Sommelier India tastes the wines of Murcia
Wines of Murcia at the tasting
The dulcet notes of Doris Day's Que Sera Sera were an apt prelude to Sommelier India's inaugural Tasting Panel tasting. For months Reva Singh had been toying with the idea of creating a regular tasting panel for the publication, and it was with much excitement that a motley crew of five experience palates was able to convene at SI headquarters on a chilly winter's evening in January for a tasting of Monastrell from Murcia in Spain. The panel comprised Rukn Luthra, a rep of the Indian wine trade, Vice President at Pernod Ricard, India, and head of all the company's wine business; Andrew Steele,wine aficionado and General Manager of The Shangri-La, New Delhi; Bill Marchetti, chef and restaurant entrepreneur in India and Australia; Reva Singh, Editor of Sommelier India The Wine Magazine and Harshal Shah, sommelier. The panel,as it turned out, had a good balance between experienced tasters and wine judges as well as those who could provide a perspective on behalf of the Indian consumer.
There were eight wines to assess, seven Monastrells from Murcia and one other wine the 'red herring' for the night which was 2005 Bardou Saint Chinian Languedoc. The unanimous favourite was the now famous wine number 88, whose number was the result of a witty system devised by the trusty stewards for the evening. All the wines were served blind in no particular order and the labels were only revealed at the end of the tasting.- HS
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It seems that new wineries are cropping up in India as quickly as Bollywood releases movies, notes SI correspondent, Harshal Shah. And quite often the Sommelier India Tasting Panel receives their offerings to taste and write about.
