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.

Loved Aneesh Bhasin's tweet

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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Related articles:

http://www.cntraveller.in/content/wine-vine-and-food

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

A look at York Live 2012

This post is a little overdue. On  January 21, 2012 York Winery celebrated its second edition of the wine and music festival called York Live.

My first visit to the festival and I have to say, it was a blast. York’s quality wines combined with a well organised event and a truly stunning musical line-up, this is one party  no one wanted to leave.

Even though the music started after a delay of a couple of hours, Something Relevant, in true form, set the mood for what would be a great night ahead. I really enjoyed Nepali singer-songwriter Ayush Shrestha’s set too. He’s also performing at Sulafest next week so am looking forward to hearing him again.  Finally ShriLektric and headliner Karsh Kale ended the night with a bang. They managed to get everyone on their feet, crowding in front of the stage, asking for more.

Karsh Kale @ York Live

Another great thing about York Live was the pricing of the wine and beer (Budweiser cans @ Rs.150).  The York wines were very reasonable, nicely chilled and oh so good! Everyone started the day with a glass in their hands and ended it sipping straight out of  bottles. My choice for the night was the Sauvignon Blanc, but I brought back with me  bottles of Zinfandel Blush (Rosé) 2009, Reserve Shiraz 2009, Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and Chenin Blanc 2009 to stock up the cabinet at home. There was quite a variety of food counters set up too serving everything from pasta to kebabs to dosa.

Price list @ York Live

Unfortunately, the festival wasn’t as well attended as expected. The 600-700 visitors that did make their way to Nashik were treated to a tour of the winery by York Winery owner Ravi Gurnani and Nikhil Agarwal of All Things Nice.  I’m hoping word gets around before next year’s installment to make it a bigger success, because just as Ravi envisioned it, York Live really is a celebration of all the good things in life.

See more York Live pictures here

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Beer Appreciation @ Woodside

Zane Furtado is a complete beer buff. He even boasts of a degree in Fundamentals in Brewing and Packaging from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), London and runs the page Beer Me Out. Last night he attended a beer tasting on behalf of Gigglewater411. You can find him on twitter @zanefurtado. Enjoy his post.

Woodside All Day Bar & Eatery along with All Things Nice organized a Beer Tasting session at the Andheri branch.

On the menu were six beers from the most popular beer drinking nations of the world:

1. Erdinger – Germany
2. Asahi – Japan
3. Brooklyn Lager – USA
4. London Fuller Pride – England
5. Murphy’s Irish Stout – Ireland
6. Liefmans Fruitesse – Belgium

The tasting was conducted by Nikhil Agarwal, owner of All Things Nice who took us through the history of beer and beer making. Beer lovers were introduced to concepts of malting and kilning as he explained the importance of the bitterness of hops and how water plays an important role in the final taste of the beer.

The most interesting part was the much needed education on the difference between an ale and a lager and the hundreds of varieties of beer available across the globe – Trappist, stout, cider, lambic, dunkel, pilsner, wheat, organic etc.

Mumbai could certainly use some more of these sessions to introduce Indian beer lovers to the different kinds of brews available in Mumbai and give them a better understanding of how their favourite beer is made.

Whoever said appreciation is only limited to wine!

You can catch their next session on Friday, February 10, 2012 from 7:30pm until 9:00pm at Woodside All Day Bar and Eatery, Andheri, Shop No. 11/12, Link Plaza Co-Op Soc, New Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri (West), Mumbai, India.

The event will be priced at Rs. 995 per person.

More details on the Facebook page.

 Tel: 022- 2632 8963/2633 6549

Email: woodside.andheri@gmail.com

Follow @AllThingsNice and @WoodsideMumbai of twitter. For more pictures like us on Facebook and view the album here.

The golden goodness of Erdinger

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Austrian Wine Tasting: Schloss Gobelsburg

Michael Moosbrugger

Last week Aspri Spirits brought Michael Moosbrugger, CEO and winemaker of the famed Austrian winery Schloss Gobelsburg to Mumbai. With vineyards in Austria’s Kamptal region, this historic winery which dates back to 1171 was owned and operated by Cistercian monks until 1995. Since February 1996 the estate has been managed by Michael and his wife Eva.

“The Schloss Gobelsburg winery is a cultural heritage of our area. That is why it is not only a winery but carries the added dimensions of culture, heritage and tradition with it. I’m just trying my best to bring it to this new generation as successfully as possible,” said Michael.

Organised at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, this tasting was a real education for all of us around the table. Michael enthusiastically familiarized us not only with Schloss Gobelsburg but the production and history of Austrian wine in general, the flagship Grüner Veltliner grapes, and the country’s disdain for sweet wines.

Riesling and Grüner Veltliner are the two primary varietals exported out of Austria. Grüner Veltliner is the indigenous variety of Austria and the most widely planted grape variety in the country (37 % of total vineyard area).  Riesling is the second most important grape in Austria.

Austrian wineries produce 250 million litres of wine a year (50-70 million litres exported) of which the biggest share is consumed locally; in keeping with Michael’s admission that Austrian’s believe theirs is the best wine in the world. Of their total consumption (250 million litres) only about 50-70 million litres are imported wines.

Unlike too many other Austrian wineries Schloss Gobelsburg exports 2/3^rds of total production. Michael says that his wines do not hide their personality, but show it with perfect poise. Schloss Gobelsburg wines aren’t aged in French oak but in local oak instead, to keep it true to the region.

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We tasted the four Schloss Gobelsburg wines available in India:

1. Domaine Gobelsburg

     Grüner Veltliner 2009 |12.5% ALC

      Rs. 2,090

2. Gobelsburger Grüner Veltliner

     Kamptal 2009| 12.5% ALC

    Rs. 2,845

3. Gobelsburger Riesling Urgestein

      Kamptal 2009 | 12.5% ALC

      Rs. 2,845

4. Gobelsburger Zweigwelt 2008

12.5% ALC | Rs. 2,780

Currently available in 8 markets across India -Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chennai and Kolkata – Aspri plans to enter the Goa and Hyderabad markets soon. The wines are stocked in most luxury hotels and also select retail stores, informed Sumedh Singh Mandla, CEO (Core Brands), Aspri Spirits Pvt. Ltd.