La dolce vita

THE WINE CLUB

The sweet life" or "the good life" is what the Indian stockmarket had till just a couple of month ago, before various factors conspired to "setting free the bears".

Simon would perhaps have said "I'd rather be a bull than a bear" "" mainly because when you're bullish, life is a blast and there's cause to pop the bubbly, whereas a downturn means belt-tightening, pink slips and soda water.

That's not good news to wine producers and marketers, who know that consumers cut down first on non-essentials in a recessionary situation.

Now, while some might take issue with terming wine a "non-essential" (indeed, a notable bon vivant once called wine "the most essential non-essential"), there's no denying that saying "let them drink wine" will not help matters.

Which is why I was intrigued by a report about how the Italians continue to have a great time despite a non-performing governmental system and a sluggish economy.

Must be something in the genes or in their culture, this ability to go on pursuing wine, women and song: to belt out "O Sole Mio" while others are rendering a dirge. The wine glass is half-full rather than half-empty.

It's a positive way of looking at things, a good way to be, and certainly less stressful ""both at the individual and societal levels. My theory is that it's all in the wine "" which is a product of the terroir (land and climate).

Apparently almost everyone in Italy with a patch of land grows grapes and almost everyone who has some grapes makes wine "" one report mentioned 250,000 wine producers, and that's just those who slap a label on the bottle and sell the stuff.

A lot of Italian wine is for local consumption "" which is why in Motepulciano there's this wine called Falesco Est!Est!Est!, which happened in the 12th century when a bishop who was charged with writing "est" (yes) when he sampled a drinkable wine got carried away with the drop from this village!

The mountainous nature of the Italian countryside presages spectacular vistas of hilly peaks and verdant valleys "" idyllic locales for estate wineries that typify a long history of wine-making, and which must be experienced to be appreciated.

As must the wines: their best Barolos (from the Nebbilo grape), Chiantis (Sangiovese) and Amarones (three grapes, mainly Corvina) are intense, complex and luscious and talking about even a fraction of the brands will take me all year so I'll just restrict myself to Querciabella.

Started in the 1970s by Giuseppe Castiglioni, a huge wine enthusiast and an extraordinary collector of wine, Querciabella makes a 90-point Chianti Classico, a delectable Super Tuscan (Camartina, Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese, elected the best Italian wine in 2004, 95 points) and the extraordinary Batar (Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, 92 points), one of the few Italian whites capable of ageing for 20 years or more, which needs aeration before drinking, and which many consider the best white wine of Tuscany.

In fact, we're now getting so many of the best Italian wines in India that one is spoilt for choice "" another reason to forge the stock market and just go with the flow. La Dolce Vita! Cin Cin and Happy Holi.

(al.chandra@gmail.com)