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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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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The Rotarians Wine Fellowship of India, held a Winemaker's dinner with Bouvet Ladubay on June 6, 2008. Guests arrived to the Bouvet Brut Rosè, a salmon pink sparkling wine with notes of red-currants and peach, complimented by oak smoked chicken Bruchettes and marinated tomato and feta cheese crisps. RWFI members have been discovering Rosès over the last few events, and have voted it as their favourite wine style.

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Wine sales in Bangalore have been somewhat dull of late, what with the April heat and mid-year holidays having taken lots of consumers away from the city, as also state elections in May that kept watering holes closed for five full days apart from placing various restrictions on supplies. Alok Chandra reports.

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Neal and Judy Ibbotson, the owners of the New Zealand Saint Clair Family Estate, visited India last month and spent time meeting key customers and developing a closer understanding of the market. Saint Clair is one of New Zealand’s largest family-owned wineries and is recognised as New Zealand’s leading producer of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

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Domestic wine consumption touched more than 10 million litres in 2007 and it may go up to 15 million litres for 2008. In 2001, consumption was just 1 million litres. Even more interesting, as the Economic Times reported, Jaideep K Kale, technical coordinator at Grape Wine Park, Maharashtra believes that the consumption of foreign wines has only increased by 400,000 litres since 2001 while domestic consumption jumped.

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At the recently concluded Decanter World Wine Awards 2008, Chateau Indage was commended for five of its wines namely the Indage Merlot 2006, Indage Chantilli Chardonnay 2007, Indage Chantilli Chenin Blanc 2007, Indage Ivy Merlot 2006 and the Indage Marquise de Pompadour NV. Mercury was also commended for the Mercury Winery Aryaa - Chenin Blanc 2007.

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The Independent from the UK ran a story on how Indian wines are slowly getting more accepted in UK restaurants. First it was just in the Indian restaurants in London but now others too are starting to carry Indian wine. The article also includes an interesting "Beginner's Guide" box that describes popular grapes grown in India. For more on the grapes in India, visit the National Research Center for Grapes.

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LiveMint is reporting that the Indian government is considering a uniform and rational duty structure across India. This would mean that wine would cost exactly the same across the country in retail shops. The excise duty on wine ranges from Rs70 a litre to a high of 200% of the base price of the wine. Sommelier India contributor is quoted as saying that this will lower prices in some states too. Read the full story.

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At the International Wine Challenge, Château Indage won three commendations for its Chantilli Chenin Blanc, Ivy Brut and Marquise de Pompadour. No other Indian wines received recognition though we do not know which others participated. In other news, Indage gained access to UK supermarkets through its acquisition of Darlington Wines.

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BT More announced the winners of its wine competition this week. Taking top honors among the whites was the Nine Hills Chenin Blanc 2007 (12.8/20) and the Reveilo Chenin Blanc 2006 followed by the Indus Chenin Blanc 2006 (12.1/20).

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Hurry and sign up for this very special wine trip organised by the folks at Amfora Wine, Nanda and Ranjit Gupta, who are importers of Italian wines and very familiar with the region. They are organising a vineyard and gastronomique tour of Italian vineyards and fine dining restaurants in the first week of September 2008, for a select group of 12 couples ( 24 people). Eat and drink the best at Michelin starred restaurants and buy wine at vineyard prices.

Cost: approximately Rs. 1,50,000/- (Plus taxes). Contact: + (91 11) 2923 2823 ext: 22 Miss Manailu. Email: manailu@amfora.com

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India's oldest and largest winemaker, Château Indage announced its third Australian acquisition today. It has bought over Australia’s VineCrest, a premium boutique winery in an all cash transaction. VineCrest is situated in the Barossa Valley which is 60km northeast of Adelaide. VineCrest has one over 100 awards, commendations and medals in the past five years. The winery specializes in premium quality Barossa Shiraz, Sparkling Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Semillon and Late Harvest (desert wine). It also has a sweet red, ruby and white ports.

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Last week Sommelier India published the ratings of the white wines from Steven Spurrier. This week the ratings of the Reds are being published. Among the Cabernet Sauvignons Vins & Vouloir 2007 came in first followed by Sula Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz 2007 and Seagrams Nine Hills 2007. Seagrams Nine Hills was the winning red at the Indian Wine Challenge. Read on for the results.

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The saga over alcohol tariffs in India continues with the Scottish Whiskey Assocation (SWA) complaining to Indian officials over the duties levied on imported spirits across India. Last year the Scottish industry, won a 20-year battle against the tariff system forcing the central government to lower taxes from 550 percent to 150 percent.

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Maharashtra has recorded a 60% growth in its wine production over the last year. The state continues to dominate the country's wine industry, producing 94% of India's grape wine. According to the Times of India which reported the story, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC) department of wine production show that 2.11 crore litres of wine were produced across the state's 57 wineries this year, as compared to the 1.32 crore litres produced last year. This represents an annual growth rate of 40%.

The state's total investment in wine-making is around Rs. 328 crore and close to 8,000 acres of land are now under cultivation for wine production. Read the Times of India story for more information.

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