Blind tasting score card

Krsma is a full-bodied wine with a complex aroma of fruit and berries and spice

Take 301 wines from 12 countries, offer them to four panels of three wine tasters each, put them into a room at the Sofitel BKC and you have the essence of the India Wine Awards tasting held recently in Mumbai. Yes, each panel tasted 75 wines in one day — but as long as you were spitting and not sipping, that was okay and nobody either slipped under the table or danced on top.

Conceptualised and mentored by Sonal Holland, India’s first Master of Wine (she can now put the honourific “MW” after her name), wine writer and judge Subhash Arora, and writer and foodie Sourish Bhattacharya, this was the first-ever event where Indian and international wines were judged together without the tasters knowing anything about the wines. That means we didn’t know the origin or grapes or vintage or even the price band of the wines being tasted — a truely ‘blind’ tasting, one that put all the wines being tasted on the same platform, thereby avoiding any bias whatsoever  when evaluating them.

Given this format, it is hugely creditable that Indian wines took eight of the 14 ‘Diamond’ awards, 18 of the 44 Golds, and 16 of the 56 Silvers —perhaps at long last Indian wines are ‘Coming of Age’. Of course, when the awards were announced, they were split between Indian and international wines.

Wines from Grover Zampa Vineyards took home trophies for the Best Indian White (the Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection Viognier 2015) and Best Super-Premium Indian wine (the Chene 2014 — a Tempranillo/Shiraz blend); the Best Indian Red was the Krsma Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, while the best Indian Premium wine was the SDU Reserva Syrah 2013, and the best Indian Superior wine the Nine Hills 2016 Chenin Blanc. Last, but not least, was the Best Indian Budget wine — the Sidus Premium White 2016 from Fratelli.

Krsma Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

Interestingly, none of industry leader Sula’s best-selling wines got any top spots apart from the Sula Brut Tropicale (Best Indian Sparkling) — its Rasa Reserve wines garnered only Silver awards. However the Fratelli Sangiovese 2016 received a Diamond rating as did the Vallonne Viognier 2016. A surprise entrant to the Diamond club was the Chenin Blanc Gold 2016 from the little-known Soma Winery, which is located adjacent to Sula and York wineries outside Nashik.

Of the imported wines, the Best Super Premium Wine slot was shared by the Cesari Amarone 2011 and the Renieri Brunello di Montalcino 2011, both from Italy; the Torres Gran Coronas 2012 (Spain) was adjudged the Best Superior wine, the Robert Mondavi Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon (California) the Best Premium wine, and the Sensi Collezione Montepulciano D’Abruzzo 2015 (Italy) the Best Budget wine.

In all 11 importers and 12 Indian wineries participated in the India Wine Awards 2017, which provided an essential and important focus on wines both produced in and imported into India and which will certainly provide consumers useful guidelines when shopping for their wines.

Wines I’ve been drinking: I can’t say which of the 75 wines tasted at the India Wine Awards were the best, simply because they were tasted blind. However, of the eight Indian wines accorded a Diamond rating, I personally like the Krsma Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 the best: a full-bodied wine with a complex aroma of fruit and berries and spice, beautifully well-integrated tannins and oak, and a great long finish.
 

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant