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Just Wines… in Kathmandu
Recently in a Kathmandu MNC office, the Nepali number two and his wife were invited by his European boss over a JLT dinner (just like that) at his house in Bhainsepati. That particular day, our Nepali dai was rather busy and had managed to remind himself at the last moment about the dinner tryst with his boss. On the way to his boss’ house he asked his wife to pick up a bottle of wine from a grocery store, had it beautifully wrapped and presented it to their host. The cost of the wine was just Rs. 325 and he could not help but wonder on the quality of that particular wine.
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Premium Appellation wines range from Rs. 1,100 onwards |
For the uninitiated here is a quick guide to the wines available in Kathmandu.
French Wines
The leading entity in the world of wines is French wine industry. The French produce, consume and export wines to the value of more than the GDP of many countries. French wines are categorised into the following three primary groups in terms of their “Quality”.
Vin De Table: The entry level wines used mostly for cooking and widely available from Rs 225 onwards. Comes in the red and the white variety.
Vin De Pays: Relatively higher category of wines and typically classified by the grape variety and this classification is prominent on the label. In Nepal, for red wine, the prominent in this variety are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and for whites Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. When one sees a bottle of Vin De Pays and reads Syrah or Merlot then the wine is made from Syrah or Merlot variety of grapes and many wine drinkers tend to choose their wine this way. In Kathmandu, one can buy a bottle of Vin De Pays starting from Rs 400 onwards till Rs 700.
Appellation Wines: These wines are categorised based on the regions they come from unlike the grapes variety of Vin De Pays. These wines come with the Appellation Controllee guarantee and therefore are considered a higher class. A region in France, which gets blessed with the optimum weather conditions for grapes harvesting and wine production on certain years, is awarded a vintage label. Therefore, wines produced in that region in that year are sold as a vintage - the most premium product label in the market.
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A range of Appellation wine |
In Kathmandu, appellation wines are available from Rs 400 onwards until Rs 3,500 and the globally distinguished appellation wines available in Kathmandu are Bordeaux red and white, White Molleux Rose, Beaujolais, Beaujolais Village (Beaujolais are mostly red wines), Cotes’ Du Rhone (Cotes’ are mostly white), Muscadet White, Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Bourgogne Chardonnay Blanc and Saint Emillion
Appellation wines are most likely to present the premium of wines based on the sustained characteristics of that region for grape cultivation and harvesting. Some of the premium French wines in Kathmandu are Pommard Red - Rs 2,535, Chateauneuif Du Pape – Rs 1,545, Gervey Chambertin– Rs 2,800, Chablis - Rs 1,170, Pouilly Fuisse- Rs 1,550. (These rates are based on the retail rates of the newly opened wine gallery Vine Yard in Babar Mahal Revisited).
As a novelty factor Rosé wines are also available in Kathmandu. One of them is Rose D’ Anjou for about Rs 600.
Italian Wines
Another renowned category of wines is produced by Italians and the Italian wines available in Kathmandu start from Rs 600 onwards until Rs 1,500. Some of the well-known Italian wines are Chianti Red (can someone recall the craving of Dr Lecter Hannibal in “Silence of Lambs” for this wine), Bouberade Asti Rouge, Ouvieto Classico and Renoir Red. One of the very well accepted Italian wines in the category of sparkling wine is Asti Spumante.
New World Wines
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Vin de Pays is categorized based on the grape variety |
The French used to garner almost 90 percent of the wine export markets globally but they are getting ahead on competition from the makers of the new world wines led by the Australians and Americans and closely followed by Chilean, South African, Mexican, Bulgarian and Portuguese. These days it is almost fashionable to drink these New World Wines. In Kathmandu the price of the New World Wines starts from Rs 450 onwards till Rs 1,500. Some of the Australian wines doing the rounds these days in the Kathmandu market are Shiraz, Cabernet Shiraz, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Semillion Chardonnay. Australian Wines are also most likely to be categorised by the grape variety, the region of the production but unlike the French counterparts, the quality guarantee is regulated by private companies rather than by regional regulatory authority.
(The range of rates and details are provided by Amit Agarwal and Jeevan Acharya of Vine Yard Nepal’s only wine gallery located in Babar Mahal Revisited.)
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