Oct 25: While Fratelli Sette 2010 was awarded the lone silver medal, there were 9 Bronze medals shared by Grover (4), Sula (2), Vallonne (2) and Four Seasons (1) at the Decanter Asia Wine Awards (DAWA) the results of which were declared this morning. From Sula (2), Grover (1) and Fratelli (1) - four wines were ‘Commended’, writes Subhash Arora who was a judge from India and the Indian expert guiding the panel for these Awards.
Fratelli Sette 2010 won the Silver medal. A point in their favour is that the jury decision was unanimous and instant. Grover Zampa claims they had the distinction of being 100% awarded. They entered 5 wines out of which 4 were awarded and 1 was commended. Sula (2) and Fratelli (1) and were the other awardees of the Commended wines.
Here are the details of the awards as announced by the organizers:
Silver-1
Fratelli Wines, Sette VII, Baramati, Maharashtra 2010
Bronze: 9
Zampa, Soirée Brut, Nandi Hills, Bangalore NV
Grover Vineyards, Art Collection Sauvignon Blanc, Nandi Hills, Bangalore 2013
Grover Vineyards, Art Collection Rosé, Nandi Hills, Bangalore 2013
Grover Vineyards, La Reserve, Nandi Hills, Bangalore 2011
Nashik, Sula Zinfandel, Nashik 2012
Sula Vineyards, Rasa Shiraz, Nashik 2011
Vallonné Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon Classique, Nashik 2009
Vallonné Vineyards, Malbec, Nashik 2011
Ritu, Sauvignon Blanc, Sahyadri Valley, Baramati, Maharashtra 2013
Commended-4
Sula Vineyards, Chenin Blanc, Nashik 2012
Sula Vineyards, Dindori Reserve Shiraz, Nashik 2012
Fratelli Wines, Chenin Blanc, Baramati, Maharashtra 2013
Grover Vineyards, Art Collection Cabernet-Shiraz, Nandi Hills, Bangalore 2011
The Tasting Director of DAWA, Christelle Guibert informs delWine from London that 16 Indian wines took part in the competition and were the highest number since the competition started last year. It is commendable that the Indian producers are finally waking up to the importance of participating in the international wine competitions of this stature. Steven Spurrier, who was the Chairman of the competition and is a regular visitor to India, was quite impressed with the quality improvement of the wines based on what he tasted. In fact, there was quite a buzz when the Indian wines were being tasted with many of the judges not in the panel keen to get a taste of the wines which of course, are tasted totally blind. Subhash Arora provided the benchmark about the grapes, wines and the regions.
A total of 2312 wines were tasted and 2023 were awarded. Thus, the award performance of the Indian wines was in line with that of the other international wines. There is no limit to the wines awarded at DAWA. Besides Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, wines may also be ‘Commended’ if they meet the basic criteria. International Trophy and Regional Trophy that are given would not be relevant to the Indian producers as the Gold medal still eludes them. Incidentally, like in most competitions, judges are very tight fisted so far as the Gold is concerned - only 45 wines (1.95%) won a Gold medal. 369 (15.96%) Silver, 985 (42.6%) and 585 Commended were the other awards besides 39 Regional Trophies.
The Decanter Asia Wine Awards (DAWA) was started in 2012 by Decanter magazine and is co-chaired by Jeannie Cho Lee MW, one of the two women MWs from Hong Kong. It was held from 16-19 September at the Cyberport in Hong Kong with 40 judges tasting the wines over 4 days.
Full results are posted in DecanterChina.com.
Subhash Arora |
