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Red, white and Napa

Thomas Sauzet from California gave wine lovers lessons on how to sip, relish and reflect on the bouquet

ALL ABOUT WINE Thomas Sauzet PHOTO: S. R. RAGHUNATHAN

"He's tall, he's French and he's charming," said Reva Singh, Editor of Sommelier India, a publication that is devoted to educating Indians about wine.

She was not talking about the bottle, but of the messenger who was bringing it to Chennai for the first time, Thomas Sauzet. Impeccably groomed in a white shirt and dark suit and colourful red tie, Sauzet who is all of 25, did not reveal any of his youth as he carefully led his audience through the preliminaries of wine tasting at a special dinner hosted by Taj Connemara GM. Digvijay Singh. What made it something of a global event was that Sauzet was not promoting the wines of his home country, but of the Cakebread Cellars of Napa Valley, California. It was started about 30 years ago by Jack Cakebread, who first went there as a photographer and then was so enchanted with the idea that he stayed on to become the owner of the vineyard. It's now part of the wine circuit in Napa Valley and his wife Dolores and he have even brought out a cookbook of healthy eating to go with their wines.

"Of course, if you ask me I will say `French wine' because that is what we drink from an early age," Sauzet confessed, after much coaxing when asked what he might choose to drink if he were offered a last glass of wine before a firing squad. "In France, you begin to drink when you are very young, when your grandfather adds a few drops of red wine to a glass of water to make you believe that you too are drinking wine. But that does not mean that we cannot enjoy other wines. The wines from the Cakebread Cellars of Napa Valley, represent some of the best wines you can find."

Fitness expert Vidya Singh, who was listening to the conversation, wondered whether it's true that French women maintain their figure because of the wine they drink in small quantities everyday. Soon, everyone was sipping their wine, murmuring words such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, thinking these were the new passwords to enter the world of fine dining.

Sauzet gently egged them on to taste, to sip, to reflect on what their taste buds are telling them and let them discover for themselves whether the genie in the bottle is really cracked up to be what it claims to be.

There's a whole list of accompanying notes to go with the wine. I think I failed the test straight off, since even though I have quaffed large sips of the first vintage, `the Cakebread Cellars, Sauvignon Blanc, 2004' I couldn't for the life of me notice that "it's a textbook rendition of the valley's most appealing characteristics, fresh, brisk aromas of lime, kiwi, grapefruit, gooseberry and hay (that) introduce a medium-to-full bodied palate of impressive weight, balance and intensity." As though these were not impressive and weighty enough, we were also told that the wine's "vibrant citrus, guava and melon flavours" must also be considered. It's a long time since I went around sniffing hay, so I passed on to the next glass, which also came with a huge following of fragrances and flavours. Appreciating wine is a heady business. Our table was so low on appreciating the finer flavours of the wine, that when we reached the in-between stage when a glass of pink pomegranate sorbet lightly streaked with shards of fresh green pepper from Kerala was placed before us, we declared it the best thing on the menu.

Never mind, Sauzet seemed to say with all the grace of a true Frenchman, "Indians have a discerning palate as they are used to so different types of spices and aromas. They will soon learn to like wine."

V. K. Prasad, the F& B Manager at the Connemara, informed me that Sauzet has not just chosen the continental menu that starts with tiny jewelled portions of figs and prunes, stuffed with cream cheese, progresses to an excellent Lobster soup and marches via a New Zealand Lamb spare ribs garnished with rosemary to a full bodied Chocolate layered cake, he has also trained the Verandah staff to understand and explain how every wine should be paired with its counterpart on the menu.

Ten years ago, Thomas Sauzet would have called it "mission impossible." He has been despatched by Aman Dhall, a Delhi-based importer of wines from all over the world, whose company Brindco Sales market them, to test the climate in Chennai. The price of the wines from the Cakebread Cellars range from Rs.1,500 to Rs. 2,500 at the Verandah. Such is the trend now in Swinging Chennai that more and more people are leaping onto the wine wagon and crying, "Bring on the Napa. Wine drinkers of the world, enjoy yourself, you have nothing to lose but the cork." If not, you can always ask for the pomegranate and pepper sorbet!

GEETA DOCTOR

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