Historically, rosé wine was delicate and dry. It was thought of as the red wine for white wine drinkers; lighter, fruitier and crisper. However, after the Second World War, medium-sweet rosés gained popularity with the classic examples being Mateus Rosé and American "blush" wines. Now the pendulum seems to be swinging back towards a drier, "bigger" style.

These wines are made from the Rhone grapes like Syrah in the Languedoc of France and in Australia too. They haven't made much of a mark in India as yet, but they do share something in common with our neighbor across the border. August 14th has been declared International Rosé Day. It also happens to be Pakistan's Independence Day!

Post your comments on the blog and send us your letters about the magazine. The author of the best letter or blog post from the most recent two months will win a free bottle of wine! The winning letter will be published in the print issue.

My wine experience during my stay in India was eye-opening. If you told me five years ago that Indians would put down their bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label for a glass of Shiraz, I would laugh. After spending a few days in Chennai, my concept of an Indian wine shop was bleak: a wine stand (see photo) with men standing around in lungis all day, taking shots of “wine” i.e. liquor or port.

Dini Rao formerly in the wine department at Christie’s, and a personal friend, sent us this report. This was first published on Dr. Vino Read more...

Everybody in the west is nervous about climate change. Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth and The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in the UK have recently highlighted the dangers. The wine industry is still trying to understand what this means for them. However, there are some indisputable facts.

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The study of wine fascinates me. The more I study the more I know how little I know. This, however, cannot stop me from pursuing the subject of my choice. For, knowledge is infinite--knowledge is power- and I wish to be as powerful as one can be.

Jasbeer Sachdev is a wine professional currently working for Brindco Limited.

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Reva K Singh of Sommelier India was featured on NDTV recently discussing wine in India and the growth of wine related journalism. NDTV also published an accompanying news story in which they said, "Wine journalism is maturing fast, thanks to pioneers like Reva Singh. Two years ago she launched the magazine Sommelier India. She said that she wanted to demystify wine."

It is the practice of removing unripe bunches of grapes in midsummer in order to reduce the yield per plant and increase the quality. Unlike other plants which will abort excess fruit, such as the peach, the vine will try and ripen the whole crop - which if large will increase the likelihood of producing a dilute wine.

Have you ever imagined yourself soaking away your stress in a bathtub that is filled with wine? Or maybe taking a shower where instead of water there's champagne oozing out? Well, the Chateau Indage Estate Vineyard Winery Resort and Spa that is coming up near Narayangaon hopes to bring those extravagances to you.

The Indian Express broke this story and explain that its not all about decadence. The therapies are supposed to help with anti-ageing and de-stressing. Yes, its the anti-oxidants that are going to force you to take a Champagne shower! I've never had one and cannot imagine what it would feel like. Have you?

There's no shortage of imagination in the wine industry. All you have to do is to study a couple of bottle labels or even taste a range of wines to know that. Well, now LVMH seems to have taken it to a new level with the launch of skin-care products made from the grapes of Château d'Yquem. £250 gets you Dior's L'Or de Vie, a premium skin cream derived from the sameSauvignon grapes as the wine. As more of a wine enthusiast and less of a skin-care consumer, I do wonder whether the grapes are being put to good use. It's Château d'Yquem was the only producer classified as a Premier Cru Supérieur back in 1855.

The wines you drink actually tell a lot about you. For example, drinking Pinot Noir makes you a person who is knowledgeable and with a fondness for luxuries. Pinot Noir drinkers like to charm and seduce but can also be moody. Shiraz fans on the other hand, like a good story and love meeting up with old friends.

So what are you telling people about yourself by your choices in wine? Read on to find whether you should be drinking your favorite wine in public or quietly in your solitary splendor at home!

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Kapil Grover of Grover Vineyards was quoted in a Hindustan Times article the other day about a new Vir Sanghvi show. He said, "Wine making is easy and only the first 200 years are difficult." He added, "I wish I could live to enjoy the easy part." After that he went onto say that 80% of their exports go to France. It is a good sign that Indian wine is selling in France especially since wine production in India is not 200 years old!

Vir Sanghvi is doing a six part TV show for the discovery channel on food and wine. His fifth episode is titled, "India Uncorked" and covers Indian wine exports and a trip to Grover Vineyards where he interviews Kapil Grover. Sanghvi confesses to having difficulty in sniffing the bouquet in wine. Our advice to him - don't worry too much about the bouquet, just enjoy the wine!

Did you know that wine was discovered by a woman? According to Persian mythology, she drank the fermented juice from grapes stored in a jar, went to sleep, and surprisingly woke up cured of a headache, instead of suffering from the world's first hangover as one might have expected!

Wine became the drink of the gods, whether they were Egyptian, Sumerian, or Greek, and the early deities of wine were also often women, since they were also associated with fertility. The symbolism of wine, as well as its effect, became potent as it was adopted into religious ritual. Now that's something you can't say about beer or whisky!

Setting Bordeaux wine prices is a tricky business as Sandrine Bégaud of Chateau Rauzan-Segla explained to me over lunch at Chateau Kirwan during the En Primeur week. As business people, wine producers and merchants always want to set higher prices but are mindful of what the market will accept. But in a world where prices determine a Chateau's reputation, producers want their wines to be priced at least on par with other similar wines.

The Sommelier India publishers were the only Indian journalists participating in the En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux last week. This is the second in a series of posts discussing the week. Read more...

Over the last few decades, Bordeaux wine makers have faced significant competition from New World wines. In fact, Australian, Californian and South African wines have forced some Bordeaux wine makers to even throw away unsold stock.

The Union was established in 1973 to combat this trend by better marketing the best of the Bordeaux wines. As Patrick Maroteaux, President of the Union des Grands Cru de Bordeaux explained during the launch dinner of En Primeur at Domaine de Chevalier, it has 132 member estates from the leading Bordeaux appellations: Medoc, Graves and Pessac-Leognan, Sauternes and Barsac, Saint-Emilion, and Pomerol.

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The Sommelier India publishers were the only Indian journalists participating in the En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux last week. This is the first in a series of posts discussing the week.

'En Primeur' is a French term for wine sold on a 'futures' basis before being bottled. It is a method for purchasing the wine early. Buyers hand over their cash in advance in the hope that by the time the wines are released into the market, their value would have increased dramatically. At that point the buyers can either pay tax and take possession of the wines or have them stored in a bonded warehouse until delivery or reselling.

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