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Hyderabad Wine Club (HWC), from its inception, is the
driving force to inculcate a wine culture in our state. HWC goes about
its aims by organizing wine related events. These are organized as “Wine
Tasting Sessions”, “Wine Appreciation Lectures” or “Wine Dinners”. As a
part of its ongoing program, HWC hosted its
“Annual Wine Dinner” at Hotel “The Manohar” on Sunday, 5th
December 2004.
Chief guest of the evening was Mr. Hans
Raj Ahuja, former Vice President of M/s Chateau Indage and present Chief
of Indian Operations “Echidna” Australian wines. After a brief talk
about the wine situation in India, he had all the ears of the members
and actively interacted with them, to clarify lots of wine related
questions through out the dinner.
Members and a few selected guests had the
unique opportunity of tasting six varieties of premium wines from E J
Gallo winery of California, USA. The Sierra Valley range represents the
best value wines from the largest winery in USA. All the wines are very
good, giving authentic flavors of each grape varietal. The white
varietals are Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. White Zinfandel is a
lightly tinted rose wine. The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are the red
wines. Matching to these finer wines - hoteliers arranged matching
food, which was indeed excellent.
Befitting of this special event, the
evening started off with the celebratory popping of “Champagne” corks,
to signal the pouring of the welcome drink, Andre Brut, is USA’s most
popular Sparkling wine from the E J Gallo stable of wines. It is during
occasions like these, that members have the opportunity to taste a
number of wines in a “Horizontal Tasting” to discover the characteristic
flavors of each wine varietal.
The dinner sequence followed a typical
“Western-style Wine Dinner”, although, with a little Indian touch.
Despite certain limitations faced by the Club and Hotel, the evening
turned out rather well for an entirely enthusiastic group of wine
lovers.
Dinner started with Andre Brut, the
sparkling wine, which was served with “Shrimp Cocktail” (a basic starter
dish consisting of boiled & de-shelled (except the tail bit) large
shrimp dressed in sweet mayonnaise & fruit cocktail), “Mushroom Ravioli”
(an Italian pasta dish of dough skin stuffed with mushroom and cheese,
then boiled lightly until just cooked with sauce poured over it) and
“Babycorn salt-n-pepper”. A sparkling wine, like Andre Brut, lifts the
spirits of the guests and its light acidity gets the “juices” flowing.
The small food servings should help moderate the effects of the alcohol
in the bubbles.
In most of the Western countries the
reception/ cocktail period lasts from 45 minutes to one hour, to allow
all guests to arrive & be present before proceeding “officially” to the
dining table. But in India, the cocktail period is much longer & is the
focus of the evening rather than the prelude. Since it was an extended
cocktail period, the Sauvignon Blanc and White Zinfandel were served
appropriately with a larger variety of “dim sum” (Chinese canapés)
items.
The traditional “Wine Banquet” features
the serving of SIX, EIGHT or complete TEN courses. This is done in
sequence, one after another. It starts with light, delicate dishes and
increase in intensity & flavor, as you proceed. Similarly the intensity
of the wines served will follow the flavor of the dishes being served.
The last two final dishes are usually a rather plain rice or noodle dish
followed by dessert. The rice/noodle dish is meant to fill up your
guests, just in case they did not have enough to eat. Of course, this
rarely happens after 6 – 8 separate dishes. Besides this reason, a
rather plain rice/ noodle dish helps to clean the palate before the
sweet dessert.
At the dining table, the first dish was
Lobster Bisque (a creamy soup richly flavoured with lobster meat &
broccoli). This dish was served with White Zinfandel and Sauvignon
Blanc. The White Zinfandel added sweetness to the soup, while the
Sauvignon Blanc’s acidity help cleanse the palate while lifting the
aromatic sweet lobster flavours.
The time between
courses were used to detail about the particular wines, wine and food
and also to draw lucky dips for each of the tables. Lucky winners
carried with them some of the exotic fruit and flower wines – “Rose
Petal” “Marigold” “Hibiscus” “Mango” “Papaya” “Banana” ‘Jamoon” etc.,
It was a fun filled event of the evening, besides good food and
fantastic wines, every one left the venue totally contented.
This Hotel kindly included a
“Palate-de-Freshners” of “Crunchy Fish-n-Chips” and “Vegetables &
Spinach Croquettes-n-chips”, which served to refresh to palate at
mid-dinner and before the entrees.
The food scene, now, shifted to the
“Entrees” starting with “Chicken Al-a-Kiev with stuffed vegetables” (a
real recipe from Kiev, Russia. It is breaded chicken breast lathered
with seasoned butter, for a richness fit for royalty). “Cottage cheese
& vegetable patties” were served as side dishes. A heavier white wine,
the Chardonnay was poured alongside the White Zinfandel to match this
richer dish.
The second entrée of “Grilled Lamb Chops
with Mint Jelly and Sauteed Broccoli & Spinach Cannalonni and Paneer
Tikka Masala Kulcha”. The matching wines were Merlot and Cabernet
Sauvignon. The softer & mellow Merlot was more able to handle the spicy
or chillied the marinades than the Cabernet, which had firmer tannins.
However, for those who enjoy a robust & expressive wine, the Cabernet
Sauvignon was for them. Cabernet Sauvignon has a stronger tannin taste,
while the Merlot with softer tannins, pleased the ladies better.
The rice/ noodle
ending was used by the guest to lap up any remaining wine. Varieties of
breads placed on the tables remained as decorative pieces.
Dessert is a sweet
affair – with CRÈME ‘de CARAMEL and a choice of Coffee or Tea
depending on the guests’ preference.
While Hyderabad Wine
Club took the initiative in organizing this dinner, it is Mr. Laurenzo
Lever, the Food and Beverage Manager of “The Manohar” in association
with his Executive Chef, Mr. Uttam Chakraborty, who together made this
event memorable. They were very enthusiastic in arranging this dinner
and are always ready to serve their guests with extra helpings. This
very positive attitude reflects well of this Hotel’s hospitality,
sending home, each & every guest fully satisfied & happy for having
attended this rather rare dining experience in Hyderabad.
The way Hyderabad wine lovers interacted
with our special guest Mr. Ahuja, showed their enthusiasm to learn more
about wines. It not only indicated that they gathered here, not just to
drink wine, but to taste, to appreciate, learn more and more about wine
– a positive sign in this “Cultural Development”. Efforts of Hyderabad
Wine Club is slowly showing its results.
Six wines arranged
for this dinner looks a little on the high side. It was more like a
tasting session, with wines coming one after another. One had just
enough time to appreciate each wine before being served another. For
beginners, six wines was a little too much in one session and four would
have been actually just right. The wines were served in 60ml portions
in small glasses. It was a good portion of wine to pour. There was
always some extra wine for re-pours for those who would like more. Since
it was (foreign) wine, as everyone knows is rather expensive compared to
local brandy or whiskey, no one complained. Further, each wine serving
is to complement only one course, so it was really quite sufficient. And
there were two wines with the main meat course. It was a pleasure, that
members asked for a re-pour of “White Zinfandel”, and one or two rose
petals in the goblet it added beauty to taste.
It is a learning
process for Hyderabad wine lovers. There was unlimited and spontaneous
support from Mr. Subash Arora, President Delhi Wine Club, Mr. Remie
Law, of Happyvines.com, based in Singapore, who were guiding us behind
the scenes teaching how to organize the events, the way professionals
do.
Balaji Rao BK
President, Hyderabad Wine Club
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