Wines to lift the spirits

Food Lovers Bangalore Magazine recently undertook a four-month long effort to identify the best restaurants in Bangalore. Titled “The Nine Hills Food & Wine Showcase 2012”, it culminated last Saturday in a seven-course sit-down dinner for 175 people at the Leela Palace, Bangalore.

Nine Hills is, of course, the wine produced by Pernod Ricard India — which used to be Seagram India before the parent company was broken-up and sold off in 2000-01, mainly to the two largest spirit companies in the world, Diageo (Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guinness) and Pernod Ricard (Chivas Regal, Absolut vodka, Jacob’s Creek wines).

Seagram India had famously “tweaked Vijay Mallya’s beard” (I won’t tell who said that) by making a success of its grain alcohol-based whiskies (Royal Stag, Blender’s Pride). With Mallya now reportedly talking to Diageo for a buy-out of his United Spirits, the worldwide rivalry between the two competitors will take an interesting turn in India.

Back to Nine Hills, whose winery near Nashik was set up in 2005, and the wines launched in end-2006. The initial wine quality left much to be desired: I remember a dinner at the Taj West End for the Bangalore Wine Club in 2007 with the wines — everyone was very polite, but tellingly most of the wine glasses remained only half-empty!

But, as they say, “You’ve come a Long Way, Baby”. The wines have been steadily improving in quality with every vintage, and the eight wines we had with the superlative food laid out at the event were (mostly) very good indeed. Their white wines (Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Viognier) were crisp, clean and balanced; the Shiraz Rose was aromatic and easy-drinking, while the reds (Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, both regular and reserve) with the balance, fruit and soft tannins, were a good match with the food. All the regular wines were of 2011 vintage, with the reserves being from 2010.

Interestingly, the dishes were prepared by 18 different chefs from each of the 18 restaurants featured in the showcase — a rare feat, as normally one chef will not tolerate the presence of another in the same kitchen. Top honours (the gold awards) went to two standalone restaurants: Olive Beach and Caperberry, and to hotel restaurants: Jamawar (Leela Palace), Pink Poppadom (Ista).

Kudos to Kripal Amanna (publisher and managing editor of Food Lovers) and his team who have crafted a unique platform, one that showcases the “best of the best” in the city, recognising culinary talent where it exists, and bringing this to a discerning audience — all with world-class style and panache. Well done, guys!

Wines I’ve been drinking:
Of the wines we had, the one I liked the most, was the Nine Hills Shiraz Reserve 2010: its dark red colour presages a big wine, and the aroma does not disappoint, being a bit woody and full of berries and spice. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied and manages to be both sharp and mellow (come on, it’s still young), with rounded tannins and a decently long finish. But it was a superb match for the pork spare ribs by Chef Manu Chandra (no relative) of Olive Beach.

We’ll drink to that.

Alok Chandra is a Bangalore-based wine consultant