 Well known producers having vineyards mostly in Maharashtra's Nasik region made their presence felt with their new labels and liberal tasting pours. The Indian wine industry was in fact well represented with the presence of Four Seasons, Zampa, York, Vintage Wines, Seagram’s Nine Hills, Pause, Good Earth Winery, Vallonne and Indus.
Deccan Plateau, in the vicinity of Pune presented Trivalli 2008, a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot. Silk Route Wines from Delhi participating for the first time, launched their maiden vintages of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Fratelli Wines-a relatively young but aggressively growing new entrant with the ambition to be a formidable national player soon, also presented a complete range of its wines-from Classic Red to the recently introduced Sangiovese.
Kingfisher Bohemia and Jacob’s Creek represented the imported wine segment along with Kiara Wines and Elkay Spirits.
The only exclusively fruit wine label was that of Rhythm from Hill Crest of Pune who offered a Pineapple wine that had quite a good number of enthusiasts for the new product.
A space within the venue was exclusive domain of a few painters and artists who were doing their art works at the Fest and offered their works for sale, rendering a healthy change of pace and taste at the gathering.
The festival had associate stalls for café Arabia with authentic Arabian food, Silk Route, the oriental restaurant, Louisiana Kitchen, Kohinoor, Gardenia Italia, Coastal Rendezvous and other sections like cookies, cakes and chocolates, adding some sparkle to the event. A range of Kamaltara Enterprise displayed wine accessories and furniture.
Pune Gourmet Club and Monsoon Winds Enterprises who had organised the event on December 24 and 25 at the upscale gardens of Ruhi Villa,7th Lane, Koregaon Park had a satisfactory presentation. The festival had colors and music added to the show by introducing a section with busy painters and artists presenting their fares, food varieties from local vendors assisting wines to be paired and checked.
.jpg) “Wines are to savored at the most relaxed and absolute cordial environment”, said B Shankaranarayan, the leading man behind the show. He sees to it that the style statement is carried in all his wine events- including Bandra Wine Festival in Mumbai. Popularly known as Shankar, he has lot of volunteers, support and participation from associates and is fortunate enough to be also actively supported by his wife.
Undoubtedly, such wine fests add value to the wine drinking culture in India. Pune is an economically growing city with increasing penchant for wine and events like this will continue to add value for the local residents and help encourage wine drinking culture.
Sidd Banerji |