When we conceived the Indian Sommelier Championship (ISC) over eight years ago, the idea behind it was simple: to provide our servers with the means to appreciate and consequently communicate beverages effectively to their clients. In a bourgeoning nation as ours, such an endeavor is easier imagined than executed.
Since then, the ISC has evolved to become the definitive platform to educate oneself in the fine art of sommellerie. For young aspirants nothing serves as a better honing tool than a good ol’ fashioned sommelier championship where they get to pit their palates against each other.
The Indian wine industry was represented by Fratelli Vineyards, Grover-Zampa Vineyards, York Vineyards, KRSMA Estate, Nine Hills, Vallonne Vineyards, and Myra Vineyards. All in all, the heady mix and the the headier discussions during the masterclasses made for a lovely environment to encourage the cause of wines. And all this was supported by Zwiesel glassware, Rubberband wine journals and Sommelier India Wine Magazine.
The eminent jury panel who assisted us in selecting the next champion were:
• Xavier Gramona – Cava Gramona, Spain
• Oscar Balcon – Artusi Restaurant, Delhi
• Laurent Guiraud – Runway Rising, Delhi
• Ravi Gurnani – York Vineyards, Nasik
All candidates were required to:
• Open a bottle of sparkling wine, serve it in six equal portions without returning to the same glass,
• Blind-taste a different sparkling wine,
• Decant a still wine and serve it,
• Blind-taste a different still wine – a mix of Indian + internationals,
• Open, pour, and serve a beer
• Blind-taste a different beer and comment on it
• Taste and comment on a cocktail
• And finally, pair wines with a mock menu displayed on screen.
That’s a fair list of chores, and the contenders were to perform all this within a set time duration of 20 minutes. Any extra time taken attracted marks’ deducted.
Here then are the shining stars of sommellerie in India for the year 2015:
• Zwiesel Food & Wine Pairing Round Winner: Neeraj KAPRI, The Lalit, New Delhi
• Bira Beer Round Winner: Neeraj KAPRI, The Lalit, New Delhi
• Aspri Spirits round Winner: Lalit RANE, JW Marriott Sahar, Mumbai
• Nine Hills Best Tasting Skills: Neeraj KAPRI, The Lalit, New Delhi
• KRSMA Estates Indian Wine Round Winner: Pratik ANGRE, Taj Blue Diamond, Pune
• York Vineyards Sparkling Wines Round Winner: Lalit RANE, JW Marriott Sahar, Mumbai
• Grover-Zampa Vineyards Best Service Flair: Pratik ANGRE, Taj Blue Diamond, Pune
• Fratelli Vineyards 2nd Runner-Up: Lalit RANE, JW Marriott Sahar, Mumbai
• Wine Park 1st Runner-up: Pratik ANGRE, Taj Blue Diamond, Pune
• Austrian Wine & Marketing Board Winner: Harish ACHAREKAR, The Four Seasons, Mumbai
Honing the senses is one thing but the real lesson that we wish for the participants to take back isn’t one that pertains to tasting and deciphering wines but that of humility, for apart from the tactile skills, being a sommelier is a lot about listening, and accepting that the world of wines is just too vast to know it all.