| Photo By:: Adil Arora
 I had talked to Krishna Prasad Chigurupati who makes the KRSMA wines along with his wife Uma in Hyderabad, only on the phone a couple of times but had heard and read a lot about the wines (it is heartening to see wives actively joining their husbands these days in winemaking; Vintage Wines near Nashik and SDU winery in Bangalore have already seen couples work in tandem and this augurs well for the wine industry in general and wine culture promotion in particular). I was told that the wines were of very good quality.
When I heard from my sources that his wines were a hit at the Indian stand at the London Wine Show, I talked to Krishna a few more times for my articles and indicated that I would love to taste his wines which, though produced in Hampi in Karnataka, are practically remote controlled from Hyderabad where he runs a multi-billion rupee pharma business. He promised to send a few bottles for tasting and a few days later a packet of wines arrived at my residence through a courier.
Based on my conversation and the reputation that had already travelled North though the KRSMA wines are still not available easily even in the South, I invited Krishna to attend the World Wine Symposium (WWS) this November at Villa d’Este on Lake Como where there is a golden opportunity to showcase wines. On my initiative and invitation last year, Fratelli and Four Seasons had participated at the WWS, my objective being to showcase to the world that India produces wines and of decent quality at that. He responded instantly and emailed me back saying, ‘How can I refuse an offer like this? Count me and my wife in. Can you ask Francois to contact me or send me his contact details?’ Francois Mauss, the organizer of the Symposium which sees the crème de la crème of the world wine industry participate, had the registration form sent to him. Within a couple of days he had already registered for the conference along with his wife.
Tasting the Sauvignon Blanc
Naturally I first uncorked the Sauvignon Blanc which had me confused from the beginning as the 2012 had a Bordeaux type of bottle but the recent 2013 was bottled in a special tapered down full-bodied (heavy) bottle reminiscent of some of the Spanish, Italian or Portuguese wine bottles, especially in the Reserva ranges. I came to know only later while interacting with Krishna that he has a fetish for the heavy bottles.
The 2012 was very clean and had citric and pineapple aromas. Very clean and fruity wine that was a bit on the harsh side with high acidity but quite vivacious. The citric flavours gave the impression that either the soil was earlier used to grow citrus fruits or there were citrus trees growing around the vineyards. Answering in the negative and emphasizing that he does not add any acid in his wines, he asked me to try the 2013 version as it was quite different in flavour.
The 2013 was totally different in character and really swept me off my feet. It was also citric but only with pleasant notes and not excessive. It was dry, fruity with flavours also of passion fruit - a wine that one can drink as an aperitif, a wine that makes you refill the empty glass with a sense of urgency. Of course it would be a great match with fish and light sea food or snacky vegetarian foods in general. It was full on the palate with persisting flavours and lingering after taste - a wine with charisma.
The other Sauvignon - Cabernet
Where the company has really excelled though is in its only red varietal - the Cabernet Sauvignon. It has none of the green tinge one finds in a majority of the reds from Maharashtra. Very clean, well-structured wine with plenty of typical blackberry and crushed berry flavours that were in abundance on the nose as well. The tannins are still a bit tight but the full-bodied, dark cherry red coloured wine is already drinking well and will improve during the next 3-5 years. I slipped in the contents of the bottle, courtesy a decanter, to a bunch of unsuspecting friends during the course of drinking high quality Italian wines and the people happily polished off the wine.
I don’t approve of the heavy bottles being used to make Krsma and I made it known to Krishna who is a heavy-bottle buff and believes that strong and masculine wine deserves a heavy bottle-as they mistakenly believe sometimes in Spain, Chile and Argentina (less and less in Italy and France). Even the Sauvignon Blanc is in the heavy bottle. It is good to see that bottles are dark coloured and carry the attractive labels with Tantrik shades but hopefully one day he will see the futility and the excess carbon foot-prints of the heavy bottles. But maybe it gives him a USP- only time will tell- the wines are expected to be priced at the higher end of the spectrum.
I am happy I will be helping Krishna and Uma pour and share their ‘Tale of the Two Sauvignons’ at the highly prestigious World Wine Symposium where about 250 wine experts congregate for 3 days. They will taste the charismatic KRSMA which seems to have pulled a miracle (Karishma) in redefining the next quality level of Indian wines.
Subhash Arora
Tags: Karnataka, KRSMA, World Wine Symposium |