 She is the first Indian woman to participate in Masters Vintage in Vine and Wine Management course in the University of Angers in Bordeaux and after submitting her thesis this Monday is set to come home and enter the Indian world of vine and wine.
She had been admitted in the course under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship programme awarded by the European Union to non-European students desirous of pursuing higher education in the EU.
Masters Vintage in Vine and Wine Management
The programme is coordinated by ‘Ecole Superieur d’Agriculture d’Angers, France. It is a two year course split into four semesters held in three universities: ESA Angers- France, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Piacenza in Italy and Universidad Politecnica, Valencia, Spain.
The initial six months of training are held in France, where the basics of 'terroir' management are taught, dealing with the traditions, culture and environmental factors related to vintage. This is followed by a three-month course in marketing, taught by faculty members from across the world.
The next part of the course is conducted in Italy, where students learn viticulture at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza. "This also includes study tours to northern Italy, Hungary and Switzerland,’ says Ashwini.
The last part of the theory session includes a module on Oenology from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Each student gets a chance to experience a harvest and make one's own wine. This she says, ’was an enriching experience’.
 The study is rounded off with a six month internship in Europe. Her class has been a group of 30 students from 21 different nationalities including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Hungary, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Thesis is done
Ashwini has just completed her thesis which she presented on Monday. The subject of her thesis was very topical-‘Importance of Bordeaux wines in the retail trade in India’. With Retail opening in a big way in Maharashtra and other progressive states in India, she seems to have had good foresight selecting the topic.
‘The initial reviews by the Grands Chais de France management are very good and encouraging,’ she tells me. ‘I write this to let you know that I defended my thesis yesterday at the University of Angers and it went off very well. The teaching staff and the student have given an excellent feedback,’ she wrote to me from Bordeaux yesterday.
On Indian Youth
‘With my understanding of European youth, our youth is miles ahead of them in terms of IQ. Young people only need the right motivation and guidance, they can conquer the world,’ she says, adding ‘Our youth needs to be given a spark; to realise their complete potential , they need to come out of the" aati kya Khandala" syndrome, and I am sure that writers like you are doing so’.
Two boys from Pune region are joining the Masters programme starting Oct 2008, thanks to an article on her by a marathi paper during her Diwali vacations last year (delWine had written about her earlier, in September and had received many enquiries about here whereabouts).
‘With my little guidance and motivation these boys have cleared the interview and have already landed here, four months in advance, to attend a French language course.’ ‘To give them guidance, was my social responsibility, I suppose’, she adds.
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