Sip,She Says

When you need help navigating a wine list full of unpronounceable names in Delhi’s restaurants,chances are the gentleman who advises you is as foxed himself (no pun intended). The intimidating and complex world of wine in India,ruled by shifty,questionable sommeliers,just got a cool new entrant. In this tiny,male dominated bastion,a lady,Kavita Devi Faiella,assumes the formidable position of wine sommelier and Cellar Master in Delhi’s Aman Hotel. Faiella sounds deceptively Indian,however,the bubbly 26-year-old is from Australia,and a qualified sommelier with six years experience. “It’s my first time in India,” smiles Faiella. “My parents named me Kavita after a holiday here.”

Faiella moved to Delhi from Singapore where she was working in Aman’s corporate office. After studying medicine in Sydney,a holiday to the wine-soaked Ballonia in Italy in 2001 changed her career plans instantly. “Somehow I didn’t see myself prescribing medicines to kids all my life. I started working at a local bar and that’s where I developed an interest in wine,” she says. Faiella completed a Certificate IV Sommelier course,from Ryde TAFE,Sydney,in 2002. She is still studying for her fourth level course,the exams for which will be held in London this November,following which she will qualify as India’s first master sommelier. “Having educational training in wine definitely helps. One understands the wine-making process better and I can translate that to customers more clearly,” she explains,while taking out a bottle of a 2005 Malbec,from the 5,000 bottles capacity indoor wine cellar at the Aman. “All the bottles need special handling as variations in temperature can ruin the wine,” she asserts.

Faiella laughs when we ask what the advantages of being the only trained woman sommelier in Delhi are. “I feel I am more approachable and people are not inhibited about asking me questions about wine. Also since I am from a new world wine country like Australia,I can simplify wine for an Indian customer who is not a seasoned drinker,” stresses Faiella,who worked for two years at Sydney’s Coast and Rockpool restaurants with celebrity chefs Steve Manfredi and Niel Perry respectively.

In her last outing as sommelier,Faiella was managing nine properties in South-East Asia for the Aman,in places like Malaysia,Cambodia,Thailand and Vietnam. She acknowledges the challenges of converting a nation of wine hicks into discerning drinkers. “People do not have established palates in wine and are more open to experiment. That makes my job more fun,” says Faiella,who spends two hours daily,training the staff at Aman on wine etiquette. Faiella’s next move: a trip to the Nasik Valley to check out India’s wineries in the region. Women and wine just acquired a whole new meaning.