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Slideshow
Indian wines star in UK press
Jancis Robinson MW reveals which Indian wine recently topped a blind panel tasting organised by Sommelier India.
In the Financial Times Robinson featured the growing wine market that is India. Robinson said that the country’s taxation levels can make wine expensive, claiming that a bottle of Jacob’s Creek can cost around £20 off the shelf, and even more in a restaurant. But in spite of this cost attitudes towards wine in India are steadily changing and the wines from the country are also improving.
She said that just 10 years ago wine friends in India would be asked: “What is the point of wine? Whisky gets you drunk so much quicker.” But attitudes are changing and Robinson points to improvements in wine produced in India, and also reveals which Indian wine topped a recent tasting panel.
Meanwhile in The Times Jane MacQuitty looks to help her readers separate the good from the mediocre on supermarket shelves. But which wines did these two wine writers recommend? Click through this article to find out.
Jancis Robinson MW said that a recent tasting panel, which was focusing on Indian wines, decided that, “overall, Indian whites are better than the reds – although since storage conditions constitute wine’s greatest enemy after taxation in India, it may be that whites, generally sold younger than reds, have an inbuilt advantage.”
The judges declared “Fratelli Chenin Blanc” the best wine presented to the panel, with Robinson saying: “I’d happily drink Fratelli Chenin Blanc, made in a new wine region 140km south of Pune, whether in India or not.”
In The Times Jane MacQuitty revealed that she has recently sent back “a dull, sweaty Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in a restaurant and a rustic Pays d’Oc Chardonnay in a wine bar.” MacQuitty added: “neither wine was faulty, just so jaw-breakingly dull that there was no way I could drink them.”
So what, MacQuitty asks, should be done when wines that we have come to rely on start to falter. Well, she urges her readers not to despair as “sniffing out good wine has never been easier” it is just a case of sorting out “the good stuff from the mediocre on the supermarket shelves.”
MacQuitty picked out two wines from Tesco as her best buys of the week, firstly the 2011 Gran Familia, Las Primas Airén Verdejo, which is available for £3.99 until 1 January. MacQuitty said: “Party white made from Spain’s workhorse Airén grape, topped up with sparky, verdant Verdejo. Has enough spritz and oomph to pop up here.”
MacQuitty also picked out the 2011 Gran Familia, Las Primas Tempranillo, which is available from Tesco for £3.99 until 1 January.
She said the wine is, “light, juicy, plummy, uncomplicated red, made from Spain’s leading grape, which like the white is a Vino de la Tierra de Castilla from north-central Spain.”
Victoria Moore, writing in the Daily Telegraph, takes on the issue of vintages and tells her readers that “It looks like 2012 is going to be a bad year for wine; but the good news is that there is always something else out there.”
Moore adds that she approaches “claret from 2002 and 2007, not great vintages, with trepidation – the former tends to taste fuzzy, the latter too often dull. The years 2001 and 2004, on the other hand, are infinitely more assured.”
For Moore, one of her picks for this week is Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes Blanc 2010, which she describes as “a white Burgundy from a good vintage and an under-rated region equals good value all round — yes, even at this price. This Chardonnay rings as clear as a bell: bright and crunchy, with about 30% new oak (you can taste it, in a good way) and a sort of lemony acidity that pulses through your mouth.”
Matthew Jukes recommended a selection of wines in the Daily Mail, which he described as “elegant wines with silky flavours and serious quality”.
Jukes picked out the 2011 Taste the Difference Penguin Sands Pinot Noir (£9.99, Sainsbury’s).
He said: “Otago Pinot Noir usually swings in at around the £20 mark, so I was intrigued to taste this new, single vineyard release at one half of this rate. It is a brilliant wine with a lip-smacking, silky texture and a cherry and plum-soaked palate.
“I suggest you track this wine down today – it will undoubtedly move very fast indeed.”
Terry Kirby in The Independent picked out a recommendation for a wine to enjoy with your mid-week meal.
He wrote: “Galicia, in Spain’s north-west, is mostly known for its fabulous whites to match local seafood, but wonderful reds are made there as well, deriving their appealing freshness from a combination of vines watered by snow-melt and the influence of the Atlantic climate.”
With this region in mind Kirby picked out the Bodegas Gallegas Solano Tinto 2011, about which he said: “The Solano, a blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha, is smooth, medium-bodied, fruity and, at this price, excellent value. Drink with a mussel, chorizo and potato stew.”
The two factors that are holding back Indian wine are poor storage conditions after leaving the winery, which affects the white wines particularly, and high cost relative to other alcoholic beverages. Many local retail outlets have no experience in storing wine (as opposed to spirits or beer) and lack climate controlled storage facilities. Needless to say a typical Sauvignon blanc isn’t going to survive too well stored at an ambient temperature of 30 C for six months or more. This means that a lot of wine served in restaurants in India or purchased for home consumption is oxidized so the inexperienced drinker will never appreciate what the fresh product should taste like. A tip here from someone who spends six months a year in India – check the ‘manufacturing date’ on the back label, it will tell you when the wine was bottled at the winery, so you can minimize the effects of poor storage. Indian reds tend to be fairly robust and storage isn’t such a major issue.
The second factor that impacts on the success of Indian wine in India is it’s relatively high cost. The typical retail cost of a bottle of wine from a major producer is Rs 500 to Rs 800, in pounds sterling that is £7 to £10 a bottle, which is considerable more than the average per bottle spend on wine in the UK. In comparison, a bottle of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (eg Bacardi rum or Smirnoff vodka) is around Rs 350 and a local spirit brand around Rs 160. Although bar markups tend to be lower in India, you could reckon on paying Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 for a quality Indian wine in a restaurant.
In the twenty years or so that I have been sampling Indian wine I can say that the quality has gone up immeasurably, and all of the top varietal wines are ‘correct’, however they can’t yet compete with European or New world wines in the same price category. However, given the rules of supply and demand it is unlikely that prices will come down and in fact most producers have increased then by as much as 50% in the past year.