| Pics By:: Subhash Arora
 Ask Abhay Kewadkar, the Chief Winemaker and Business Head of Four Seasons Wines Ltd. about his wines and he would invariably tell you that Four Seasons wines or any wines for that matter, taste the best with food. He proved his hypothesis once again last month at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Competition; three wines from the Four Seasons won Bronze medals but three more won in the food and wine category, setting a record for Indian wines winning maximum medals (6) in an international wine competition.
Therefore, I was not surprised when invited to attend a food and wine event in Bangalore recently. This time it was a dinner with an international- or rather French twist. Juliette Monmousseau had visited India first a few years ago with her father Patrice Monmousseau who was the proprietor of well-known sparkling wine producing Bouvet Ladubay in Saumur in the Loire Valley until it was bought over by Vijay Mallya in 2006 through UB. She has been looking after the exports and is currently also the Deputy Managing Director of the company that has more than doubled its sales during the last 7 years.
Her sister Marie who is a Chef with a varied cooking experience and is soon to open her own restaurant within the Estate in a month’s time, was visiting India along with the bubbly Juliette. What better way of promoting Four Seasons wines and Bouvet Ladubay crémants than combining food and wines crafted by Chef Marie and paired by Juliette! Truly an affair with Loire Valley!!
Marie has had an interesting professional background. She was sent to London by her father Patrice who is now the CEO, to sell the Bouvet Ladubay wines in UK. Visiting several fine hotels and restaurants made her realize that she was not really interested in wine but cooking. ‘Perhaps her inspiration came from our Swedish mother who is a terrific cook and was a chef when she got married. I guess I take after my father who is strictly a wine person,’ says Juliette. Marie started from the ground up, working in London restaurants like Zuma, Le Petit Maison and also in Dubai where she opened Ronda Locatelli owned by the Michelin starred Locanda Locatelli in London and worked for a couple of years before returning home where she plans to open her own 40-cover restaurant Le Route du Sel within the Bouvet Ladubay Estate.
 Marie had been with the cooking staff at ITC Gardenia for a few days before the event on Sunday the 8th December. She didn’t mind admitting during our lunch at Edo- the fabulous Japanese Restaurant at ITC Gardenia where the Bouvet Ladubay was flowing freely, that she had managed to smuggle a piece of black truffle the shavings of which she was going to use later that night in a dish.
The evening at the terrace had all the elements to make it successful, starting with Ranvir Bhandari, the VP South and General Manager of ITC Gardenia and his charming Serbian wife warmly welcoming the guests with a flute of Bouvet Brut. The weather was beautiful with just a wee bit of nip in the air. A jazz soloist was playing the right numbers to get the guests who must have been local celebrities of sorts, into the right mood as well.
One look at the 3-course Menu as we sat down and I wondered if I might need a visit to the coffee shop later to supplement the dinner. The feeling still persisted when the first course of light pink coloured fish- the Red Mullet filet was served with Four Seasons Viognier paired very intelligently. Light-bodied dish but lighter and elegant on the palate!
Le Choux Farci, a conventional grand-mother favourite dish made by wrapping cabbage leaf around the duck and porcini, chestnuts and Foie Gras, was certainly the Pièce de résistance of the evening. The cabbage looked thin as a membrane. The portion was big enough to allay my fears of remaining insatiated (I would normally taste the dessert to follow). The dish was simply superb. What made a difference also were the shavings of the Anjou black truffle that Marie had smuggled in. Not only did the dish smell good, it added the earthy flavour; it was a perfect combination for the Barrique Shiraz, one of the two premium offerings from Four Seasons.
 I normally avoid desserts but today it was not to be. Tarte aux fraises – the shortcrust pastry dessert with fresh strawberries, cream and the elderflower liqueur hand- carried by Chef Marie, was the temptation I could not resist. The sampling taste was my undoing. It was so delicate and delicious that I couldn’t help polishing it off. Unfortunately, the Bouvet Brut Rose was not sweet enough to match it, the common thread of strawberry flavour notwithstanding in both.
The event which was later repeated in Mumbai last Wednesday is a small step in the promotion of Four Seasons as well as Bouvet Ladubay the sales of which seem to have tapered off after a rousing start a few years ago, despite the winery more than doubling its sales worldwide. Abhay Kewadkar is optimistic about the future of these bubblies and says with a smile, ‘we would like to make Bouvet Ladubay a celebratory drink of India.’
Let’s celebrate to that success and say Cheers to the charming sisters from Loire Valley!
For an earlier related article, visit Juliette M. of Bouvet Ladubay of Loire
Subhash Arora
Voluntary Disclosure: the visit to Bangalore and the stay was hosted by Four Seasons Wines
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