Wine Time 10: Vinsura Vineyards Brut Sparkling Wine

Vinsura Vineyards
Brut sparkling wine (methode champenoise)
Sankalp Winery
501 rupees
12.5 % alcohol

Recently I stopped in at the new and fancy Food World Gourmet, which attempts to give expats and other rich and high-living people all the stuff they want. It feels weird going there and looking at overpriced imported grapes from the USA (and nothing domestic!) and so on, but on the other hand it's great to know where to go when you really really want some OK mayonnaise, for instance. Anyway, the store also has a pretty decent liquor store attached, and this bottle comes from there.

Don and I disagreed about this sparkler. I thought it had a weird grassy smell and a slightly off aftertaste. There also were just not that many bubbles -- I think if you're shelling out for bubbly, then it really ought to have lots of bubbles. Here not so much.

Don, on the other hand, thought it was decent though too expensive -- noticeably better than Marquise de Pompadour, probably the major champagne-ish Indian wine.

Overall, we give this a 6.5. I do think it's overpriced for what it is, but it is a reasonable alternative to buying Champagne or other foreign sparklers here, a very pricey proposition. (Also, the label is very nice -- good use of gold-leaf leaves.)

Wine Time 5: Vinsura Cabernet-Syrah Red Wine

This is another wine made in the Nashik Valley, about 230 km (150 miles) northeast of Mumbai. The label calls it a "complex deeply colored wine with good body, tannins, and aromas. The taste and flavours may be reminiscent of dried fruit, juicy black-current, savoury spice and gamy meat [!]. The wine can be best enjoyed with roasted pork, turkey, lamb, venison, and Indian Chinese cuisine."

I love how Indian Chinese just gets thrown in at the end as an afterthought. Instead the list starts with an animal that very few people in Indians eat, even if they are non-vegetarian, and then a bird that's also pretty rare (except for expat holidays), lamb (not unknown, but not that common either), and then Bambi. Don thinks that whoever wrote the copy just tried to come up with unlikely and fancy-sounding meats for the list. But why not caviar? Or the finest ham from Spain? Or that party gimmick dish the turducken?

But back to the wine. The good news is that we did NOT taste any gamy meat. But the bad news is that this wine is just OK. It was fairly oaky and somewhat astringent. Don thought it had a bitter aftertaste. Overall, just kind of boring and one-dimensional. It's a 5. The The Complete Indian Wine Guide doesn't say anything about this particular wine (it probably wasn't out yet), but the author is pretty bullish on the winery's future. This one still needs a little work, we think.


Finally, here's a sexy photo. It's from Vinsura's site, next to the statement that "We ensure Competitive Pricing, Reliable service and deliveries." Has this lady just finished dropping off a case, perhaps via water? Or has just perhaps just finished drinking a glass? Our wine label said the wine was best served around 18 C (64 F), and it does look as if it might be kind of chilly wherever this picture was taken.