This has been quite the wine week, nay month. First, there was the successful multi-city wine showcase by Sula, which got more crowds than an iPhone launch. Then there was quite a showing of upmarket Wine Park’s portfolio at the Four Seasons, and, finally, India’s largest import house, Brindco, teamed up with The Oberoi to create an unprecedented showcase of almost 200 wines. From Sula’s casual-yet-enjoyable jazz-fuelled open-air evening and Wine Park’s formal-yet-formidable tasting to The Oberoi’s very classy replete-with-French-Château-accoutrements affair, we clearly saw wine in all its myriad fun hues.
And, then there was the cherry on top, well for me and my team at least, as we conducted the finals to hunt down India’s most skilled sommelier, all culminating in a black-tie showdown at the capital’s new vinous epicentre, the Pullman Aerocity. Pratik Angre of Taj Santacruz won, followed by Sachhin Khhavle of Four Seasons, both from Mumbai, and Ravi Batra of The Leela, New Delhi, came third. They’re off to enjoy their rewards: tours of vineyards, beer supplies, cocktail kits or tasting out of fine Zwiesel stemware. For me, it’s back to wine tastings and filing columns. And, setting a personal reminder for a less mad-hatter dress code next year.
I believe that the Sommelier championship helps spread the message and boost sales for imported and Indian wines. Alas, my ideals are too idealistic. As an importer recently shared, it doesn’t matter how good a wine is; all that counts is who’s good at appeasing the purchase managers (PM) of hotels, for it’s ultimately he who decides what gets bought. So, you may want a Pio Cesare Barolo, but if the PM decides that another nondescript producer from Barolo sells for one-third the price, then that’s what you get. Alternatively, if another importer makes the deal “juicy” for the PM, the contract goes to him, quality of wine be damned as long as it reads Barolo on the label.
Which means all that talk about terroir and experience is just that — talk. What sells is purely based on the powers of bargaining or striking deals. F&B managers seem to have no power over these demons who exercise their penny-pinching principles ruthlessly. Many report directly to owners, over-ruling even the general manager’s authority in the process.
You don’t build big brands through cost-cutting; one has to spend to gain and retain reputation which, in the long run, always pays. Purchase managers and financial controllers (FC) are alien to such. They belong to some sadistic basement bottom-feeding species, whose idea of fun is to watch someone else squirm uncomfortably. Unto death. Or, bankruptcy.
Maybe, next year, I won’t organise the sommelier championship. Or, maybe, I will, but then give the trophy to one who can bargain the needles off a porcupine. I don’t know. These are troubling times. I hope owners and managers come around to this realisation and pack off their PMs and FCs to correctional facilities. For good.
