It's all about the taste...
Sniffing: As you pour the wine into the glass, look at the way the colour changes from the rim to the bottom. Catch a preliminary sniff of the wine.
Swirling: Hold the wine glass with your thumb on top of the base and the rest of your fingers below, and gently move the glass clockwise. Swirling opens up the flavours and aroma of wine.
Viscosity and alcohol level: Swirl your glass again and check the speed with which the wine runs back down the side of the glass. This is an indicator of the viscosity of the wine. More viscous wines will have "legs" running down - an indicator of the alcohol level.
Sniff the wine again. A much better aroma will hit your nose.
Take a small sip of the wine and roll it inside your mouth with your tongue, exposing it to all your tastebuds. Then purse your lips and draw some air into your mouth. This introduces air into the wine and unlocks its aromas again.
Swallow your wine and try to detect all the flavours in it.
You're ready to debut as an amateur sommelier
"I'm a whisky person," I'd say happily every time someone asked me what I'd like to drink - till I discovered my passion for wine. As a chai baby who grew up in the tea gardens of the Dooars, I was exposed to the world of parties, alcohol and "the good life", at a very young age. Parties thrown in the bada saab's (manager's) bungalows and the clubs were lavish affairs where booze flowed free and the food was fancy (read home-grown strawberries and cream for tea and shepherd's pie for lunch). My mother and her friends would exchange notes on the best home brews and fermented fruit wines, and if we kids were lucky enough, we'd be offered tiny sips of the delicious concoctions our parents were drinking. Come to think of it, every newborn in my house, whether me, my sister or the little puppies that we introduced into the family over time, were always christened with beer. And the first proper drink that my dad ever offered me (after I turned 17, of course) was a glass of his favourite scotch with soda.
Cut to Delhi - everyone I knew was drinking Old Monk in winter and cheap whisky in summer. Until Sula and Grover came up with their Indian wines, the yummy tipple was too expensive and inaccessible for us "just-started-working" types. Sula's Chenin Blanc became my favourite celebration drink. I enjoyed my glass of wine with the innocence of one who neither knew how to "taste" wine nor talk about it. So when talk of visiting the Fratelli vineyard in Maharashtra came up, I, in my quest for knowledge, jumped at the opportunity.
Fratelli ("brothers" in Italian) was set up by three sets of brothers from India and Italy in the late 2000s. Together they planted over 240 acres with 13 different varieties of grapes imported from France across three areas - Motewadi, Garwad and Nimgaon. The winery is at the Motewadi site. And that's where I was headed.
The three-hour plus drive to the vineyard from Pune airport was exhausting - the roads were bumpy, signs were few and scattered, and our driver didn't know the area too well. All I wanted to do was to dive onto a bed for an hour-long siesta, but as we drove into the property, my spirits lifted - I felt energetic and at home. I was back in the plantations. Rolling fields with row after row of vines greeted my weary eyes. The only building in sight was one that said "Fratelli" in big, bold letters. I jumped out of the car expecting to be welcomed with much fanfare. Much to my surprise (and relief), there was not a soul in sight. Our driver had to honk twice before a gentleman appeared and shoved things into motion.
Unpretentious is the first word that came to mind as I stepped into the guesthouse at the Fratelli winery. This was, until recently, only open to the owners' families and friends. However, with the advent of wine tourism, the wine-makers decided to open up their private space to visitors. The four guestrooms are on the floor above the wine-tasting room in the building opposite the bottling plant. They are tastefully done up mostly in Fabindia furnishings, are cosy and have Bose music players (much to my delight). Each room opens out into the front lawn and receives plenty of sunlight and fresh air - just what I needed.
At the head of the rooms, the common area has comfy sofas, the only TV, a snooker table, the dining area, and a modular kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the well-stocked cupboards and refrigerator, and happy to see a couple of bottles of wine sitting in the fridge, waiting for me. Meals at Fratelli are simple affairs - food is ordered from a restaurant in Akluj (unless you feel the urge to cook or to eat the pasta the in-house cook puts together) and almost every meal is accompanied by a glass of wine (or two).
All around me, as far as the eye could see, were landscaped fields of vines. I was told that the soil at Akluj had to be specially prepared before the vines could be planted and the land had to be landscaped to improve drainage in the area. I had, unfortunately, arrived after the harvest season, at a time when the vines were being pruned. That didn't deter me from walking into the fields, between rows of vines, breathing deep and reminiscing - I could have been anywhere in the world. Up and down I walked through fields of chenin and gewrztramnar (both varieties of grapes) as the sun set over the vineyards and the heady scent of the vines washed over me.
Wine tasting sessions at Fratelli are experiences in themselves and cater to all the senses - the setting is dramatic, the scent rousing, the taste a surprise and the slosh-slosh of wine being poured into a glass, is purely seductive. Visitors can choose where to have their wine-tasting sessions - in the cellar, the tasting room, or in a hut on Syrah hill in Garwad. I chose the cellar and Syrah hill.
Below the winery is Fratelli's prized cellar. This is where casks of Sette (master wine-maker Piero Masi's special blend for Fratelli) are set to age. The intoxicating scent of wine and oak greeted us as we walked down into the freezing cellar. At the end of the hall of casks is a chic tasting room. Bottles of Fratelli wines line the walls. A table in the centre of the room groans with the weight of heaps of cheese, crackers, olives and almonds. I sit down with assistant winemaker, Vrushal Kedari, who shows me the ropes of how to hold a glass, swirl wine, "taste" it and then describe it. We decided to taste the Fratelli whites first and started with my favourite, the Chenin Blanc, and then moved on to the Classic Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Sangiovese Bianco. One taste of the Sangiovese Bianco, and I was converted.
As I swirled the wine around in my mouth, I sensed a hint of vanilla and a floral undertone. Vrushal very proudly explained that this white was produced from a red grape, and Fratelli was one of only four wineries in the world that had mastered its production. On to the reds - virtually unexplored territory for me. Of the six reds that I tasted, the Cabernet Sauvignon appealed to me the most. Fratelli's pride - Sette - was next on the list. Cask tastings of Sette are loads of fun, especially with a small group of people. Visitors are encouraged to create their own blends of Sette using a "wine thief" and measuring flute. The blend is then tasted by Vrushal and rated (out of ten). The winner gets nothing but the hope that he/she could be the next Piero Masi After a wine-tasting session, visitors can decide which bottles they would like to buy and drink with their meal. I, of course, decided to go with the Sangiovese Bianco.
Garwad is where the major vines are. The wine-growing area is a 15 min drive from Motewadi. Once low-lying hills owned by descendants of Shivaji Maharaj, the area has been landscaped to get the ideal gradient for vine plantation. Visitors to Garwad are taken straight to the little hut almost at the apex of Syrah hill. Here lunch, and a small wine tasting session, can be organised. The view from the hut is the highlight of the tasting session. All around are vineyards and hills covered with downy grass. The wind never dies down. You feel alone and vulnerable and at peace all at once. There's not a soul in sight - an oasis for the city dweller.
Vrushal had been waxing lyrical about his winery, and I had to see it. The state-of-the-art winery at Fratelli holds 58 tanks imported from Italy. Production had stopped by the time I visited and all the buzz was around the bottling machine. I was taken though the entire production process and given a sip of newly-pressed, unprocessed wine from one of the tanks.
A couple of bottles of wine, delicious food and a snooker game down, I prepared myself reluctantly to go back to my humdrum existence in the city. As I drove away the next day, I hummed Leonard Cohen's Boogie Street - "A sip of wine, a cigarette, and then it's time to go! I'm wanted at the traffic jam. They're saving me a seat. I'm what I am, and what I am, Is back on Boogie Street."
Getting there: The Fratelli vineyard is located approximately 170km from Pune, the nearest airport. Most major airlines fly into Pune (approx INR 6,000 from Delhi). The drive from the airport to the vineyard takes 3-4 hours depending on the road conditions. The vineyard offers pick-up and drop facilities. However, book in advance. Mumbai is approximately 330km from the vineyard. The drive takes anywhere between 6 to 7 hours.
When to visit: Harvest is in the early part of the year, between January and March. This is an ideal time to visit if you want to be part of the harvest. The guest house is open year round and is best visited when the experts are free, and can give you their time.
Tariff: A one-night stay with a wine tasting session and tours of the vineyard comes at the price of INR 7,000. For more information and packages, see fratelliwines.in
What to see & do: Other than tasting sessions and tours, the vineyard also offers a variety of indoor games, a small collection of old Hindi movies, and RTV rides through the vineyard. Visitors can also stop by at the town of Akluj and check out the sound-and-light show at the fort (Shivaji is rumoured to have rested here once) and visit the temple there.
Other wine experiences in India
Sula Vineyards sulawines.com
Grover Vineyards grovervineyards.in
Chateau d'Ori chateaudori.com