April 15, 2014

Master class International Vine & Food pairing Festival at Taj Bengal, Kolkata

 "FOUR SEASONS, the flagship brand of the company, captures the colors and moods of the four seasons, with three reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot); three whites (Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc and Viognier); and, a Rosé (Blush). The Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Barrique Reserve Shiraz are the premium offerings of the Four Seasons portfolio. These wines have been aged in imported French oak barrels for 9 months before being bottled." (Source: HERE)

Wine was always deprived from my tasting list unless and until I got the opportunity to go through a long educational wine testing session by the Four Seasons, where the whole show got conducted by Mr. Peter Mitter last year. The event was an eye opener for me and I better understood then how one should drink wine along with which kind of food. The marriage between Food and Wine is made in heaven for sure and we all people in earth taking the full pleasure to savour it.


On an invitation by the esteem Four Seasons team led me to witness the Master class International Vine &Food pairing Festival at Taj Bengal a couple of days back. This was for the first time the more than hundred famous International & National brands came under one roof  to showcase a tasting session along with the choice of best food by the talented and reputed chefs from the Taj group (Some got invited internationally too) to an esteem group of people.   My tasting session started right from the Four Seasons stall where the display of all the  range of wines from Four seasons got sampled including  Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Blush, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon etc and my personal favourite the Barrique Reserve Cabrenet Sauvignon and Barrique Reserve Shiraz.  Four Seasons  produces wines from grapes grown around Sahyadri valley in Maharashtra, India and at its state-of-the-art Four Seasons winery near Baramati, around 65 kms from Pune. It aims to drive interest in wines and wine consumption by offering good quality wines at reasonable price points with packaging options as well as education and engagement.  The Master class session of each brands made the tasting session more interesting when one got to know the birth history  of the a wine till it gets matured. 
Chief Wine Maker of Four Seasons Mr Abhay Kewadkar's  master class was really an eye opener which covered the points like the right Choices of Oaks, Origin of the Oak, the Coopers Craft, The Flavour notes from the Barrel, What does a Barrel do, The Barrel Basics etc.
Moving on to all the other  national International brands what tickled the taste bud was the array of foods on display and that was also direct form the famous Chefs' stalls stationed there. For the first time taste the Rabbit meat sauce with Fettuccine. Though I was a bit skeptical how it would be, it really tasted very nice. Chef Sujan's special Gondhoraj Griddled Kolkata Beckti with Portobello Mushrooms was another dish, worth too mention. The Crab meat cake with Guacamole was just out of the world. Got the opportunity to taste the master class creation by the famous French Chef Marc Thuet too. All the dishes for me were the perfect pairing to complement that evening with the different colours and taste of wines.

Last but not the least the wine that won my heart was the Sparkling wine from Bouvet.  The french wine is the second oldest sparkling wine producer from Saumur in the Loire. The taste will give you the Champagne quality at a very significant price. Now its available in Kolkata Quest Mall too. Overall the whole event was a remarkably educational journey for me, mainly for the exclusive Master Class sessions. Talking with the Brand Sommeliers did break many myth and also gather a plethora of knowledge about the varieties of Wine. Its also a very proud moment to witness such event in our own city Kolkata. Hope to have this kind of event more here. With an ending note would like to convey my heartiest thanks to Four Seasons for extending the invitation for such great event.
 For Photographs please visit HERE..

Also Read what my fellow Blogger Vishal experienced HERE... 
[Disclaimer: Kamalika C participated as a guest of Four Seasons and the post solely based on the author's honest experience..] .

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