Barbaresco and Barolo are two of top red Italian wines from Piemonte produced from the same Nebbiolo grape but Barolo is more celebrated as it is older, more age worthy and complex wine, known as the King of Wines whereas Barbaresco is from a much smaller area, more feminine and delicate and generally cheaper and drink younger, a factor of importance in India but strangely, wine connoisseurs generally blindly prefer Barolo, thus missing out on a wine that is known as Queen of Wines and also a better value, that can be enjoyed much more with proper food, writes Subhash Arora ..more

Ludwig van Beethoven who composed perhaps the best collection of unique symphonies of all time began losing his hearing in his 20s, seems to have had high level of lead poisoning caused by his love for drinking cheap sweetened wines- a possibility discovered by a team of experts from his DNA through the preserved locks of his hair, writes Subhash Arora. ..more

Whether to drink alcohol or even wine has become somewhat controversial in recent times, but it is primarily a marketing rather than health issue, asserts Subhash Arora who pondered over the issue while tasting an excellent array of 8 wines presented by Kay Kapoor of Gusto Imports, who had made a judicious selection presented professionally, served with their delicious, signature Neapolitana pizzas and small plates at Café Dali in Lodhi Colony, Delhi on Thursday. ..more

Vinha Niepoort and Quinta do Crasto are two fine producers of Portugal, specializing in Ports and now also dry wines, who also visited India in 2011, thanks to my suggestion and a common link, that of H.E. Jorge Roza de Oliveira, the then Ambassador of Portugal in India (now posted in Hungary). It was a pleasure and a privilege to visit both their properties in Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto and meet them during my visit to the Wine Future Conference in Coimbra on 7-9 November. Subhash Arora ..more

Recent reports in various global Media, including Social Media are full of news about an Australian woman surviving for 5 days in the bushes of Australia, with no food or water except one bottle of wine and a few lollypops, highlighting an interesting perspective that wine could be a life saver in a life threatening emergency when there is no water around. ..more

Based on the performance of the Rosé wines in US, UK, Australia and many other countries during the last dozen years, DelWine has been predicting a bigger rate of increase in consumption in India, recommending over two dozen Rose wines in the market but unfortunately the growth lagged my estimates but recent reports suggest the Indian consumer has finally realized the virtues of these wines on their palates, writes Subhash Arora who feels the time of Rosé wines has finally come in India. ..more

Barbaresco-based GAJA Wines is known for its super premium wines but the company has achieved an iconic status with its Single Vineyard wines like Sori Tildin, Sori San Lorenzo and Costa Russi in Barbaresco which had been ‘downgraded’ as DOC Nebbilolo when Angelo Gaja, the owner also known as Prince of Piedmont, decided to add Barbera to the only allowed grape of Nebbiolo but was invited back to the DOCG Barbaresco Appellation in 2013, writes subhash Arora who opened a bottle of Sori San Lorenzo 2011 DOC Nebbiolo with Lasagne, lifted to unprecedented heights with this wine. ..more

A recent Article in BBC, inferring and claiming ‘Analysis of more than 30 bottles of wine has found two glasses could be enough to reach the recommended daily sugar limit for adults’, seems to be preposterous, says Subhash Arora who finds it more of a plug for the Alcohol Health Alliance UK which ‘conducted’ the Research that found some bottles had up to 59g of sugar, though he feels that information on sugar content and calories could be given on the label, even though it would make the labelling more complex ..more

The Maharashtra Cabinet decision to allow sale of wines through Supermarkets with a minimum area of 100 sq. mtrs. might have been a progressive decision for the farmers and small wineries but the indiscriminate and inaccurate reporting by mainstream media sensationalising the issue resulted in strong opposition with the activist Anna Hazare threatening to go on hunger strike which he suspended today with satisfactory assurance from the government, writes Subhash Arora who feels that the activist who has filed a PIL in the High Court ought to be penalised monetarily ..more

The much appreciated cabinet decision to allow wine sales at grocery stores and Supermarkets of over 100 sq. mts., has brought the delWine crusade of two decades of the government not categorising wine as liquor, in open in the key wine producing state of Maharashtra and the meaningless controversy by the opposition parties has forced the politicians on both sides to debate widely. Subhash Arora reports in this Blog ..more

You may not need a Ph.D. in excise laws to understand them in Delhi but it needs a person with an attuned brain to comprehend or make sense of local wine policy, with just one example to illustrate that if one organises a wine and spirits festival or Show in an exhibition ground one needs to apply for P-11 license for display and tasting only for the labels not registered but if you organise it in a hotel, only the labels already registered may be opened for tasting, diagonally apart, says Subhash Arora ..more

Next Chapter of the Delhi government’s latest Excise Policy on wine and alcohol unfolded yesterday, just in time to celebrate the 152nd birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the beloved Father of the Nation, who abhorred alcohol so much that that he had Article 47 inserted in the Constitution, gifting the powers of determining the marketing policies and taxation to the States with the hope of encouraging and enforcing total Prohibition in the country, writes Subhash Arora ..more

Delhi Excise Department has issued a circular dated 10 September, 2021 which has generally extended the date of existing licenses for distributors, government retails shops, restaurants and clubs etc till 16 November 2021, but apparently has not extended the licenses of private shops beyond 30 September, casting doubts about the availability of wine and liquor in Delhi till Diwali, pushing the locals to Gurgaon for their booze requirements and help the market which has been booming thanks to non-availability of wine and spirits in Delhi, making it an Obfuscation, writes Subhash Arora ..more

Indian wine industry in its current Avatar, came into being in mid-1980’s through the pioneering efforts of late Shamrao Chougule, followed by Madhav Rao More, and Kanwal Grover in the 1990’s and has gone through several ups and downs but is currently ruled by Rajeev Samant, founder CEO of Sula Vineyards. But most wineries are still struggling with a few having bitten the dust. Subhash Arora has selected 10 wineries that showed excellent potential but nosedived and have either closed down or are gasping for oxygen ..more

Sonal Holland Wine Academy had organised Zoom Knowledge Summit 2021 earlier this month, starting with a Masterclass with a panel consisting of Ravi Viswanathan (Grover), Gaurav Sekhri (Fratelli) and Subhash Arora (Indian Wine Academy) with Sonal Holland MW moderating on How to grow the Indian Wine Industry to INR 5000 Cr by 2026. Arora presents his personal views only some of which he could share due to paucity of time and were a part of his notes for the Masterclass ..more