Packaging matters, no matter what the industry.

 

Recently, in fact as recent as about five minutes before I started writing this, I received something about how wine packaging is undergoing change. South Africa has launched a new campaign about how their new light-weight bottles would help the economy, environment and the people of the world in general. The new bottles with screw-cap will weigh 350 grams, about 150 grams lighter than previous versions. Sure it doesn't sound as revolutionary and won't do for the wine industry what the bikini did to the gown-manufacturing industry, but every gram counts.

 

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I find it not so surprising that the word ‘vow' rhymes with ‘wow'. The minute you use the first one, others exclaim the second, and that is mostly because the word vow, by construct, seems wired to fail. In fact so linked are the two words that in both in the Indian and Iberian sub-continent and peninsula, even the pronunciation is almost the same and unless you were aware of the context the word was used in, you would never know which one it was. Luckily then, in these parts, you can interchange the two in usage and yet avoid quite the faux pas.

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So they say competition is a good thing. It brings out the best in us. Well, I don't believe so. Not always. Especially not when I’m losing. But that rarely happens. Like never. So I don't really know exactly what I’m complaining about.

 

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The last few weeks have been quite eventful, at least for me. I still haven’t managed to earn my Bentley but I work relentlessly, days on end, for that. Other things have however managed to keep my spirits alive and singing.

 

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First is an important position. You never forget the first time. First impressions are definitely lasting, if not the last. The first cut is the deepest. So, on that thought, the first drink is perhaps the most important of the evening.

 

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Magandeep Singh blogs for the Wine Society of India about his adventures in the world of wine:

 

Wine sense is, personally speaking, a very important wine term. It symbolises all that is really needed for enjoyment: the wine, and the sense. While a million people write about wine, dissecting it, turning it over and around, very few people actually take the time to enjoy it.

This is exactly why wine

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Most people tend to read the words on a wine label about as much as they read the articles in Playboy. This is not a good thing if you are, let’s say, not absolutely versed with human anatomy, or the insides of a wine bottle! It always helps to know your way around, so to say.

A wine label is like a synopsis of the wine, attached to the bottle. It is part ID card, part storyteller for the wine it represents. You can acquire data and much more from it. Here is how it goes.

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1. Cognac is pronounced ‘Con-yak’…don’t ask why.

2. All brandy ain’t Cognac, just like all Indians aren’t Punjabis! You have to be made in the region of Cognac to enjoy the classification. But it is fruit-based (grapes!) and hence for those who are scared of mixing their spirits, you could transfer between this and wine without a ‘souci’ in the world!

3. Cognac is not expensive just because it is old or because it is blended from 100 different ‘eaux-de-vie’. A good Cognac is a blend of some (as few as 2-3 will also do) rare and exceptional eaux-de-vie.



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There is always a hedonistic downside to recession and I don't mean people losing jobs; work is by no means a luxury and no one should ever stoop down so low to afford some. I mean the replacement of the French hand-churned unsalted butter with an industrial spread. I am talking about the Bresse Poulet and the Australian lamb being substituted with local birds and sheep that are too skinny to be kept alive. Recession hits all areas but it leaves the most foul of tastes in the one industry which matters the least to financial people, but where taste itself matters the most - the field of food and beverage.

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Blog: Magandeep Singh

If I had a penny for:

1. Every vineyard manager who tells me his terroir is unique
2. Every wine consumer who told me screw caps are not good for wine
3. Every sommelier who told me he suggests red wine with red meat
4. Every third person with an accent who claims to be a Sommelier
5. Every second person with a laptop and an internet connection who claims to be a wine writer

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