 He was informed about the Nomination through an email message received this morning from the office of Comitato Grandi Cru d’Italia. ‘Dear Mr. Arora, on behalf of Mr Vittorio Frescobaldi and Mr Paolo Panerai, I have the pleasure to inform you that you received the nomination for the journalistic award assigned by the Comitato Grandi Cru d’Italia, for the category: Best International Journalist’
‘The winner's proclamation, among those who got the nomination, will take place during the gala dinner that the Committee has organized on the occasion of the 47th edition of Vinitaly in Verona, on Monday the 8thof April, in Verona at 7.30 pm. I congratulate you on your nomination, resulting from the voting of the Committee members,’ continues the message.
www.grandicruditalia.it
Subhash Arora, who was conferred the title of Cavaliere for promoting Indo-Italian culture by helping the promotion of Italian wines in India in 2009 by the President of Italy, has been nominated for the award for the 4th consecutive year. www.Indianwineacademy.com, the website of which he is the editor and main content provider, was voted as the Best Website 2011 against stiff competition that included eRobertParker.com. Arora is grounded enough to recognize that the award was as much for India being an important growth market as the quality of the website.
Arora is quite pleased with the Nomination. ‘I am obviously elated by the nomination and that too for the fourth consecutive time. I know there are several fine international journalists who are specialists in Italian wines and are formidable contenders. It is an honour, achievement and recognition of my commitment to wine promotion as a healthy lifestyle drink and reporting to the best of my journalistic ability. I know it is firstly a recognition of India being an important market but the fact that I am the only Indian nominated ever and that too consecutively for the 4th time, makes me extremely pleased and excited ,’ says Arora who feels it is like hitting a fourth consecutive century in cricket. Reaching the final 3-4 would be like a double ton. The AWARD, being the equivalent of three centuries is a formidable task. ‘But anything can happen in cricket and wine. In any case, it helps me recharge my journalistic batteries for another year,’ he adds.
Nine journalists from the international community are nominated for this singular honour. Three-four are short-listed for the final award at the gala dinner. The nomination and award selection is done through secret ballot and no one is aware of the proceedings or the results. Thus the totally unsolicited nomination reflects a genuine achievement for Arora and India as well.
Grandi Cru d’Italia is an exclusive organization of producers which was formed in 2006 with 12 charter members with at least 20 years record of producing wines of excellent quality. This should be accepted by critics and the market and those who have won significant awards and recognitions by the most authoritative wine guides and magazines. The 40 founder members (click I Soci Fondatori on their website for details of the producers who are ‘Who is who’ of the industry). It has currently over 130 such producers, which are names to reckon with, as members of the Comitato (Association).
 Cavaliere Arora was also awarded ‘Mérite de l’OIV 2011’, a medal bestowed by the Paris-based International Organization of Vines and Wines on 4 global wine personalities who have excelled in the promotion of wine globally. The Award was in recognition for his selfless devotion to project the case of India to join OIV which also values India’s latent power and the future impact it may make in the world wine industry. He had convinced OIV and taken an informal assurance that India, if it applied for membership, would be given a full-member status and not the usual Observer Status and that the organisation would try for a unanimous election by its members. While in Porto to receive the medal in June 2011, he heard the whole house approving the membership of India unanimously-a very proud moment, that. He is the only Indian to have been awarded this rare honour.
www.grandicruditalia.it
Natasha Vohra
Tags: Vinitaly, Cavaliere, Organization of Vines and Wines, OIV |