Two New Yorkers spend six months 18 months!?! in Bangalore and other places in India.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Wine Time 2: Grover's La Reserve

In our second Wine Time feature, we decided to take the advice of a commenter and get some La Reserve, Grover Vineyards' premium product. The company describes it as coming from "vines imported from France, [which] are now thriving at our vineyards on the sunny hill-slopes of Nandi Hills near Bangalore, India. This fine red wine is a blend of [80%] Cabernet Sauvignon and [20%] Syrah [aka Shiraz] grapes. Aged in French oak barrels, it has a luscious bouquet of fruit and spices with a distinctive oaken flavour. Ready to enjoy immediately. La Réserve only improves with age."

Our bottle was of a 2005 vintage, bottled last month. We have bought this wine several times before, and I (but not Don!) remember it as being much better.

Like the Shiraz, it was one dimensional, with an overly sour taste. The taste disappears very quickly, so it doesn't work as a big wine, which I think is what they're going for. The main taste was sour, and the ending was slightly tannic, but not in a good way. I guess that was the French oak talking.

I would still consider getting La Reserve again, in hopes that my memory didn't mislead me, and that other vintages of the same wine are better. At some point (I can't find the actual article), Decanter magazine judged La Reserve the "Best New World Red Wine." Maybe there's hope. If India can be part of the New World, then who knows what other wonders are out there?

Where it probably couldn't complete is in an open or semi-open marketplace, because of its price. This wine cost 475 rupees ($12) -- given its quality, that's a real reach. If we had bought a similar wine in New York for $12, we'd have expected a lot more from it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, we give it a 5. It's OK, but just barely.

3 comments:

nicoweb said...

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Anonymous said...

Stumbled across this article while reading up on Grover and Indian wines. Surprising, my experience with the 2006 vintage was different. It was definitely very interesting, much more mellow and fruity - certainly not sour or tannic. I tried it couple more times with same result. haven't had it for more than a year now so I'm not sure how the 07 tastes like -will try it out. Maybe they were still getting it right in 05.

Senthi said...

Hai its very taste...........