Why I like the Wine

Wine and dine sessions are quite interesting and can be equally entertaining (if you know what I mean). Talking about wine, my memories go back to the year 2003 – it was when I first tasted the chilled, sparkling fermented grape juice. I was in Germany celebrating my birthday eve with my friends and at the stroke of midnight a bottle of Sekt (German sparkling wine, similar to champagne) was uncorked. They say you need to develop the taste for wine to enjoy it, but I fell in love with it the very first time I imbibed it.

In the year 2005 when I again visited Germany for academic purposes, my university used to organize weekend excursions for all the students. Castles and palaces, lakes and gardens and one day trips to nearby cities was the customary routine; but what also was a part and parcel of the weekend jaunt, was our visit to vineyards and wineries! The whole experience was really fantastic – it was explained to us how the grapes are selected, how the wines are fermented, how they are stored in the cellar and what differentiates the wine varieties from one another, the quality categories: Tafelwein (table wine), Landwein (country wine), Qualitaetswein (quality wine) and Qualitaetswein mit Praedikat (better quality wine) and there are several other criteria for classification. I don’t know and don’t remember much about the technicalities about wines, all I care about is the taste ;). I enjoyed the wine tasting experience to the hilt – not to forget everything was gratis for us (so predictably the Indian students among the group were over the moon and consumed more wine than the rest of the group altogether) - wine and cheese accompanied with some German music and dance and traditional German drinking games!

This time I got a couple of wine bottles for my dad – one of the Riesling variety (from Alsace) and the other was the Sekt (sparkling white wine). It was a one-of-the-best souvenirs from Deutschland for daddy dearest and he was obviously delighted.

The very next day after I returned from Germany, I went to Vaishali in the evening for a cup of “medium-strong sweet” (for all the non-Puneites that is coffee) and sada dosa. I returned home by dinner time and when I opened the door, the living room was dimly lit with terracotta and paper lamps, Ghulam Ali was intoning “Kal chaudhavi ki raat thi…” and the center table was primly set with homemade chicken and cheese appetizers, three wine glasses and a bottle of Alsatian wine. Dad was comfortably resting on the jhula, waiting for me to come home – the moment he saw me enter the house, he welcomed me with his charming smile and poured in wine in the three glasses, handed one glass to mom and the other to me and said “Here’s to you my lovely.” I remember I ran to him and curled up in his warm embrace like a baby.

Today I dedicate this memory, this blog to dad “Here’s to you Baba, here’s to all the precious moments we share!”