Vallonné Vineyards Winemaker’s dinner

On Tuesday night (February 22) Vallonné Vineyards hosted a winemaker’s dinner at Bungalow 9 in Bandra.  A very intimate affair, Vallonne’s winemaker Marie Barbé took us through their range of wines and Chef Rajeev Basak put together a special menu to be paired with the wines. I’ve been planning to try Vallonne’s wines and the food at Bungalow 9 for a while now and the winemaker’s dinner was the perfect time.

Vallonne wines are created at their 20 acre Nasik estate which is nestled amidst the Sahyadri hills and extends to the beautiful Mukne dam. Shailendra Pai, who set up Vallonne in 2007, has several years of experience in the wine industry and chose to bring on board Marie Barbé who brought with her an expertise in wine-making from Bordeaux.

The first course was warm brie cheese melt with roasted sweet peppers paired with Vallonne’s 2011 Rose. The Rose made of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes is vibrant and fresh. With notes of cherry, plum, melons, berries, a crisp acidity and a refreshing finish, it is easily one of the best Indian Rose wines I’ve tasted to date. With just 3,600 bottles of their first vintage, Shailendra Pai said that this is currently their best selling wine.

The second course: Merlot 2010 paired with grilled roulade of chicken breast, red pepper cous cous with vinaigrette of the deliciously flavourful argan oil. The dish also paired well with the Sauvignon Blanc 2010 which has flavours of melon, gooseberry and freshly cut grass. The wine is very fresh, almost no sugars and a good acidity.

For the main course, Chef Rajeev wowed us all with his Cabernet braised lamb with garlic mash, cabbage and sautéed bacon. Lamb and bacon – divine. This was paired with Cabernet Sauvignon Classique 2010 which has flavours of spices and blackberry.

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Of course after such an exquisite meal we had to finish with a bang. And Chef’s signature single origin chocolate Madagascar ice cream with rosemary, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt is the bomb! Enough to make anyone keep going back to Bungalow 9 over and over again. And when it is paired with Vallonne’s dessert wine Vin de Passerillage 2011 it is only that much better.

Barbé educated us about the process of Passerillage which is the shrivelling the grapes. For the Vallonné  dessert wine, Chenin grapes were suspended on a wire for three weeks to facilitate evaporation and concentrate the sugars. This year the grapes will be dried in nets and Barbé even plans to oak the 2012 vintage. We’ll just have to wait to see how that turns out. Going by all the other wines I tasted that night, it is definitely something to be excited about.

Picture courtesy: Vallonne vineyards

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The Malaka Vallonne Wine Festival 2012 in Pune

Since I often get asked about events in Pune, here’s one that’s being held tomorrow. I have been waiting to try Vallonne wines for sometime now, but haven’t had a chance yet. I won’t be able to make it tomorrow, but if you manage to go, let me know how it was Have fun!

Kala Ghoda Wine Festival Feb 11-12

It is the season of wine fests. First York Live, then Sulafest and now the Kala Ghoda Wine Festival.

And all the wine loving Mumbaikars who couldn’t make it to Nasik, can try an array of Indian and some imported wines at Rampart Row, Kala Ghoda on February 11 and 12, 2012.

I haven’t been to any of the earlier editions, but from what I’ve heard this is one of the more awaited wine shows in the city.

Here’s a list of the participants:

Imported Wines:

• Wine Stores – wines from different wine regions of France.
• Kiara Wines – wines from different regions of Italy, Spain and USA
• Ixora Vineyards – wines from Chile, Australia, France and Italy
• UB Spirits / Kingfisher –  wines from South Africa
• Tabuni Gvino - wines from the virgin and traditional regions of Georgia - world’s oldest wine producing country

Indian Wines:

• Valle de Vin (Zampa & One Tree Hill)
• Pernod Ricard India (Nine Hills)
• Vintage Wines (Reveilo)
• Vinsura Vineyards (Vinsura)
• Kiara Wines (launching new range under the brand Salvaj and Pimpali)

At the AIWPA common stall-

• Redwing Wines
• India Food Wine Company
• Rajdheer Wines
• Flamingo Wines
• Renaissance Wines
• Empire Wines
• Prathemesh wines
• Mercury Winery

Cheeses

Various types of artisan cheeses will be paired with wines at the festival. You can also find vegetarian and non-vegetarian table cheeses from Italy, France, Switzerland and India.

Schedule

Inauguration on Feb 11 at 2.00pm by Bindu Malhotra, President of Terroir One (Mumbai Chapter of the Delhi Wine Club) and Sonal Holland, Wine educator, consultant and writer.

Feb 11 & Feb 12 (both days)

4.00 – 4.30pm: Nupur Joshi, Mixologist – Talk on creative, refreshingly different ways to enjoy wines. Easy to make delicious wine-based cocktails or “winetails”.

5.00 – 5.30pm: Omkar Phadke, Wine expert – Talk on types and styles of wine; what to assess in a wine; six famous red and white wine grape varietals; how to taste wine; how to open, store and serve wine correctly.

3.00 pm & 6.30 – 10pm: Grape Stomping 

6.30pm onward: Karaoke and music

Feb 12 at 3.00pm Special talk by Prahlad Kakkar, Ad-Guru, connoisseur of fine wines and Vice President of Terroir One.

Prahlad Kakkar Vice President Terroir One at the 2011 Fest

 

 

Dates: February 11 and 12, 2012

Timing:  12.00 noon-10.30 pm

Venue: Rampart Row Kala Ghoda, Mumbai.

Passes: Rs. 450 + taxes till mid-night on Friday

Rs. 550 + taxes at the venue

Bookings: mumbaiwinefest.in

Contact:  +91 22 65222244