Food Event | Wine Tasting … a wine for every season at Four Seasons!

“If your heart is warm with happiness, you’ll need a glass – if sorrow chills your heart, have two!”
Hannu Lehmusvuori

Put together a bunch of food and lifestyle bloggers {read  eight ladies and a lad} with a few bottles of good wine, a connoisseur who is surprisingly refreshing and great company … and suddenly a searingly HOT afternoon quite unbearable at 45C becomes animated FUN! We were hosted by Four Seasons for a Wine & Food Pairing session at the quaint and charming Fres Co in the heart of New Delhi.

Whether it is the sprightliness of a fresh spring morning, the joyous warmth of a glorious summer afternoon, the tingling nip of a crisp autumn twilight or the biting chill of an icy winter night, to everything there is a season. And to every season, there is an experience. An experience captured by Four Seasons selection of the finest Indian wines.

We walked in hot and bothered, complaining about the unbearable Indian summer. Purba, the lady with the funny bone, had us in splits, her one liners completely justifying her humor and satire blog A-musing. With her came the only ‘cat’ among the pigeons, Prateik aka Snow Leopard …  it was the pigeons day out as the sweet fellow lent us his ear and we chattered voraciously!The lovely Shamita Sinha, Miss Earth Universe and a wine connoisseur, a truly passionate wine lover, held our rapt attention for the next two hours. What followed was animated discussions, unraveling the magic of Four Seasons, understanding their philosophy, exploring Baramati virtually where they host their vineyards, and how FS is inspired by French wines  … all this through swirls and sips of different wines from the Four Seasons range paired perfectly with delicious grub.We began with a still Rosé wine, Mr PABs favourite summer wine, Blush as the attractive salmon pink wine is aptly called. It was crisp, light and refreshing, a beautiful accompaniment for light summer fare … perfect! We’ve been looking for a good Rosé after the fabulous one that Mr PAB got back from France. After a couple of really disappointing local ones, Blush really stood out.Next up was a still white wine Chenin Blanc, then a still red wine Merlot. We missed tasting the Barrique Reserve, but that was OK. Forks were beginning to fall every now and then, the happy gathering cheered on! Shamita talked us through the old school of thought, wine at room temperature and how the concept came to be in temperatures of 13-14C Europe of the past … and how that just didn’t work especially here at 40C! Times have changed so the rules have to go, basic guidelines lead the way, fusion cuisine is in … ultimately your palette is your guide and best friend.Dry vs Sweet, Red vs White, food pairings and fusion food pairings, the richness of the cuisine and the intensity of the wine, light summer fare with light summer wine, Indian cuisine and wine pairings, the tanins, the blush, colours from red to straw to white, the health benefits of drinking wine in moderation, antioxidants and also the ‘yeast’ monster at play here too … yes we talked!

It was wonderful to meet Sushmita, Sangeeta and Anupama for the first time, bloggers who loved the wine as much as the company. Rekha and Rituparna were there too in fine form, enthusiastic and bubbly as ever. It was a wonderful afternoon get together of high spirited women and a lad; we had a giggly good time. We got a heads up on the nuances of everything wine we could ask for from the very unassuming, down to Earth, warm and affable Shamita.Thank you Four Seasons for having us over, for introducing us that hot afternoon to your beautiful range of wines and the inspired story behind it. Our incessant chatter and involved conversation might have told you that we enjoyed the afternoon immensely, wines and all, right down to the last drop!

Thank you Ashu for organising the meet, and Jyoti for co-ordinating it this end.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India