Wine Trail with Four Seasons

A bunch of us, Kolkata bloggers consisting of fashion, beauty, lifestyle and food bloggers met on the 6th of July 2013 for a very enjoyable and informative session of acquainting with the wine extraction and preparation process, courtesy Four Seasons wines. I had attended a similar wine appreciation and food pairing event organised by Four Seasons last year at Oasis, park Street. You can find details of the same here.

So, what are the new things that happened this time? For one, compared to the mere seven bloggers last time, this year nineteen of us bloggers came together to share our love for wine and learn the knick knacks to appreciate it better.

The fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers

The food bloggers

The event was held in the very beautifully lighted Rose Room at The Conclave at Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata. The evening started with an introduction to the ancient process of grape cultivation and wine preparation from the ancient Greeks and Romans during the Dionysian satyr festivals celebrating fertility and health to the modern day advanced mechanisms. Our host and speaker of the day , Mr.P.P.K Mitter, fondly referred to as Peter who is a representative of the UB group, explained to us how the procedures during wine extraction works and resolved the doubts and clarified the myths regarding wine and alcohol.

Unlike last year, this time we had a detailed power point presentation which numerous slides which gave explicit information regarding the types of wines, their cultivation, harvesting, the areas where vineyards can be grown, the new and innovative technologies adapted by the UB group for the extraction of Indian Wine and the different types of glasses and equipment used for drinking and extracting wine.

After the initial introduction to the preparation process and the extraction of different types of Indian wines, Peter helped us understand how wines are to be tasted, paired and evaluated.

•  There are three different types of wines based of color- White (generally golden or yellowish in tinge), Rose (Pinkish colored) and Red ( deep maroon to dark purplish in color). 
• Wines are grouped into 3 other sections - still wine, sparkling wine and port wines. 
• A lot of wines and alcoholic beverages, those prepared in the Old world countries get their names from the areas of their production like Champagne (in France), Port (in Portugal) and Scotch (the whiskey from Scotland). The same name cannot be used for the same spirit  produced in any other area of the world.
• Wine can be best appreciated by following the 4 S's- See, Swirl, Smell and Sip. This evokes the four senses. By clinking the glasses, one evokes the fifth sense of hearing.

The four S's

• UB group exports White Indian wine and Red Indian wines under the label name of Ritu, meaning seasons. Within the small time of its launch in India, Four Seasons wines have gained immense popularity and have received numerous accolades and awards for their quality.
• Wine glasses are to be held at the stem and touching the curved area where the wine is contained is to be avoided. This is to ensure that the wine doesn't get warmed up by the heat transferred from the body of the drinker. 

The five wines we tasted were Sauvignon Blanc (white), Viognier (white), Blush (rose), Shiraz (red) and Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (reserve red wine).

 The food from The Conclave provided the best accompaniment for the five different wines we tasted.

Special thanks to Peter, four Seasons wines and The Conclave for the amazing experience.

Lastly, we all left the event tipsy with not just happy memories and a lot of wine related wisdom but also a beautiful Wine Appreciation Certificate. Now, I am a certified wine enthusiast (that is definitely going to make a lot of my friends green with envy). Yay!!  

To good times *Cheers* 

P.S.- For those who want to know more about the types of wines available under the Ritu and Four Seasons label can refer to Four Seasons's Facebook page and their blog.
P.P.S.- Not all photos were clicked by me. Thanks to Anupriya, Debiparna, Aniesha, Pooja, Animesh and Kamalika for the remaining pictures.