In ancient Greece, a dinner host would take the first sip of wine to assure guests the wine was not poisoned, hence the phrase "drinking to one's health." And "toasting" specifically started in ancient Rome when the Romans continued the Greek tradition but localized it by dropping a piece of toasted bread into each wine glass to temper undesirable tastes or excessive acidity. Here's some toasting etiquette for the modern world.

When Spanish wine producer and journalist Victor de la Serna told me how much less his 2008 production would weigh after he switched to lighter bottles, I thought he had put a decimal point in the wrong place. Jancis Robinson pulls no punches in her impassioned appeal to the wine industry's 'green' conscience, in this extract from her column in Sommelier India WINE magazine, January/February 2010.

Steven Spurrier analyses the results of the Sommelier India Wine Competition which was conducted along the lines of international competitions and endorses their validity. Editor's Note: This article appears in the current issue of Sommelier India WINE magazine which was mailed in early January to subscribers.

Finding a decent glass of wine in India is enough to drive a person to drink. While wine is increasingly popular - consumption is expected to increase between 25 per cent and 30 per cent a year between 2009 and 2012 - polite drinkers would probably describe many of the over-sweet offerings from the nation's vineyards as "passable". Others would be able to come up with some much pithier descriptions says Jason Staines of Monocle, the well-regarded global briefining magazine.

Former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been invited to keynote the annual convention of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America which 330 member companies through whom 70% of the wines in America are distributed. This is the first time that the convention has chosen someone outside of the wine industry to keynote. Could you imagine Narendra Modi keynoting one of our Indian wine conferences?

There's a secret about wine lists at high end restaurants that you really should know. The cheaper wines aren't necessarily bad wines. In many cases, they're not only the best value for money but sometimes even among the better wines on the list. Why's this the case?

Not by a long chalk. Although they may be from the same region, Chianti and Chianti Classico are two completely different Italian wines, as different, for instance, as Bordeaux wines are from Saint Emilion or Pomerol wines, notes Sandro Caramelli of Fattoria La Ripa.

Here in India few of us drink, let alone think of, ice wine. In fact, relatively small amounts of ice wine are produced in the world each year. But on January 5, the Canadian Embassy hosted an ice wine tasting led by Professor Ramesh Srinivasan of Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning giving us an excuse to talk about these fascinating but not so well known wines.

Adelaide Hills is a region of the Mount Lofty Ranges 'zone' in South Australia, less than 30 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide city. The region is classified as a 'cool' climate area (the cool-ness is a result of the altitude) although, as one moves further north, the later ripening varietals like Cabernet Sauvign...on and Shiraz are grown. Harshal Shah explains.

Steven Spurrier was in Mumbai but thinking of Paris. He is the British wine expert best known for organizing the so-called "Judgment of Paris" -- a 1976 blind tasting between French and U.S. wines in which the Americans improbably came out on top. The contest was a sensation, and sparked the explosion of the American wine market. Now, 33 years later, Spurrier is hoping to witness another revolution, this time in India. Jyoti Thottam who was at the Sommelier India Wine Competition in Mumbai and Elliot Hannon report for Time in the Indian alcohol scene.

Congratulations to Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame. He has been recognized as "Innovator of the Year" by Wine Enthusiast. He's a dynamic personality democratizing the world of wine with his flamboyant, yet down-to-earth and take no prisoners style. With 849,229 followers on Twitter he's also part of the twitterati. Co-publisher, Shiv Singh who's been a speaker at two conferences where Gary has also spoken says that he's even more dynamic in real life. Coincidentally, his book Crush It, was released two weeks before Shiv's Social Media Marketing for Dummies.

Krug: a Champagne house founded in 1843 and still very much a family run company which is left to work undisturbed and independently, despite being owned by the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) group.

We're launching Wine Facts of the Day from Sommelier India contributor Harshal Shah. Expect to see many more educational posts in the weeks ahead from Harshal.

Wine Park, an importer and marketer of premium wines in India recently organised a series of wine events at the Four Seasons Hotel to celebrate Truffles week and the unique pairing of their wines with truffle-laden gourmet dishes. Sonal Holland had the pleasure of attending a rather interesting wine-tasting evening tutored by Paulo Bianchi of Agricola Querciabella, a family owned winery in Tuscany.

With the release of its 2007 vintage, Château Brane-Cantenac has made a change in its legendary label. The question in the minds of everyone involved was, "Why change such a recognizable label that has seduced customers for so many years?" So, why, indeed, did they? asks Reva K. Singh

Judging wines for almost as long as she has been a Master of Wine, Rosemary George believes that wine competitions serve a useful purpose. Continue reading for the extract of this article. The full article appears in the September/October issue of Sommelier India. The Sommelier India Wine Competition will be held on November 19th and 20th, 2009 in Mumbai.