Pop and Sparkle

Gaurav Bhatia of Moët Hennessy shares the magic of bubbles as the sparkling wine behemoth launches its first Indian-made bubbly

A sparkling wine made in India by Moët Hennessy sounds too good to be true. Tell us more.

In the late 50s,the Champagne experts at Moët & Chandon began exploring the potential for producing world-class sparkling wines outside of the Champagne region. Cleverly they named it Chandon. The Chandon philosophy is to marry the brands French heritage and savoir faire with the local character and new-world innovations. Domaine Chandon was created in Argentina in 1959,California and Brazil in 1973 and Australia in 1986. India is the most recent addition to that list. Nashik is certainly the wine-making heartland of India and offers a terroir that is conducive to creating world-class sparkling wines.

Do you think Chandon,priced at Rs 1,200,will be as celebrated in India as the more expensive sparkling wines?

Our vision in India is to share the magic of bubbles. And we are going to democratise bubbles with Chandon and share the elegance with a larger audience.

Despite you being a society soiree regular,theres so little thats known about you. Weve heard you studied filmmaking in the US.

We are in the night market so going out is an occupational hazard. I do have to say I enjoy it. I studied filmmaking in the US,then started my career on Madison Avenue as a Mad Man. I continue to be a cinema lover and a closet actor.

Tell us how three different countries say cheers.

Terviseks in Estonian,Saúde in Portugese and Kanpai in Japanese. There is no common word for it in India. Im going to have to come up with one.

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