The beauty of Oberoi is that it likes to do things at its own place but maintains the grandeur like no one else can. The Wine Tasting at Enoteca as I discovered through their latest issue of ‘Envoy’ received today, is once such programme for which one could make season bookings. Wines from Rust En Vrede (S Africa), Livio Felluga (Friuli), Laroche(France and perhaps Chile), Napa valley, Gaja, Leeuwin Estate, Allegrini (valpolicella), Benziger, Marchesi di Barolo, E Guigal, Australian Finest (don’t know what they mean by that!!), Chateau St Michelle, Louis Jadot are slated to be tasted –all appear to be imported by Brindco.
‘We have a sommelier from Friuli, Italy till March. Georgia will take the guests through the wines, region, grapes etc and conduct the interactive guided tasting’, says Abhimanyu Ranawat who looks after Travertino Restaurant. He was too busy to give me details on phone but you could call him at 9999800753 for more information and make the bookings which would go fast since there are only 8 pax for each session to be held from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm every Wednesday and Friday (please notice there is no tasting on Thursday s).
The wines will be complemented by cheese (some cheese, says the brochure-but wine is the protagonist all the way). The pour size is 90 mL, said Abhimanyu, but when I pressed him for confirmation, Abhimanyu seemed to balk and said, ’maybe it is 60 ml’. It may be pointed out the Oberoi has one of the worst ‘wine by the glass’ programmes-they give you 1/5 of the bottle but charge you on a ¼ basis! However, there is a 20% discount on regular wine list if you decide to stick around, during this period.
Oh-I almost forgot- the price for what could be a sublime experience is only Rs.1000 (all taxes included!). If there is a better wine tasting option in town, I would like to know about it.
An excellent way of wine education-this. You don’t need to take WSET courses to learn about wines. Its events like these where you can interact and taste and exchange notes with the expert without feeling over-awed, are important. Do take advantage of the first time ever programme! Choose, Italy, France, USA, Australia (it may be too late for South Africa). And if there is any other hotel which gets motivated by this event, do keep us informed about your wine promotion. We are at your service if you are doing something for the wine consumer-even though it should also result in better business for you in the medium to long term.
Subhash Arora
I have not been there for the tastings which started yesterday with Rust en Vrede (pronounced as Roost en Fray-they). My recommendation is based on the catalogue and a couple of phone calls but I found it too exciting to let go the opportunity for our discernible subscribers-editor
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