Brindco, in association with Sommelier India - The Wine Magazine, recently hosted an exclusive wine dinner at the 360 Degrees restaurant of The Oberoi, New Delhi to introduce a fine selection of Italian wines and Italian food prepared specially by world renowned chef, Rolando Beramendi of Allegrini, which is a leading Italian wine producer from the Valpolicella area. Right: Brindco General Manager, Christophe Orlarei and Saurabh Srivastava with other guests.

It seems wherever you look in the world of wine reporting currently, the global buzz of the moment relates to the burgeoning demand for fine and rare wines by Asian consumers, says David Elswood, Head of Christie's International Wine Department.

The second Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC)'s International Wine & Spirits Fair is well under way. There are 520 exhibitors from 34 countries and regions. The exhibitor total has more than doubled from the inaugural Fair which took place last year. France is the 'partner country' for this year's fair and many of the activities and tastings organized have a strong 'French' theme to them. Sommelier India correspondent Harshal Shah reports from Hong Kong.

The second edition of the International Congress of Chinese Cuisine & Wine (ICCCW) organized by Ch'ng Poh Tiong, well-known wine writer and publisher of Asia's second oldest wine publication, "The Wine Review" (since 1991) and the world's first "Chinese Bordeaux Guide" (since 2000), was a great success. The inaugural ICCCW took place last year in Beijing at the Shangri-la China World Hotel. This year it was held in Singapore between 19 and 21 October 2009. Reva Singh reports.

This year Dubai-based Maritime and Mercantile International (MMI) - a subsidiary of The Emirates Group - won the prestigious Travel Retail Operator of the year award for its fine wine and spirit retail outlets, Le Clos, in the 2009 Drinks International Awards during the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) exhibition held in Cannes. Le Clos is located at the Dubai International Airport.

The champagne house, GH Mumm launched the Cuvée R. Lalou 1998 in magnum at a dinner at Iggy's restaurant in Singapore on 18 October 2009 with Yann Soenen, Regional Director Asia-Pacific, Champagne GH Mumm and Didier Mariotti, Chef de Cave present. Guests at the dinner included food and wine journalists, editors, winemakers, wine consultants and educators as well as panellists of the International Congress of Chinese Cuisine and Wine organised by Ch'ng Poh Tiong.

A rare masterpiece of Mughal art - a gold and silver wine flask, studded with jade, rubies and emeralds - is one of the highlights of a breathtaking new exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum reports Sandra Westbrooke Made between 1600 and 1625, it was later presented to Robert Clive, who established British rule in India in 1757. Right:Gem studded wine flask.

Sometimes fairy tales happen in the world of wine too. Jean-Charles Boisset, scion of France's third largest wine company, and Gina Gallo, granddaughter of Julio Gallo and the face of the E&J Gallo winery (America's largest) were married on September 26th in San Francisco. Gina Gallo was in Nashik last winter for the tastings at Sula Vineyards where the Sommelier India team met her. Separately, Ruma Singh of Sommelier India interviewed Jean-Charles Boisset in a recent issue.

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

Austrian wine has not experienced as severe a backlash as some other wine markets in the current economic scenario. Indeed, Austrian exports saw a 10% rise in volume while earnings remained stable. "We were anticipating this development because of the big harvest in 2008," said Willi Klinger, general manager of Austrian Wine Marketing Board. "Also, the trend towards favourably priced wines during the economic crisis had been predicted."

Architecture and wine have a deep, historic relationship. And sometimes, that relationship gets manifested in an unusual way. As it happens, a new road bridge that's being proposed will slice right through some of Mosel Valley's most famous vineyards in Germany. One wine writer is up in arms about it and justifiably so.

It is probably too early to assume that Indage Vintners is on the mend but it has taken important steps in that direction. Most recently, it came to a settlement with Australian Vintage Ltd over the failure to complete the purchase of the Loxton winery. Both cash and wine were involved in the settlement.

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.

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.

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.