India Wine

Wine chillers and refrigerators are sought after by wine enthusiasts.

Gargi Gupta checks out two options.

In a country that is as hot and humid as India, wine chillers and refrigerators are essential to store wine, to make sure that it doesn’t lose colour or flavour. These gadgets, which have become available in India in the last few years, offer the controlled climate — between 12 and 15 degrees centigrade — ideal to store wine.

Full Story: Keep it cool - Sify

Two beers made for a taste test. It seems as though oak aging is not just for wine anymore. Southern Tier, from upstate New York, offers two, giant IPAs, and they are virtually identical, from alcohol content (both over 9 percent but under the label's actual listing of 11), to color (sienna), to malts and hops used. The limited-edition oak-aged version is thick and sweet, with more than a faint hint of . . . bourbon? The regular IPA is smooth but without sweetness or the taste of liquor. In the end, as always, it depends on preference. But I'll take the regular IPA and leave oak aging for wine.

Because Earth Day is coming up (Thursday, April 22). The oak-aged IPA's bottle cap is adorned with the classic recycle symbol.

We found 22-ounce bottles at Riverside Wine & Imports in Kent. The oak-aged IPA is $9.99; the regular is $6.99.

Full Story: Unearthly India Pale Ales from Southern Tier are worth a taste test - Plain Dealer

Fruits of the Bordeaux hype machine which goes into full throttle during this annual ritual? Highly unlikely. The consensus seems much too firm to be manufactured and the euphoria has infected critics whose opinions are generally measured and well-considered.

Comparisons have been drawn with other outstanding vintages such as 2005, 1961 and 1947, but it hasn't stopped there. For instance, the redoubtable Jancis Robinson wrote that overall Bordeaux 2009 can offer “more sheer pleasure” than any other she remembers. Another famous British critic, Steven Spurrier, who was in India after an extended tasting in Bordeaux, says that this vintage could be “the best Bordeaux in living memory”.

The hugely influential American critic Robert Parker has not yet gone public with his opinion. If he joins the chorus of praise, the impact on the prices of Bordeaux 2009, when released, and in the En Primeur or futures market will be considerable. Parker, of course, has been known to sing his own tune about Bordeaux. He got very excitable about 2003 and 2008 when others were much more lukewarm, and was relatively unenthusiastic about 2005, which many regard as the last great vintage.

Full Story: Fine wine…Bordeaux 2009: the best ever? - The Hindu

Bulli No. 1 to Take Sabb...

Despite apprehensions that the loss of 125 million liters of wine and damage to the infrastructure in the recent earthquake may cause the exports of Chilean wines to suffer but  no loss of exports is anticipated and in fact shipments are already in progress, according to Sergio Correa in an online article published in Chile.

It has been six weeks of brutal impact of nature that left Chile and Chileans very beaten and pushed wine to a whole new scenario. I did not suffer directly because I was in Paris and then in London, where I received a 24 hour updates on the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, cities where I learned firsthand how friendly countries and producers of wines of the same hemisphere and callers of the new world offered their wines, arguing that Chile was on the floor and could not supply the large market of our loyal and healthy drink. I found it appalling and throughout my career, of more than 37 years, I had not experienced anything similar.

Full Story: Chilean Exports Not to Suffer - Indian Wine Academy

That said, wine sales in India have recovered after declining 15% in 2008/0. Total volume was an estimated 1.8 million cases in 2009/10, 16% above the previous fiscal; Sula has emerged as market leader with the collapse of Indage. The future looks bright, with 20 - 25% annual growth in volumes expected for several years.

Read the full report in print in the upcoming May/June 2010 edition. Subscribe here.

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Full Story: Is the Indian Wine Industry dying? - Sommelier India (blog)