On the wine trail

Their story started in 2001. A few wine-loving friends came together to savour a good glass and swirled into an ethereal experience. Soon, informal meetings distilled into wine as a tangible, cultural aspect of their lives and thus was formed the ‘Bangalore Wine Club’ (BWC).  With more than 140 wine enthusiasts today, the members discuss a range of topics; from tastings and pairings to the serving temperatures.

The club comprises a committee elected each year with a president, vice-president and treasurer. They also oversee matters relating to digital and social media and the execution of events, which revolve around wine appreciation. The committee conjures up interesting events such as wine education sessions with a leading sommelier, the ‘Indian Wine Village’, where around 10 top-notch Indian wine companies showcase few of their best wines and vineyard trails. Their next event is an ‘Oriental Trail’, where pan-Asian cuisines will be offered with premium wines.

The members try out wines from Indian and international portfolio and Aslam Gafoor, the president, does mention a few popular Indian labels. Biren Ghose, another committee member, recalls some of his favourite local varieties from Australia. For them, there is no looking back and one can guess when they explain about wine culture that it is more than just a drink for them with each of them carrying different stories.

Sunil, one of the founding members, says, “Wine is still expensive because of the tax structures. But the wine market is slowly growing as people are travelling a lot more than before, getting exposed to new varieties and also looking at specialised courses on wine.”

Aslam points out that the City has a wine-centric approach for many reasons. “There are interesting perspectives about wine - right from the technique of growing grapes in the right climate to the aesthetics of wine when it’s swirled in a glass. Such stories have interested people.” Nina Mohan, a committee member, feels that wines have a lot of potential to grow in the market.

Every member has different experiences from their journey. Sunil says, “The club has not tried to compromise on the quality of the event. Though at times, it is difficult to avail venues, we always try to learn more from each other. We have different kinds of events to see that we get the best from the club.” Nina feels BWC is a platform to meet like-minded people.

Each member bubbles with excitement as the more one fathoms into the depth of the drink, the more there is to unearth. Aslam says, “Wine pairings should not be at random. An anti-pasti or salad goes well with chilled champagne while fish and white meats are generally paired well with cool white wines.”  Natarajan, one of the committee members, who has been collecting wines for 15 years says,  considers wine as a medium that allows one to sit next to each other and talk about wine and the drink is actually a salute to hard-working growers. Natarajan adds, “Wine is a vast, wonderful field and there is so much to know behind its culture and aesthetics.”

Biren says, “Wine is a way of life and is something to enjoy like one enjoys nature and relationships.”