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At the year-end I again return to the question of “Which is the best Indian wine?” My answer has been to say that “best” is a relative term that depends upon the occasion and budget and the person concerned. What may be suitable for everyday drinking would not be the wine you open on a special occasion, and what a connoisseur regards as “best” differs from what a novice drinker would like. Never a very satisfying response, as people simply want the name of a wine they can buy.
Thankfully, some of that ambiguity has been resolved by a landmark wine tasting termed “Celebrating India’s Finest Wines” conducted in mid-October in Mumbai. The exercise was carried out over two days by eight acclaimed wine experts (including yours truly) and involved tasting 82 wines from the 15 top Indian wineries: Alpine, Big Banyan, Chandon, Charosa, Four Seasons, Fratelli, Grover Zampa, Krsma, Myra, Nine Hills, Reveilo, SDU, Sula, Vallonne, and York. All wines were tasted ‘blind’ — meaning that we only knew what grape varietal was being tasted, and scoring was on a 20-point basis, as is done by acclaimed experts worldwide (the 100-point system used by Robert Parker and Wine Spectator magazine is another format).
The best sparkling wine was judged to be Chandon Brut, newly launched by Moet-Hennessy India earlier this year and available at Rs 1,200 in Mumbai/Pune, Delhi, and Bengaluru.
The three best white wines were Seagram’s Nine Hills Chenin Blanc, Krsma Estates Chardonnay and SDU Chardonnay Reserva 2013.
The best dessert wine was the Vallonne Vineyards Vin de Passerillage, with the Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc coming a close second.
Among Rosé wines, Sula’s Rosé Zinfandel and Vallonne Vineyards’ Rosé Cabernet Sauvignon were tops.
And finally, the reds (which comprise 65 per cent of all wines consumed): the best Indian red wine was the SDU Reserva Syrah, followed by the Vallonne Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Classique 2011 and then the Grover La Reserve, York Winery Reserve Red, and lastly, the Fratelli Sangiovese.
Interestingly, all the top-rated wines above are priced at or below Rs 800 per bottle, which just goes to show that the highest priced wines are not necessarily the best.
For me the biggest surprise was the quality of the wines from SDU Wines. A last-minute entry, the winery (located about 60 km north of Bengaluru) launched its wines in early 2013 and the wines are available (as yet) only in Bengaluru and Mysore. I had helped locate winemaker Andrea Valentinuzzi (who also makes wines for Reveilo) and set up the winery in 2011-13, and am chuffed that the wines have achieved recognition.
The other surprise winner was Vallonne Vineyards, located off the Mumbai-Nashik road in Maharashtra. A small property with stunning views of the Western Ghats across the picturesque Mukane Reservoir, Vallonne was established in 2009 and its wines are largely available only in Maharashtra.
There is no doubt that the quality of many Indian wines is increasing by leaps and bounds every year, particularly for those units that have their own vineyards where they can control the quality of grapes a lot better than what’s possible with wine grapes from growers.
Look out for the wines and wineries mentioned above. They are an endorsement of the ‘Make in India’ objective of the Narendra Modi government.
Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant
