Introducing Italian cuisine to an Indian audience, Ritu Dalmia, chef and owner of Diva, one of Delhi's most beloved Italian restaurants, has all the answers on Italian cooking in her first cookbook. For example, you will learn how to substitute lemon with lime, use chili (authentically!) with your pasta and dress your mutton as lamb. It also offers a wide range of options for vegetarians.

The book launches on July 15th but the Sommelier India editors attended an exclusive sneak peak event where guests did some Italian cooking for themselves. Read more...

Diageo India plans to roll out high-end wines like Justerini & Brooks in the coming year. It is currently launching the Thomas Barton range which has already launched in Mumbai and will be available in Delhi and Bangalore soon. The Justerini & Brooks is in the $1,000 (Rs 40,000) range.

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Pio Cesare is no stranger to us. We, at SI -The Wine Magazine, have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting the producer Pio Boffa and tasting his wines on his last visit to the capital. The occasion was a special wine dinner orchestrated at the Hyatt with their usual panache. Now we've just learned that the 2004 vintage of Barolo, Barolo Ornato, Barbaresco and Barbaresco Il Bricco have been highly rated by Wine Spectator magazine.

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It was the perfect ambience for tasting some of the best from Kiwi country – the candlelit setting and moonlight at Bangalore's Olive Beach was just perfect to offset the delightfully light, fruity New Zealand sauvignon blancs being launched by New Zealand exporters Index represented by Tina Thomas and Jennifer Woods. The wines are being imported via United Vintners Ltd and will be available in India very soon. Ruma Singh reports

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Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the celebrated photographer of “Earth from Above” (published in 30 languages with 3 million copies in print), has produced a modern and original view of the 1855 great classified growths. He presents a personalized view of 86 bottles from Bordeaux’s most prestigious winemaking properties on a poster priced at 20 euros (of which 1 euro will go to the “GoodPlanet” association.)

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Here are two clarets of excellent provenance that you should know about, which we hope will soon be available in the country, Château Clauset and Château de Côme from Saint-Estèphe. Baron Maurice Velge of Château Clauset was in Delhi in April when I had the privilege of meeting him soon after returning from the en primeur tastings in Bordeaux.

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Did you know that the bill for a celebration party for the 55 drafters of the US Constitution was for 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of port, 8 bottles of hard cider, 12 beers and seven bowls of alcohol punch large enough that "ducks could swim in them?"

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Wine enthusiasts had the opportunity to drink Nine Hills wine and chat with winemaker Jean-Paul Jacquinot (Read his interview, "I was born in a barrel", SI-The Wine Magazine, March/April 2008) at events held dinners held in Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon. Flamboyante was not overly dressed up for the wine tasting. In fact, the Arcade in Mumbai’s World Trade seemed decidedly small. Suneeta Sodhi Kanga reports from Mumbai.

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After much debate and controversy, the St. Emilion classification has finally been ruled invalid. Chateaux must remove the classifications of Premier Grand Cru Classé A or B, or Grand Cru Classé - which should have applied from the 2006 vintage up to 2016 - from labels on wines dating from the 2006 vintage.

The judge blamed the mechanism and not the tasters for the problem. Wine producers see this as a catastrophe. In the old system Chateau Cheval Blanc and Ausone were the only two Premiers Grands Crus Classés A. The Telegraph, AFP and Decanter have the story.

Constellation Brands Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 50 percent, lifted by price increases as well as strong sales of new higher-margin wine brands such as Clos du Bois and Wild Horse. he company's 300-plus brands run from jug wines to coveted California reds, beer imports such as Corona and St. Pauli Girl and liquors like Fleischmann's vodka and Black Velvet Canadian whiskey. Associated Press has the story.

The Shangri-La Wine Club is hosting a tasting on June 20th, 2008 where Joseph Phelps 'Los Carneros' Chardonnay, Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, Stag’s Leap Merlot, 2004 and Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot, 2004 will be tasted.

The Chilean Wine Festival, on 6th June, 2008, at The Oberoi, New Delhi, was like the proverbial curate’s egg – good in parts!! You certainly cannot ask for a more stylish setting than The Oberoi, New Delhi, so it was with anticipation that I made my way to the Nilgiri Room, where the Guided Wine Tasting – the start of the Festival – was being conducted by reputed Sommelier, Magandeep Singh. Avininder Singh reports.

Pictured above: At the Chilean Wine Tasting, Isheeta, Nanda and Ranjit Gupta, Amfora Pvt Ltd Read more...

India is no stranger to wine. Tracing the history of the drink, its origins can be found in old religious writings. During the Vedic period, wine was often referred to as ‘Somarasa’. Hindu Gods Indra and Varuna are believed to have tasted a mixture of wine and herbs as per the Yajurveda. Reva Singh of Sommelier India is extensively quoted in this Times of India article discussing the Indian wine culture.

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Back in the January/February issue of Sommelier India, the Grapevine talked about the Bordeaux-based wine merchant who in the middle of the 19th century shipped several barrels of claret to an Indian maharaja who did not find the wine to his taste and sent them back to Bordeaux. Well, Sanjay Menon of Sansula saw that tidbit in the magazine and sent us this which goes a little deeper into the story.

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