Posted: Tuesday, March 10 2009. 16:25

Four Seasons Wines Launched in Delhi

The four variants launched for a house-full of members are Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, only the first three were presented with the food. Priced between Rs.500-600 the wines are registered in Delhi and will be soon available throughout Delhi.

Speaking to the members, Abhay Khewadkar explained the process of making wines from thee grapes. Reluctant to talk about competition, he admitted the company would strive for perfection and further improvement in the quality. He was very confident about the positive feedback from the members as several people in the trade had apparently been very happy with the quality and were considering placing trial orders.

While there were mixed reactions from the members regarding the Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz, the Chenin Blanc was truly a favourite with most. Dry but fruity and clean wine, it has the freshness, and a mineral character that makes the wine potentially a winner. The residual sugar of just 5 gms means that the wine is dry but not too dry and would be good with the Indian food too.

But Sauvignon and Shiraz could have formidable opponents in wines like Sula and Grover from the old block and Chateau d’Ori and Nine Hills from the new wave of vintners along with several others already in the fray.

Seasons for Screwcaps

It is interesting that UB has launched all the labels of the Four Seasons wines including the reds, with screw caps. ‘These are young wines meant to be drunk young; reds are recommended to be decanted for 30 minutes. So freshness is important,’ said Abhay. ‘We shall bring out a series of Reserve wines also. They are already aging in the wood and will be released later during the year. These will be in cork enclosures,’ he added.

Sula initiated the use of screw caps for premium wines in India. Grover followed them and now both use them for their premium whites but not for reds.

Incidentally, screwcaps which rule the roost in Australia and New Zealand have reportedly cornered about 15% of the total world market of 17.5 billion closures worldwide. Guala, the Italian closure company claims that sale of screwcaps sales have increased by 25% in the past year to 2.5 billion closures. The sales have been growing much faster than forecasted in 2006. The Australian and New Zealand wine industry use 800m screwcaps every year while Argentina and Chile account for 250m.