A book that has fast become a staple purchase for wine lovers, the 2010 edition of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book has just hit the bookstores. At 320 fully packed pages, it is probably the most informative book with the word "pocket" in its title. Wines from all over the world are featured and this handy book is still small enough to carry on any wine adventure. One downside - Indian wines are not included but maybe that will change by the 2011 edition. Buy Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2010.

The Indian wine industry are not the only ones with unusual laws regarding the sale and consumption of wine that seem a little out of touch to say the least. Maine, a state in the USA, has recently passed a law prohibiting children from "observing" the tasting of wines.

You heard it first from Sommelier India: rosé is making a comeback and will be the wine to be seen sipping next summer. At least we at the magazine can call it our mission to get you to drink more rosé. An Italian Rosé was the clear winner. Read on to find out who it was. Pictured are some of the tasting panelists.

The judges for the Sommelier India Wine Competition (SIWC) have been identified. And we are very pleased that they have agreed to judge the wines. After all, a competition is only as good as its judges. The judges are experienced wine professionals from around the country representing importers, producers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, journalists and wine consultants. As chairman, Steven Spurrier will ensure that the wines are judged impartially. Importers and producers will not judge their own wines. View the list of judges on the SIWC website.

Here's your chance to get a diploma in wine studies. Christ University in association with United Vintners Limited is offering students the opportunity to learn about wine and the wine industry at the University Campus in Bangalore.

Austrian wines from Leithaberg in Burgenland can now be officially designated Districtus Austriae Controllatus or DAC wines. Launched in 2003, this is the sixth and latest region to be included in the DAC appellation.

Ecole du vin de Bordeaux (Bordeaux Wine School) will be coming to India for the first time this October to select candidates to become one of the first accredited trainers for Bordeaux in India. Three seminars will be held for F&B professionals, wine importers and educators across India. The training is being organised by Sopexa on behalf of CIVB.

Few technologies have more hype surrounding them than Twitter these days. From CNN (2,685,881 followers) to Oprah (2,083,157 followers) everybody seems to be on Twitter as are we now - Sommelier India. So it doesn't come as much of a surprise that a leading London restaurant, L'Anima is asking the public to vote on its wine list via Twitter. Find more info about the initiative here.

Every economic crisis brings innovations as people test the limits of their imaginations to hold onto their businesses. The Italians get full marks on the creativity front (not surprisingly) with the floating of an idea that Italian banks should accept expensive wines as collateral on bank loans from crisis-hit producers. For this to work in India, the wines would need to be age worthy, expensive and with an obvious track record of appreciating in value. Shiv Singh reports.

Further testament that people are drinking more affordable, better value wines has come in the form of Neilson research data. Apparently, in the last one year sales of Washington State wines has grown at the pace of 9.1% compared to 4.7% for overall wine sales in terms of value.

Sopexa India is in the process of launching two city retail promotions called "Savour France" between August 29th and September 6th, 2009. The events will be focused on wine and cheese tastings with Nature's Basket conducting the promotions in Mumbai and Spar Hypermarket in Bengaluru. Sopexa will also be organizing a familiarization / sourcing trip to France for the Retail and Trade community in November 2009 (03 Nov to 06 Nov).

It was yet another fun-filled evening for the members of the Bangalore Wine Club....but this time with a difference. Instead of the more common sit-down dinner and wine-and-food pairing, the Sunday evening of 16th August saw a 'sushi and wine sundowner' on the terraces of the recently-launched OKO, the elegant Pan Asian rooftop restaurant of the Lalit Ashok, Bangalore. This evening, the accent was on sushi, dimsum and grills - all with wine instead of the more usual sake! reports Ruma Singh

Did you know that wine is a natural, perishable food product and as a result needs to be stored with the same care and attention as you would take with food? When wine is exposed to heat, light, vibration or fluctuations in temperature and humidity, all types of wine whether it is red, white, sparkling or fortified, can spoil.

Chianti producers have agreed to limit their wine sales this year as they fear falling bulk prices could harm their brand. This is the first time that they've taken this step. Each producer will be limited to selling 80% of the wine it produces. With this plan 20% of the wines produced from the 2009 harvest will be held back for a minimum of 24 months reports Decanter. Now would the Indian wineries ever consider such a move?

Trouble at Indage Vintners seems to only get worse by the day. Employees have taken their salary issue to the police according to The Economic Times. Apparently, they have not been paid in three months and are concerned that the company has no intention of paying them. When we first reported that the Indage Vintners financial crisis was deepening, we did not believe it would be getting so bad so quickly.

In the midst of helping to organise a screening of "Bottle Shock" for Terroir (the Madras Wine Club), an unexpected email. Would I agree to take part in a wine competition as a member of a panel of judges headed by (no less than) Steven Spurrier? By Mukund Padmanabhan.

The Calcutta Wine Club celebrated the first anniversary of the formation of the club on 17 July 2009 at Roxy, The Park, Kolkata, writes founder member, Peter Mitter.

The third "official" event organized by the Chennai Wine Club, Terroir, was a well-balanced brew of great ingredients: a thoroughly enjoyable film about the grape titled Bottle Shock, some appropriate grape to keep the film company, and great company that stayed to chat about the grape, writes Parvathi Nayar.
Right: Members of Terroir watch the film, Bottle Shock