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| Mike Tango Barrow & the Morse key |
Dharti Desai, CEO of FWM knows TCB (taking care of business) well. Aware of the booming market ahead with the lurking competition, she decided to get a private label to promote in the years ahead and with the help of her swirling right hand, Craig Wedge she finally stopped at Argentina where she met Mike Barrow who was just coming out with two labels and was quite amenable to give her company exclusive world marketing rights for the MTB label. MTB is an acronym with a lot of possibilities with Mike and Barrow being the most obvious letters. Not quite-asserts Mike who says it could be for Malbec, Torrontes and Barrow but he had in mind Mike Tengo Bravo. (e in Tengo which means ‘I have’ in Spanish, is actually an inverted a, which makes it the popular Argentine dance Tango, pronounced by the non-Spanish people as Tengo).
For the MTV generation arriving the alcohol drinking subjective age (legal age 25 long years) will find both the wines very quaffable and easy drinking, as one found out at the tasting at the Nandiya Terrace of ITC Maurya with the impressive band from Argentina playing in the background-well deserving the foreground, enthralling the crowd with innovative and very palatable music, like the wines.
The organisers were slightly miffed at the rather muffled response in Gurgaon, a day earlier-due to a horrendous traffic jam that engulfed the Delhi-Gurgaon route from all directions. They felt that this was the prerogative of Mumbaikers and it was not fair for Delhi to copy them.
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| CDM- Craig, Dharti and Mike |
But they were equally ecstatic about the response at the opening Act at Genesis Lucknow last week. ‘They have 1000 members in this club and over 200 people attended!’ said Dharti excitedly. It seems there is a huge latent demand there for such activities and wines, she felt.
The 5 hAs of his certified organic vineyards in the foothills of the Andes get our immediate thumbs up. The wines are clean, easy and pleasant to drink.
Torrontes 2009 is made with 100% of the signature grape of Argentina and grows predominantly in that country. It has exotic floral and aromas with tropical fruits beckoning in the background. The wine is fruity, very crisp and has a great mouthfeel with a rather short end, making it a very easy drinking, and pleasant daily drinking wine. Malbec 2009 with a small presence of Petit Verdot would really appeal the youth because of its soft and juicy tannins and rather rounded impression in the mouth with molten chocolate in the fore. Even vegetarians would love this wine at any time of the day, provided it is served at the proper temperature of 16-18º C.
Young couples would feel pleased and rather romantic with Mike’s universal interpretation of the label MTB- ‘Mere Tere Beachmay’- between me and you. A young pilot and a data center consultant, he has been doing IT projects globally, including one in India last year. A many-time visitor to India, and loving the spicy India food, he says, ‘in selecting these wines we kept in mind that the blend should go well with the spicy food and they should be easily drinkable.’
The entourage has moved to Mumbai where there are two launches on 20th and 21st. Mike moves to London for the UK launch on October 28.
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| Audience listening to the Sounds of MTB as evoked by Mike and Craig |
Though private labels are not new in India-with Vinner Wines in Gurgaon promoting Opera Italian wines and the Golden Mile from Australia, MTB is the first private label from the Americas and it appears FWM has announced its intentions to go global with this launch.
According to Dharti these wines will soon be available in the fine dining restaurants, 5-star hotels and the retails where they would be priced at Rs. 1200 in Mumbai and Rs. 1400 in Delhi (NO-there is no mistake!. Mumbai has rationalised the excise duties whereas Delhi took the High Road and jacked up the excise duties this year to 30%/20% of the declared Maximum Retail Price from the earlier Rs. 150 a bottle). The final prices will be announced shortly but Gurgaon would always be a cheaper option (till common sense prevails in the Delhi government) for the Delhi-ites.
So next time, you have a romantic rendezvous or are meeting a bunch of friends to have fun and good times-try a bottle of MTB-red and white. SAP (sex, age and price) should not be a bar with these wines.
Subhash Arora |