you can. The list is constantly being changed.
The smarter ones could end up tasting probably more and better wines than they would in a WSET-2 or even WSET-3 programmes at much less cost. Your counsellor Somm Rakesh could be available to you if you are in a group. Check with the Manager Nitin Durgapal at nitin.durgapal@oberoihotels.com
Subhash Arora
Patisserie Wine List (345/glass) |