“Wineglitz India – The Wine Club” Wine Dinner with Celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani

As President Wineglitz India – The Wine Club, I put together the wonderful 3rd Wineglitz India Wine Dinner at the Omny Kitchen – the new restaurant by Chef Vicky Ratnani at Gurgaon on 12th July.

The highlight of the event was the exceptionally curated menu by the Celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani where all dishes were selected carefully to go well with the paired wines – which unleashed a Symphony of Flavours on the Palate.

The Wine Flight

The flight of wine in the wine dinner had four wines, two from Italy, one from France and one from India. One of these was a sparkling wine and rest still ones.

Sartori di Verona Prosecco DOC

The first wine of the evening, served in the networking course, was the Sartori di Verona Prosecco DOC.

If I break down that wine name, then Sartori di Verona indicates the name of the winery. As the name suggests it is located near to the historic city of Verona which is also famous for being the setting for the famous play by Shakespeare called as Romeo and Juliet.

Talking about the wine region, this winery and its vineyards are located about 18 kms North East of Verona. As we see the map, this area has the Lessini mountains immediately to its North.

Now on one hand these mountains provide the requisite coolness to the vineyards but at the same time they also block the extreme cold alpine winds blowing from the Alps located fourth North and prevent these winds from hitting the vineyards.

A moderating warm effect in the vineyards is provided the huge Lake Garda which is located towards the west of this wine region. Part moderation also happens due the River Adige which flows through this area. This river also happens to be the second biggest one of Italy.

The combined effect of all these factors results in the light and delicate Prosecco which paired nicely with the starter snacks.

Prosecco DOC

In the other two words in the wine name, Prosecco implies that this is a sparkling wine made in Italy from the Charmat or the Tank Method and DOC is the appellation under which this wine falls. This particular wine is made up of 100% Glera grapes so to that extent it is a single varietal wine, one which expresses its finer nuances perfectly.

Guests loved the light and refreshing taste of this Prosecco with the succulent pass arounds which included the Duck Shammi Crostini, Gambas a la Plancha, Avocado Chaat Puri and the Peperonata and Whipped Ricotta.

Chateau Parenchere Bordeaux Superior

The wine in 2nd Course of the dinner was the Chateau Parenchere Bordeaux Superior. Here Chateau Parenchere refers to the name of the estate from where this wine comes from and Bordeaux Superior is its appellation classification.

Chateau di Parenchere

The origin of this estate goes back to the year 1570 when it was established by its founder Pierre Parrenchierre. Thereafter its legacy continued and in centuries that followed the ownership of this wine estate changed many hands. Notably in the early 1800s this estate was owned by one of the Generals of the Napoleon’s forces.

The current owner of Chateau Parenchere is Per Ladin who has an interesting story about him. In his own words, when as a young man he was pursuing his studies in France, he got so enchanted with the French wines that developed a mad desire to own a vineyard in France. After many years in 2005, as luck would have it, while on a trip to Bordeaux he came across Chateau Parenchere, where he was so spellbound by the beauty of the estate that he ended up buying it.

Bordeaux Superior

Bordeaux Superior is a classification which is one up from the standard AOC Wine Appellation in France. Wines labelled as Bordeaux Superior have to pass certain stricter quality standards, higher than those laid down for the normal AOC wines. In this 2nd course wine, one such criteria was that the average age of the vines was 25 years. This resulted in lower yields thereby producing concentrated wines of a higher quality.

Wine Region

Chateau Parenchere is located in the eastern side of Bordeaux city some 18 kms east of Saint Emilion. It is spread over two departments – Dordogne and the Gironde and accordingly benefits from the micro climates of both areas. It is also located astride the Dordogne river which provides a moderating effect in the vineyards.

The Science of Food – Wine Pairing

This red wine is majorly Merlot which provides lots of suppleness and roundness to the wine. In addition it also has some Cabernet Sauvignon which adds more structure to it.

In this course, the moderate acidity of the wine complimented the natural acidity of the tomato base in the Gnocchi with which it was paired. Also the tannins in the wine added by the Cabernet Sauvignon, cut across the richness of the wine. All this together unleashed a symphony of flavours on the palate and created a pleasurable culinary experience.

Marchesi di Barolo Gavi DOCG

Now we come to the next wine which was the Marchesi di Barolo Gavi DOCG. Let me breakdown that name for you. Here, Marchesi di Barolo is the name of the winery, the origin of which goes back to the year 1806. The next word Gavi indicates both the name of the place from where this wine comes from as also the name of the wine itself. Lastly DOCG is the highest wine appellation in Italy and it denotes wines of highest quality.

A Princess from France

Now before I tell more about the wine let me tell you a short and an interesting story about Gavi. As the legend goes, in 6th century AD there was a Princess in France who, in order to escape her arranged marriage, eloped with the knight she loved and they came to a place in the Piedmont region in North West of Italy.

This place came to be known as Gavi, taking inspiration from the Princess’s own name which was Gavia. Not only that, the local grape of this region also came to called as Cortese, inspired from the courteous nature of the Princess. Cortese is also the grape which goes into making of the Gavi wine.

Cortese Gavi Wine Region

Cortese Gavi wine region is located in the South East of Piedmont and has the Ligurian sea on its South and the Apennine mountains towards its North. These geographical features create climatic conditions wherein the region experiences hot summers and cold winters and also a large difference between the day and night temperatures. All these climatic conditions are beneficial to the viticulture thereby producing grapes which produce quality wines, such as this one we savoured with the second course.

History of Gavi

The earliest mention of Gavi goes back to the year 972 AD where it finds mention in a certain vineyard land record. Its recent documented history goes back to the year 1659. Very interestingly around this period itself, the town of Genoa near Gavi, was inhabited by many nobles who had become rich due to the international sea trade which they carried out from the port at the Ligurian sea. These nobles bought large tracts of land in the nearby town of Gavi and even made their summer houses here.

A Wine of the Nobles

These rich Nobles soon took a liking for the local wine which was Gavi. Their fondness for this wine grew so much that they started calling it as a wine of their own. This royal patronage raised the status of Gavi immensely, and this was to continue in the centuries to come. Finally in 1974, at the time of modernisation in winemaking, Gavi came under the DOC appellation and later in 1998 it became a DOCG wine.

A Food Friendly Wine

A striking feature of Gavi wine is its high level of acidity which enables it to pair wonderfully with a range of cuisines. On the table it paired exceptionally with the paired food on the second course.

Fratelli J’Noon

The last wine of the evening was J’Noon – one of the best wines of India. The idea to create such a wine started in 2016 when the then Founder of Fratelli India, Kapil Sekhri dreamt of making an Indian wine which could stand shoulder to shoulder to the best wines of the world. His dream took shape when he collaborated with the flamboyant and talented winemaker Jean Charles Boisset who was born in a wine family in Burgundy and is one who’s credited with launching a number of successful wine businesses internationally.

Later both Boisset and Sekhri spent a lot of time to experiment with different grape varietals and blends and ultimately selected a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot/ Marselan for their dream wine. And this was how J’Noon was created.

In the dinner this wine was served with the soft and succulent Jamaican spiced braised lamb Shank which was made a perfect pair.

I have a J’Noon

J’Noon is inspired the Persian word Junoon which means Passion. Writing it as J’Noon gives a French flavour to the name of this wine.

The first letter J when followed by an Apostrophe as J’ also means I in French. So J’Noon is the winemakers way to say and mean that I have a dream, I have a vision, I have a passion…I have a J’Noon, to create this exceptional wine.

That exemplifies the reason d’être of creating this wine which can be best summed up as an Indian passion bottled with a French flair.

The Raffle Draw

The event culminated in a Raffle Draw where two lucky members won a bottle of wine each. The winners were given the prize wines by the celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani himself.

So that’s all about our wine dinner at Omny Kitchen by Vicky Ratnani at Gurgaon. I take leave here leaving you with some pictures from this exclusive wine dinner.

Till next time. Cheers !!

Mukul Manku, President Wineglitz India – The Wine Club