 Wineries like Four Seasons, Vintage Wines (Reveilo), Fratelli, Grover-Zampa (the new entity after the merger of the two wineries) Nine Hills, Turning Point, Chateau d’ Ori and Pause will pour wines for the Indian wine lovers. Smaller wineries like Flamingo-owned by the Chairman of IGPB Jagdish Holkar, Renaissance- owned by Shivaji Aher, President of All India Wine Producers Association (AIWPA), Vine and Vouloir and Mountain View will also be able to showcase their wines under the banner of AIWPA. (The action taken by AIWPA to promote the smaller wineries and perhaps get them closer to making a united marketing front is laudable and a step in the right direction.)
Imported Wines
If you love only foreign wines, the Fest will also keep you busy tasting the whole day because of the big line-up of imported wines again this time. Pernod Ricard leads the pack with its ubiquitous Jacobs Creek and will hopefully have their Reserve range and the delicious bubbly too. The Mumbai based Wine Park will have wines from Australia, Italy, France, South Africa and USA. Other participants Ixora, Gusto and Tbilvino will have varieties from different countries including Georgia.
Wine, Art and Quirky
Wine Park specialises in importing wines from boutique wineries. Most of these winemakers consider themselves as artists and wine as a canvas to display their talent and passion. Many of them also use art labels (a concept pioneered by the First Growth of Bordeaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild) to distinguish from others. This art on the label could be inherited by the wine maker - like The Prisoner by Orin Swift from California; or it could be an artist friend of the wine maker who has designed the label - like wines of Agricola Querciabella from Tuscany. It could also be a wine maker who is a painter himself - like Bibi Graetz, all whose wines display labels representing his own art.
Hence, Quirky is now in fashion. Wines like the Bad Boy from one of the great producers in St. Emilion, Jean Luc Thunevin and Little James basket Press from Saint Cosme in Rhone Valley are a few examples of the ‘art’ Kadakia is importing. You can get a dekko and feel their passion for the first time at this unique event which Vishal has specially lined up for the visitors.
Photos By:: Adil Arora
The festival offers an excellent opportunity to interact with sommeliers and wine producers besides tasting a large number of wines. It also includes cheese tasting and gourmet food, with music and entertainment to add to the ambience with a beautiful view of the ocean in the background, accentuated by the magnificent Gateway of India and the harbor on the side. Wish Lanterns will adorn the nearby skies in the evening. The festival opens on Saturday, December 5 at 3 pm when the famous ad celebrity Prahlad Kakar will pop the first champagne bottle-oops, sparkling wine. It goes on till 10 pm making it so the family of young adults may soak in the atmosphere while sipping wines. Grape stomping has also become a regular part of the events included in this Fest.
The organisers, claiming it to be the biggest outdoor wine event in Mumbai and in fact, the biggest wine festival in India (our Bangalore friends may disagree) have also exciting competitions, prizes and vineyard visits to lure wine lovers. A special but regular feature that makes the festival attractive is the opportunity to buy wines at discount, all these features making the entry ticket of Rs.500 online (Rs. 600 at the venue) worth the price.
Besides Indian Wine Academy (IWA) and Terroir One (Mumbai Chapter of the Delhi Wine Club), both wine bodies Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) and the All India Wine Producers Association (AIWPA) are supporting the event for the first time. IWA has been an ardent supporter of wine festivals of this nature and appreciates this venture as others that are held in Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Nagpur and even Gauhati where wine making is ironically banned but fruit wines are still being allowed as mom or pop style ventures.
It is at such events that one gets tasting and learning opportunities since the producers and importers are more than eager to showcase their wines. Hopefully, one day the drought of such fests will end in Delhi where the archaic laws not only disallow wine tasting fests but also ban the tasting of wines that have been registered in the excise department in such events.
Mumbai Wine Fest has established its credibility and besides getting a thumps up from the Indian Wine Academy, it has the support of Incredible India! – India Tourism, Maharashtra Tourism – MTDC, All India Wine Producers Association (AIWPA), Terroir One (Mumbai Chapter of the Delhi Wine Club) and the Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB). It is heartening to note that the Tourism departments of the State and the country have recognized the role of wines in the development of the tourism industry.
 Whether you are a novice or a connoisseur or simply an experimentalist who would like to experience the Wonderful World of Wine, you would be glad to participate in this Festival, even if it is at the other end of the world for the Mumbai suburbanites.
For details and online registrations, please check out www.mumbaiwinefest.in or write to info@mumbaifest.com. Have a great wine week-end on the 5-6 January and start the New Year with plenty of Cheer at The Pier in Colaba. And don’t forget to say hello to your wine friend from Delhi or write to me at arora@delWine.com or wineguyindia@gmail.com
Cheers
Subhash Arora
List of Imported Wines for Tasting
Tag : Mumbai Wine Tasting Festival; Indian Wineries; Indian Wine Academy; Wine Park; Vishal Kadakia; Terroir One; Delhi Wine Club; Four Seasons; Reveilo; Fratelli; Grover-Zampa; Nine Hills; Turning Point; Chateau D'Ori; Pause; AIWPA; All India Wine Producers Association; Prahlad Kakar; delWine; Radio Club Mumbai; IGPB; Indian Grape Processing Board;
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