It was all about Tasting, Stomping, Singing at M’luru Wine Fest’
Mangaluru: As Ernest Hemingway aptly said, “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.” – and the exotic three day festival during the weekend saw a large crowd of wine lovers, and also those who have never seen or tasted wine before- but everyone seemed like they had fun and joy affair with wide range of unique experiences. It was a weekend that Mangalureans experienced for a first time at the First “Mangaluru Wine Festival 2016′ held at Kadri Park from 26, 27 and 28 November. Apart from tasting some free samples of wines offered by the wine dealers, Bacchus lovers were seen swinging to the peppy and eclectic music, and soaking in the treacherous sun at the charming lawns of Kadri Park – away from the noise and dust of the city!
This Wine Festival was a perfect platform which attracted the wine aficionados, food lovers and those seeking quality recreation and live entertainment. Wine lovers, and even the teetotalers packed the portion of Kadri Park lawns to sip the rare and special wine showcased by over 12 wineries of Karnataka and Maharashtra. On Friday and Saturday, Mangaluru, which is the second largest wine market in the state after Bengaluru, witnessed an overwhelming response with wine lovers visiting winery stalls and buying red and white grape wine of their choice. Stalls not only showcased wine brands with price ranging between Rs 90 to Rs 2,100, but also offered connoisseurs wine to taste. Meanwhile, in the evening, children made the most of opportunity by participating actively in the grape-stomping that was specially arranged by the organizers – Karnataka State Department of Horticulture and Karnataka Wine Board.
Yes, Wine lovers were in for a treat at this wine Fest, which was first of its kind in Mangaluru! The event brought together an exciting lot of wine, music, arts and more. What more could we ask for, eh? Sip and stomp! Be it their selection of heritage wines or the other brands like Sula Chenin Blanc, Sula Cabernet Shiraz, or for that imported wines fro New Zealand ” Mud House” ( costing around Rs 2100 for 750 ml) or “Hardy’s” from Australia, “Ruffino” from Italy; “Trapiche” from Argentina, and many more, there was quite an array for everyone to sip on. And for fun to try your hands (or rather, feet) at the age-old tradition of wine-making was a spot of grape stomping in a huge vat. And If the art and sculpture isn’t your cup of tea, a few stalls of clothes, accessories and food did the trick. Adding to the festive vibe was the music lineup, during the evening hours on all three days.
Celebrating wine and all the other good things associated with it, various wine dealers entertained their guests with free samples. Ashok Govekar, sales in-charge for Fratelli Vineyards speaking to Team Mangalorean said, ” The sales have been good for the last two days. Surprisingly a local doctor bought 36 bottles of 18 brands at one go, since he liked the brand which is specially made of selected red grapes. We also carry Merlot and Sangioverse made of red grapes, while Sangioverse Bianco made of white grapes. We have displayed here all our 21 brands of wine. Wine lovers extremely love our brand of wines, and we feel proud of it”.
There were wide range of wines, including sparkling wine, white wine, red wine and rose wine at the stall of Sula Vineyards based in Nasik. The stall which displayed couple of huge dummy wine bottles, had the visitors taking selfies and photos. More than the ten percent discount, wine lovers had the option to chose their favorite brand of wine by tasting it, which was a good move by the shops. Some wines were with less sugar or sugarless, which many visitors bought which were high on medicinal value, and healthy. To go along with wines, a few stalls served snacks and other goodies.
Rohidas Mallya of Kudla, who was socializing with his friend, Jayaprakash speaking to Team Mangalorean said, ” This is a very good initiative taken by the Horticulture and other departments. Since Mangaluru has the potential, more such wine fests should be organized. By allowing to taste wine samples, people got to know which brand to buy as per their taste. These wine fests are a good way of socializing with friends”. Andrea Rachel and Alma, students of a local medical college said, ” Indeed a lovely initiative. We had a chance to sip on good wine. Only wish they had grilled fish and meat stalls, to pair with all these unique wines. This fest encourages a shift to healthy drinking?? Keep up the good work”!
Annette Rodrigues who had bought couple of wines said, ” They should have organized in a much better way with more wine stalls, games and other fun activities. Hope the organizers will do better next time, since it is their first venture in Mangaluru. I only hope that I will like the wine brands that I bought paying few hundreds on each of them. Sssh…Only wish my husband won’t come to know about it, since he is abroad?”. Rajesh, a exclusive beer drinker who had bought a bunch of carbonated wine flavored drink bottles said that he won’t mind trying something new, after all it has got a fizz like the beer. Cheers- I loved the fest, it was fun and had nice time socializing with my friends, he added.
Apart from two musical evenings featuring Kannada and Bollywood hits by groups from out of town, Saturday night saw a popular local rock band “Thermal Joint” in action, with Jill Gavin on drums, Jackson on Keyboard, Clyde on lead guitar, Elton on bass guitar, Niejil on trumpet, Robin, Shawn, and Dixon-all three on vocals, with Swaroop entertaining the crowd with beat boxing. The band got the crowd to get on the dance floor to shake their hips for some popular dance hits, including Baila at the non-stop last session. Call it a Saturday Night Fever- Wine, dine and dance-absolutely a perfect combination for all those revelers who showed up on Saturday!
In conclusion, for wine lovers who have patronized wine fests elsewhere in the past were not so happy with this one- since there were not many wine stalls. While you entered instead of a wine booth, you were greeted with a stall selling soft drinks and snacks, and other wine cutlery items- and this stall was set up by a local liquor dealer who was a sponsorer of the fest. Then followed two other booths also selling stone artworks, and other fancy accessories. Excuse me, this is Wine Fest, not a Flee Market? Other than little entertainment in the evening, throughout the day it seemed kind of boring with no games, fun- and also no music (at least they could have hired a sound guy to belt out some Bollywood or sandalwood songs or techno music). Many of the staff at the wine booth lacked the knowledge of wine, when customers wanted to know more about the wine before they purchased them. Also there were no organizers available when needed. To sum it up, this Fest was not organized up to the mark-this is not just my opinion, but quite a few wine lovers and others who opined. Hope the organizers will do better next next- we all learn by our first mistakes?
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