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 I tasted this wine about 3 years ago when I was invited by Abhay Kewadkar, Business Head, Senior Vice President and Director of Four Seasons, to ITC Maurya Hotel where he had carried the barrel samples of what was then planned to be labelled as Super Reserve Cabernet Shiraz blend. This wine was the company’s first attempt to move into blends after working with varietals only since the beginning of production in 2007 and showcase a super-premium wine. Grapes were picked out from special parcels with low-yields from the older vines and fermented in different barrels. My initial reaction had been that it was an excellent quality product with great potential to vie with the top Indian reds.
Arithmetic doesn’t seem right
After that tasting, the wine and the hype went off the radar. After initial 2 years of maturing in French oak barrels (new as well as second pass, says Abhay) and 2 years in bottles, it ought to have been released in 2015. But in the meantime, there was a change in management with Diageo, the spirits giant being on the driver’s seat and the future of the wine business uncertain with Diageo International making continual announcements that it was getting out of the wine business globally as it was not their core business. When it sold its last portfolio in February this year, leaving only India and China as its wine producing companies, delWine had faithfully reported it.
Diageo Spirits and Wines in India
 On the surface, the parent company seems to have pulled its act together and decided to give wine a chance in India. The official launch of the 2011 vintage of this wine in the bottle, rechristened as Vintner’s Reserve Barrel Selection, was announced by Four Seasons and everyone (that mattered to them at the first instance) was invited to the Launch.
Launch date? July 16, my wife’s birthday- but Abhay Kewadkar whom I know well since his Grover stint in Bangalore, would just not take no for an answer. Though reluctant, I had to yield to his request and I am glad I went for the Launch and Lunch at the Chateau.
Four Seasons winery is designed as an Indio-French Chateau in the true sense. Modelled after French Chateaux, it also reminds you of Indian palaces and is a magnificent and ostentatious edifice. Apparently, Vijay Mallya, then the owner of United Spirits Limited and the King of Good Times, wanted no stones unturned to build the most impressive looking, state-of-the-art winery in India where wine tourists could also spend a few days. Money was apparently no constraint for this ambitious visionary who wanted to integrate the winery with a world-class wine tourism and hospitality facility.
Unparalleled hospitality
Since the 20 or so rooms at the facility were not enough for the journalists and bloggers invited from mostly Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore, the event was deftly planned so that two groups could be invited, each enjoying the hospitality for a night at the winery/resort. Abhay Kewadkar is always a very gracious- and boisterous host. He had made immaculate arrangements- welcome with a yet-unreleased sparkling Rose Brut, high tea, followed by wine tasting at the terrace, walking through the forest area behind the winery and through the vineyards in the morning, regional breakfast in the restaurant, winery visit, swimming in the small but very clean pool with a hot water Jacuzzi on the side. Even the socialising, networking time and photo ops were structured in detail, making sure each guest was looked after personally and like a VIP.
 Five varietals from the stable- Chenin, Sauvignon, and Blush Zinfandel-all 2016, followed you everywhere with the unlabelled, yet-unreleased Rose bubbly on request -evening, night or day including breakfast. The wines kept on hammering the message with every sip- that wine is at its best at the winery and that transportation and storage continue to be a problem still unresolved in India. All the wines including the two Reserve Cabernet (my most favourite wine this evening) and Shiraz were very fresh, fruity and quaffable. I was perhaps the only exception, who felt that the Sauvignon Blanc though crisp, clean and vibrant was slightly short on length. Chenin Blanc with 10 gms/Liter of residual sugar is a sure winner with the masses and even classes if they try it with spicy snacks as we did. The Blush was also light and easy on the palate and didn’t have tannins trying to wrestle with it.
Launch of #FSVintnersReserve 2011
Four Seasons Vintner’s Reserve Select Barrels was launched officially at the beautiful poolside at the back of the winery with a single long table serving wines and food catered by Taj Vivanta, preceded by delicious Tapas, Rose bubbly and the range of wines we had imbibed the previous evening. The venue was looking absolutely entrancing- an excellent job done by the Event Management Company. There are bound to be some wine snobs who would be critical of the captivating single-file flower arrangement because of the floral aromas possibly interfering with the wine bouquet. But since it was a 2-hour event in which the signature red was served for barely 20 minutes, this factor could be conveniently overlooked-especially since it was not an international wine competition and no Robert Parker or his clone was at sight or site.
The wine had been decanted for 60 minutes; Abhay said he had experimented with various decant timings and found this to be ideal. The temperature of 16-18° C was also just about right, especially since the alcohol though well integrated, would interfere with aromas at 14.5%. The wine was clear, dark red with shades of brick red. The bouquet was distinctly jammy with white spices in the back layer with plenty of dark fruit on the nose. Sweet vanilla from the oak that seemed to be medium toasted was competing with the fruity flavours on the palate. Very powerful, full-bodied wine, it was quite well balanced, the sweet fruitiness carrying through till the end, with a long after-taste. Tannins were still present but soft, ripe and silky.
Some people might find it a bit sweet on the frontal attack and too powerful but that is the style chosen by the vintner. In fact, it came in handy since the fish I ordered was tasty but slightly over-salty. Though the wine was too powerful and tannic for the fish-surely a perfect match with the New Zealand lamb rack in the 3-course menu, but the slight sweet frontal attack helped mask the extra saltiness (as a personal habit I avoid too much of salt) of the food.
At Rs. 1500 a bottle, it will compete with Grover Zampa, Sette by Fratelli, Sula Rasa Shiraz and Chene from Grover Zampa for a share of the pie for top end red wines in India.
For once, I found the Rose Brut served with the Philadelphia cheesecake flavoured with fresh rosemary and stewed grapes having just the right sweetness which could match the sweetness of the delicious Rose. A very good pairing indeed, though the fish and Vintner’s Reserve were not a great match by any means.
Four Seasons Wines
 Four Seasons had somehow managed to touch the magical 1-lakh (100,000) case mark in 2012-13 even though helped by the low ended Golconda Premium (Port wine) which they had started making at their Baramati (Village Roti) facility. Incidentally, Grover Zampa, the number 2 producer today, had reported the figure of around 60,000 cases and thus keeping the no. 3 slot. Because of the takeover of USL by Diageo and a run-up to the sale, the figures were not available for the following years although there was a complete lull in the market in 2013-14 and 14-15 when the sales crashed to below 60,000 (our estimates) because of the uncertainty created by the spirit-heavy management of philosophy. In fact, Diageo announced they were getting out of wine as it was not their core business. But they chose to keep quiet about Four Seasons and various rumours have been afloat.
Four Seasons crosses 100,000 Mark
Abhay Kewadkar is perhaps one of the most senior, active full-time winemakers in India with long stints with Indage, Grover and now with Four Seasons for almost a decade. Refusing to give details of the sales (the balance sheet is not out yet so one has to wait to know the numbers if one is keen to estimate the total wine consumption in India) he says, ‘it is not our corporate policy to give our numbers, but I can assure you that it’s business as usual here.' Visiting Baramati at least once a month or even more (he stays much longer and comes much more frequently at the harvest season and when blending is required), he has his work cut out for him - to get the sales growth to the targets and the profit margins accordingly.
Limited Edition
Only 8400 bottles (700 cases) have been produced of the super premium red- 100 cases for the 7 cities where the sales are planned. ‘Out of this, 1200 bottles will be available in each of these 6 markets – Kolkata, Arunachal Pradesh, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This limited edition wine is targeted primarily at On Premise but will also be available at select premium off-premise channels. 'Currently, we are waiting for the announcement of the excise policy in Delhi, which will largely influence our plan for the market,‘ says Abhay. Delhi Excise policy is still not announced (it’s already the middle of JULY!). Technically it should be announced in April every year-but it has not happened at least during the last decade. ‘I will keep you updated,’ he adds.
 One hopes to be updated more often about Four Seasons now that ‘the ice is broken’ with the launch of this red-hopefully to be followed soon by the Launch of Rose Sparkling Brut. The earlier decision three years ago to use the Ritu export label for the Indian market for the premium wines has been shelved. One of the members of Indian Wine Academy on Facebook aptly commented on learning about the Launch, ‘I was there two years ago. Beautiful winery –but it suddenly disappeared! How did it come back?’ My answer was crisp and fruity with a long after-taste, ‘it was through magic. And it was magical!’
It was a surprise for some journalists that no one from Diageo was present at the Launch. Abhay’s vehement reply that it was an internal function so there was no need of anyone coming from Diageo was not too convincing. Even his boss Anand Kripalu who is the President of the parent company- United Spirits Ltd - was not present for what could have been a 10-minute welcome address for the journalists. Everyone at the winery insisted he visits there at least once a month. However, It might have helped build up the confidence level with 35-40 journalists reporting pan-India about the company vacillating between Mallya and Diageo and their different corporate philosophy. The only plausible explanation could be that the Diageo senior executives don’t drink Red or White but only Black and Blue- and sometimes perhaps the Yellow and Green in-between!
Jai Ho (my Indian expression for Cheers!) to Four Seasons and Abhay Kewadkar for organising a fabulous event successfully and wishing them all a successful wine journey through Four Seasons, with the signing off note that they must have the #FSVintnersReserve at #FourSeasonsWines, #MyRareReds in Magnums as well-even if only for the wine library. For more information, visit https://www.fourseasonsvineyards.com/
For a related earlier Article visit: Feature: Fifth Season at the Four Seasons Winery
Subhash Arora |