India being a 'dry' country - in terms of alcohol - means I am on a natural detox, no longer consuming bottles of wines from boutique wineries selected from our favourite local wine shop in London. Although I probably consumed my recommended daily intake for the year when visiting California last year, I do miss the odd glass on a Friday night.Alcohol consumption is rising though, and many times I have been offered a glass of wine - it being the more sophisticated thing to drink over whisky (the preferred Indian tipple with a growth of 10% a year). And in Outlook Lounge, Delhi's airport magazine there was an article on India's foremost wine taster - with these (for real) wine buying tips :
- Check for pretty labels. If you like the label you may well enjoy the wine
- At the base of the bottle is a punt; the deeper it is the better and more expensive the wine is likely to be.
- Be honest, if you don't like the wines aroma, don't drink it.
But purchase of alcohol in Delhi is tightly restricted, only really available in Government shops and a couple of supermarkets at certain times. You can get wine, beer and spirits in some of the bars and restaurants in the city, however the quality of the wine on offer is dubious - Piat d'Or anyone?
When researching Indian food and drink before I left, I came across some articles in the press referring to India's flourishing new wine industry. I decided to ask the man who would surely know about this ... Tim Adkin - Master of Wine and writer of the Guardians wine column among others.He replied to me just last week, saying the answer would be in the paper this weekend.... and it was literally!
2 comments:
Haha, I think that research is always of the utmost importance!
Have you found any of the 'English Wine' shops up in Delhi? That used to keep me amused, lots of off licenses for some reason thought naming their shops as such would attract the right clientele - maybe it does.
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