Sommelier India wishes all its readers a Happy Independence Day. Celebrate it with some Indian champagne! Today India celebrates its birth as a sovereign nation.View a video clip of Jawaharlal Nehru's address to the Assembly in India a few hours before independence at midnight on August 15th, 1947.

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Bordeaux & Aquitaine Wine, India 2007 will be held in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore between November 13th and 17th this year. The event will showcase Bordeaux and Aquitaine wines from France through the Proximum Group which has offices in Paris, Beijing and Torino. The trade event is supported by Le Conseil Régional des Vins d'Aquitaine (CRVA) and AAPrA (Association Aquitaine de Promotion Agroalimentaire).

The event is going to feature 40 wine producers from the two regions of France showcasing three to four wines from each producer. The major hotels and restaurants in India are expected to participate in the events.

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Pictured on the left is Reva Singh of Sommelier India, Patrick Maroteaux, President of the UGC, Serena Sutcliffe of Sotheby's International. On the right is Georg Josef Riedel of Riedel Glas and Philippe Casteja of Chateau Batailley at the Bordeaux En Primeur dinner, April 2007.

Some say that the Bordeaux 2006 vintage could be as special as the famous 1982. Most critics however, argue that the 2006 are not even up to the 2005 let alone the 1982. While on the surface this might appear to be just wine critics bickering among themselves, huge amounts of money are involved. How the world perceives the vintage, determines how the wines appreciate in time.

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IFE-India is organizing the India Wine Challenge in association with Robert Joseph, editor-at-large of Wine-Business International. He also launched the International Wine Challenge in 1984 in partnership with Charles Metcalfe and ran it until 2005. Billed as “India’s only major, independent and truly influential wine competition”, it attempts to determine the best wines available in India through blind tastings. But what really is the India Wine Challenge, how does it compare with other wine competitions, should you participate and is India ready for it?

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The Pune Gourmet Club (PGC) was formed in August, 2006 because as the owners explained, they felt that the average middle class Indian with a taste for gourmet food and an interest in wines was being given short shrift by the industry at large. Wine tasting was being packaged as an exotic and exclusive event. The PGC has simple membership requirements - Pune residency, a willingness to cook and an interest in wine. Membership is free.

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Baron Elie de Rothschild, the banker who revived Chateau Lafite after World War II, died of a heart attack at the age of 90. He was the former head of the board of the Swiss bank Rothschild AG in Zurich.

He led a program to restore the vineyards and buildings after the war and led Chateau Lafite through some excellent vintages such as the 1945, 1947 and 1949 and later the 1955, 1959 and the 1961. Baron Elie was a founding member of the Bordeaux wine guild. Chateau Lafite is one of the largest in the Médoc and produces around 35,000 cases annually of which between 15,000 and 25,000 are of its famous first growth.

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Chateau Indage is moving one step closer to its goal of opening 1,000 retail outlets across the country. These will be called "IVY Wine Bars". Planned for this fiscal year, these retail outlets will help the company reach a turnover of Rs 100 crore. The outlets will include Chateau Indage's own brands and as well as imports from Australia and South Africa.

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I have to admit that being in the wine trade is sometimes very rewarding, especially if you like to travel to the interiors of the country and explore the cultures, tradition, food and of course the wines. Every year I look forward to visiting a new wine region and this year was no exception when I visited the famous wine country around Mosel in Germany. A postcard from Vishal Kadakia.

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Wine snobs are often the loudest in professing their love for wine, but the true wine lover loves it quietly, says Ch’ng Poh Tiong. In India too, just as everywhere in the world, we must be wary of the wine snobs who take themselves too seriously through wine. This article first appeared in the July/August issue of Sommelier India. Subscribe to Sommelier India to read more articles by some of the best wine writers in the world.

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Rajeev Samant of Sula Vineyards wrote an editorial on the growth of wine for The Times of India which was published a few days ago. Sommelier India has excerpted the thoughtful essay for its readers.

The past five years have seen a dramatic shift in the drinking habits of affluent urban Indians. More and more sophisticated city-dwellers are giving up their old hard liquor habits and switching to the softer option of wine. In the 90s, wine was still an afterthought at celebrations or evenings out at the club, but with increased availability of good, affordable locally produced wine, drinking patterns are changing fast.

The full article is available in the Times of India archives.

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