Bordeaux by Way of Bangalore
Indian Wines Starting to Shine

By Warren Rojas

Mention India around the water cooler these days and you’re likely to become embroiled in heated arguments about globalization and outsourcing—as if the rapidly developing South Asian nation existed solely to skirt jobs away.

Wine lovers, however, may want to turn their attention to what’s happening in the Indian soil rather than railing against corporate America’s penchant for offshore labor. First-generation vintner Kanwal Grover set up his nascent winery—Grover Vineyards—approximately 20 years ago and has been working with go-to French wine consultant Michel Rolland for more than a decade.

The budding Bangalore vineyard currently produces a half-dozen Bordeaux-style offerings, including:

• La Reserve (French oak-aged, cabernet sauvignon-shiraz blend)
• Sauvignon blanc
• Cabernet-shiraz blend
• Viognier-clairette blend, and
• Shiraz rose

Kathy Morgan likened the 2004 Viognier-Clairette ($13) to “a New World viognier minus the alcohol,” extolling the natural acidity and spice of the wine, while Suzanne McGrath encountered a “slightly oily texture and flavors of ripe white fruit.”

La Reserve

McGrath was surprised by the staying power of the 2004 Sauvignon Blanc ($15), lauding the still-prominent peach and apricot flavors in the maturing wine, though she compared the atypical selection to an un-oaked chardonnay rather than a strict viognier. Kathy Morgan found “grapefruit and jalapeno” on the nose, a well-balanced acidity on the palate and an unexpected “roundness” to the white, which she placed below its New Zealand-style counterparts but above traditional French entrants.

Sauvignon
Blanc

Morgan billed the 2003 Cabernet-Shiraz ($13) as a “very friendly wine,” touting the abundant black and blue fruit flavors and labeling the combo red as “more elegant and versatile” than its Australian contemporaries, adding, “Michel Rolland knows how to manage tannins.” McGrath liked the “evolved, brickish color” of the combo red, but suggested that the “soft texture” and “subtle tannins” make this an early drinker.

McGrath described the 2003 La Reserve ($20) as “definitely more structured” than the regular cab-shiraz blend, picking up notes of eucalyptus and mint. Morgan said to look for “pencil shavings, sage and black pepper” on the nose and robust tannins on the finish. “It’s obviously quality fruit,” she said of the top-shelf blend, adding that she would not at all be opposed to weaving the multi-layered red into a 2941 tasting menu.

“Overall, I thought the wines were good, especially for an emerging wine region like India,” counseled McGrath after working through the Grover lineup. Morgan seemed to concur, adding, “They’ve got something going over there.”

Meanwhile, although Grover remains a French-only grape grower, a few enterprising Indian winemakers are already looking to introduce more indigenous varietals—including the Bangalore purple-based Karma wine tentatively set to arrive in the D.C.-Metro area later this spring—into the global market.

To view the full Grover Vineyards catalog, visit: www.groverwines.com. The wines are available locally at well-known Indian restaurants (Indebleu, Bombay Club, Minerva, Haandi), select local retailers (Whole Foods, H Mart/Super H Mart) or through Sansara Wines (www.sansarawines.com).

(March 2008)