Uncorked!

Last month,in a fund raiser event held in Daniel,a restaurant in New York,one of the wines on the menu was Sandhi. The name indicates its Indian origins. The wine was made by Raj Parry from Kolkata. Now as he is setting up his winery in California,his impressive career graph looks inspiring. In July this year India has also sought the membership to the United Nations of Wine. Wines mean big business in India. And gaining steadily from this is the career prospects of a sommelier or wine steward.

Most of us believe that wine tasting is what a sommelier does. In cities like Pune and Mumbai,these events have been quite common. But the work of a sommelier is much more diverse,wine tasting being only one aspect of the job. A wine steward ideally prepares the wine list for restaurants,trains the staff,suggests wines along with the menu and manages the logistics involved in procuring them. A sommelier also needs to keep his or her personal choices away and choose wines that best compliment the cuisine. But where does one get the academic backing for such a profession? While traditionally the industry encouraged wine tasters and sommeliers to learn on the job,the current trends suggest otherwise. In India,a lot of professional wine stewards have enrolled in foreign universities for degrees. Some of the most well known place to study for this is Université du Vin ,Suze-La-Rousse,France which offers a 6-8 months course which is all in Francais,Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET),London UK have five levels of courses,the last being a diploma,and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA),California,USA,with a four-month course. There are a lot of other universities too,but studying abroad for this course could be a huge dent in the pocket. Of the local courses,the Institute of Wine and Beverage Studies based in Delhi now offers a day course,a level one (taste expert) course,which is for a two-week duration.

(This is an indicative listing)