06 January,2013 07:18 AM IST | | Sanjiv Nair
The fourth edition of the Mumbai Wine Festival promises to be the biggest and wackiest installment of the series yet. Wackiness with a bit of savoir-vivre of course. This is wine we are talking about, not some crass country liquor.
Now spit into the bowl! The rather fractious tradition of spitting wine before drinking has apparently not caught on quite well in this festival. And the reason is put across most eloquently by, Pratap Arora the event director of this prestigious festival, "Why spit it when you can drink it?"
The Mumbai Wine Festival offers people grape-stomping and interactive sessions, discussions with wine connoisseurs and exhibitions
Why indeed, especially since we are talking about some of the finest wine the world produces. Arora rattles off some of the big names being represented with the ease of a sommelier, "There are some exquisite wines coming in from Tuscany, Bordeaux, Rhone, South Africa and Napa Valley this year.
We also have some unique wines from Chile and Portugal, while one of the oldest vineyards in the world from Georgia will also grace us with their presence. Pernod Ricard with its ubiquitous Jacobs Creek will most definitely make their presence felt as well.
" With all the regular suspects from the Indian wine space also set to be present at the event, there is a good chance that sobriety is all set to die a crimson, (or sparkling) and classy death. To perpetuate the notion, Arora adds, "If you sample all the wines available, you will have consumed atleast
two litres."
The festival kicks off on December 5 at 3 pm with wine connoisseur and ad man Prahlad Kakkar, who also happens to be the vice president of Terrior One, the Mumbai chapter of the Delhi Wine Club, uncorking the first bottle of sparkling wine.
That's champagne, for the uninitiated. However, wine tasting isn't all that the event has to offer. "Wine Park, an importer of wines from boutique wineries will be conducting Wine, Art and Quirky which will feature the artwork some of the wineries use on their labels to showcase their talent. At the festival you will get to see some of their work being created first hand. There will also be exhibitions, grape stomping and interaction sessions with wine connoisseurs and sommeliers."
