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FINE WINE -- MUKUND PADMANABHAN

Zinfandel is not among my favourite grapes. I have always thought it lacked a distinct character. This silken and much too easygoing wine is usually lacking in complexity. Worse, it often presents an ambigious face; Zinfandel rarely looks you in the eye, leaving you wondering whether this is only diffidence or whether it is a front to conceal some inherent shortcoming.

My prejudices against Zinfandel are routinely reinforced by the one that Sula produces -- the rose that seems to have caught the fancy of the Indian palette and is on offer in many homes. Although a colleague of mine swears by this blush, you can hardly take it seriously unless you are besotted with things that are pretty and pink.

As it turned out, Amanna knew something I didn’t. The Big Banyan red – apparently grown in Nashik and bottled in Goa – is a small revelation. Yes of course, it lacks a strong character, but that is a limitation of the grape. But this light-bodied and well-rounded red strikes a pleasing and harmonious note – a perfectly acceptable entry level red for those who want to wean themselves away from whites.

On the day I procured the bottles, I have an appointment with Alok Chandra, the country’s finest wine columnist and the founder of the Bangalore Wine Club. I suggest we meet over a Big Banyan Zinfandel. While warmly endorsing the wine, he comes up with a more attractive counter offer – Reveilo’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

Those who read this column last fortnight may remember it was largely about the Shiraz and Cab produced by the Nashik-based winery (with machinery imported from Italy). The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, apparently available now only in small quantities in Maharashtra, is a huge improvement on the regular Cab (which is also very good though a tad overpowering).

The Reserve manages to contain the Regular’s over-enthusiasm, producing a wine that is smooth, balanced and flavourful. It can make you wonder whether it is a bit too fruity, but the sweetness is compensated (particularly in the aftertaste) by an underpinning of acid – a reminder that you are dealing with a wine of some character and not just another voluptuous fruit bomb.

At Rs 1,345, it is far from cheap. And yes all right, the dollar equivalent of this can fetch you a better Cab in a duty free store. But if you need more proof that Indian wines are slowly coming of age, then here it is.

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