ten years ago my husband walked and
showed me an article in the Financial
Times and said you should be like her I
rolled my eyes I was expecting to see a
picture of Katrina Kaif or Kareena
Kapoor but instead he showed me an
article written by Jazz’s Robinson one
of the world’s most famous wine writers
I was intrigued and I was relieved as
you can imagine but hey I knew nothing
about wine I had as much chance of
becoming a wine expert as I did or
becoming a Bollywood superstar plus I
was a director of sales at a fortune 500
nasdaq listed company why would I think
of quitting a perfectly rewarding
corporate career to enter into a world I
knew so little about but I was intrigued
so I started looking around me for
inspiration and all I could find is a
few wineries making wines and early he
had a growing interest in consumers
about wines and of course the
self-proclaimed wine experts for whom
bragging about a few bottles of very
expensive wines put them on a pedestal
in the Mumbai party scene so I discussed
this with my husband and he said you
know this is exactly why you should
become a wine expert in fact you should
become a master of wine like this lady
in the FT it’ll earn you credibility
respect and perhaps fame – and more
importantly you’ll get you’ll enjoy the
opportunity of getting up on stage in
front of an audience demonstrating your
wine Authority and educating people
about wines and at that very instance my
inner voice said let’s do it so the next
day I quit my job and I booked a flight
to Heathrow at the time there was no
chance of learning about wine in India
so after a year of about some beginners
courses at the wine and spirits
Education Trust in London in 2008 I
enrolled for the two-year diploma in
wines and at the wine and spirits
Education Trust this is the flagship
qualification and it is essential if you
want to gain entry into the master of
wine programme
two years later I passed the diploma
with merit but before that in 2009 my
daughter Rihanna was born as a mother
staying away from home it was hugely
challenging I was flying all around the
world but there was really no choice
because getting access to the kind of
varieties and different styles of wines
in India was very limited two years
later in 2010 when I passed the diploma
with merit I was starting to feel that
despite the expense the huge amount of
travel and the toll on family life it
was all worth it so I without waiting I
enrolled at the Institute of masters a
wine and I was delighted to qualify for
the program this was the first time an
Indian had had been accepted
I was so euphoric that I forgot that the
master of wine exams are among the
toughest in the world in fact more
people have been into space than our
masters of wine and currently there are
only 369 m WS in the whole world
but without a shadow of doubt it is the
top accolade in the wine world and it is
the most prestigious wine title to hold
in the world of wines and now I was on
my way to becoming India’s first MW the
next few years were hugely challenging
and arduous but after six long arduous
years on September 5th 2016 I received a
call from the executive director at the
Institute of masters of wine naming me
the world’s first master of wine from
on hearing the news I was absolutely
speechless in between tears I told my
family the news and my daughter who was
now seven years old walked over to me
and said mama are you really India’s
only master wine because that makes you
one in a billion I think she was proud
and then it was time for champagne oh
and by the way the best way to enjoy
champagne is to gently pop open the cork
and drink the precious wine spilling or
spray spilling or spraying wine is
actually considered rude and any any
case why waste word you can taste right
even now the achievements are still
thinking in the exams or the exams the
theory exam at the master wine exam
involves five papers taken over four
days that tests your knowledge like a
fine-tooth comb
Ephram on everything from growing grapes
to making wine to packaging it to
transporting it marketing it to selling
it it’s not just a test of your
knowledge but also your writing skills
and that’s still easy as compared to the
tasting exam the tasting exams involves
blind tasting of 36 wines over three
days every day you are poured a flight
of 12 wines all of which invariably look
the same and you are required to
identify the country or region of origin
the grape varieties use production
methods age quality level commercial
potential and so on it’s really really
tough let me just say once you pass this
you already start to feel like the
master wine but apparently that’s not
enough to earn the top title once you
pass the theory and the practicals the
last stage is to submit a research paper
on any wine related subject of your
choice as long as it is deemed relevant
to the global wine industry so my topic
was my research topic was understanding
awareness attitudes and usage of wine
among urban Indian wine consumers and
what I found was that we should all be
drinking more wine it’s been a whole
year of living the life of an MW and
it’s been absolutely magical
I find myself
the most wonderful wine events lecturing
on wine horses judging at international
wine competitions advising hotels
restaurants and retail on their wine
selections
it’s absolutely terrific it’s it’s it’s
a world of privileges but being a master
of wine is not just a privilege it’s
also a responsibility a responsibility
to to share your understanding of wine
with others so and also to contribute
usefully to the global wine industry so
let me share with you some ways that I
am doing this you see in my world it is
very easy to make wine very complicated
and therefore intimidating I’m sure
you’ve all encountered a wine snob who
makes you believe everything you’re
doing is wrong wine snobs believe that
the more expensive the wine the better
it tastes ok and it’s kind of easy to
believe that it’s kind of easy to set
into that trap but you see being a
master of wine it’s not just about
snobbery it’s about believing that the
joy of its it’s believing that in fact
the the beauty of the wine is how in
isn’t how it tastes and it’s not
necessarily and how expensive it is it’s
being able to appreciate how well it’s
made rather than being prejudiced by its
price or its label let me give you an
example we recently conducted a blind
tasting event for a top leading
financial services company and that
clients in Mumbai so we organized three
red wines that we poured out for the
evening the three different price points
the first red wine was a super iconic
investment-grade
super premium wine the second wine was a
mid-priced artisanal boutique boutique
winery wine but a perfectly great but a
mid-priced wine the third wine was an
inexpensive wine perfectly delicious and
enjoyable in the glass but an
inexpensive value for money offering we
asked that we ask the clients to read
the order of the wines in terms of
quality without telling them which is
which guess what 80% of the guests got
the order wrong so the moral of the
story actually is it’s best to judge a
wine based on how it
case rather than try to figure out or
try to wonder what its price or the
label might be or be prejudiced by that
price alone does not define the quality
in the glass it is best to enjoy would
you enjoy drinking and not be
embarrassed about it I’m a founder of a
wine club and they have over two
thousand members we regularly meet at
wine tasting events and what they
enjoyed the most is discovering new and
exciting styles from not just all around
the world including India we advise them
on what wines they should be drinking
based on their budget preferences and
occasions and they really enjoy making
these discoveries because the world of
wine is diverse and it is exciting may
you never drink the same wine twice I
founded a wine Academy in 2009 through
which we now offer the wine and spirits
Education certified wine courses so
Indians don’t have to travel to London
and spend time and money like I did I’m
proud to say that in the consultancy
work that I did for a hotel chain
leading hotel chain in India we created
and trained the single largest pool of
certified wine professionals than any
other hotel chain and I tell the story
to inspire people to learn about more
about wine and in turn be able to share
their knowledge of wine with others with
the knowledge of wine you can be a
number of things you can be a wine
educator a consultant a wine marketeer a
wine writer or even start your own
business be a one wine through preneur
like me and finally through my industry
reports which is India wine insider I
want to help shape the industry the wine
industry going forward my my consumer
research report was launched earlier
this year and it was greatly lauded by
both the Indian as well as the global
wine industry I want to share some of
these astonishing findings with you
today
wine is increasingly gaining a lot of
cultural acceptance it is being it is
increasingly becoming a mainstream drink
and is being widely consumed at both
restaurants and at home across a range
of occasions in fact wine enjoys a very
unique selling proposition it’s USB
being consumers view wine as how
the classy and socially acceptable the
combination of these three factors being
so uniquely distinctive to wine almost
unlike any other beverage that you might
have tried before there’s another very
interesting finding and which is wine
women make a great fear of pairing women
are enjoying in research shows that
women are enjoying wine as frequently as
men and are in fact willing to spend
more on a bottle of wine than men do I
can tell you guys that’s certainly true
in my own house okay
wine women wine women view wine as
classy healthy and empowering and
they’re facing fewer cultural
inhibitions when drinking wine in the
presence in the presence of their family
friends and the society at large
now given that women have traditionally
been encouraged to abstain from alcohol
I find this trend hugely encouraging it
is obvious that wine softer image is
making it more appealing to women and
allowing them to go out there and
experience wine and enjoy it without
having to worry about how they’re being
perceived in the society in general and
in general research also shows that
women in general exercise moderation
health and balance in their purchasing
behavior when it comes to wine a word on
the youth Millennials the young
consumers are the groom lot they’re not
far behind
they’re also adopting wine into their
lifestyle believing that wine makes them
feel proud classy and sophisticated and
they are in fact seeking higher choices
in their wines so the future of wine is
bright right well not quite yet because
there’s still a lot of work to be done
in terms of per capita consumption India
is only drinking only a tablespoon per
person in India this is a bit of
something of a joke among wine
professionals around the world so now I
have a new dream which is to convert
India from the whiskey guzzling nation
that it is to a kingdom of wines because
wine is diverse it is exciting it is
wonderful and perhaps even healthy when
consumed in moderation and it is
certainly elegant to drink I want to
make wine part of wine conversation I
want to make India part of wine
conversation
all around the globe but I really need
your help in helping me achieve this
dream so gift so make wine enter into
your life give it a chance and let it
enter all you I’m going to leave you
today with six useful beginners tips on
how you can enjoy a glass of wine
without having to worry about its price
or its label when choosing your wine
don’t worry about whether it is enclosed
with a cork or a corkscrew or screw cap
in fact there’s a misnomer that wines
under screw caps are inferior to those
under corpse this is absolutely not true
in fact research shows that wines under
screw cap may actually be more superior
to cords when it comes to certain
youthful everyday drinking wines the
kind of wines that we most often end up
drinking when you pour your glass of
wine fill only about 1/3 of your glass
leaving the rest of the glass and a lot
of room for the wine to swirl and to
open up into your glass thirdly you can
hold the wine glass by the stem or the
base whichever you prefer whichever is
more comfortable whichever makes you
feel more cool ok if the wine is too
cold use the heat from the palm of your
hands to cup the bowl which will quickly
warm up the wine swirling the wine in
your glass swishing the wine on your
palate helps open up the wine it helps
you taste the full flavors of the wine
simple wines have simple fruity aromas
and flavors whereas the more complex
wines give you a range of flavors that
may range from fruity floral perfume
conclude on the quality of the wine
based on three or four things one the
finish of the wine which is how long the
wine lasts the flavor lasts on your
palate also based on how concentrated
the flavors feel or how complex the
aromas and flavors are and finally
overall how balanced or how
ammonia’s it tastes and one last single
tip being when you try a glass of wine
try and enjoy it with some food and in
the company of your friends because the
best wines are those that we drink in
the company of those who make us happy
ladies and gentlemen this is Solon
holland master of wine and my job and my
mission is to make india love wine
Cheers [Music]
showed me an article in the Financial
Times and said you should be like her I
rolled my eyes I was expecting to see a
picture of Katrina Kaif or Kareena
Kapoor but instead he showed me an
article written by Jazz’s Robinson one
of the world’s most famous wine writers
I was intrigued and I was relieved as
you can imagine but hey I knew nothing
about wine I had as much chance of
becoming a wine expert as I did or
becoming a Bollywood superstar plus I
was a director of sales at a fortune 500
nasdaq listed company why would I think
of quitting a perfectly rewarding
corporate career to enter into a world I
knew so little about but I was intrigued
so I started looking around me for
inspiration and all I could find is a
few wineries making wines and early he
had a growing interest in consumers
about wines and of course the
self-proclaimed wine experts for whom
bragging about a few bottles of very
expensive wines put them on a pedestal
in the Mumbai party scene so I discussed
this with my husband and he said you
know this is exactly why you should
become a wine expert in fact you should
become a master of wine like this lady
in the FT it’ll earn you credibility
respect and perhaps fame – and more
importantly you’ll get you’ll enjoy the
opportunity of getting up on stage in
front of an audience demonstrating your
wine Authority and educating people
about wines and at that very instance my
inner voice said let’s do it so the next
day I quit my job and I booked a flight
to Heathrow at the time there was no
chance of learning about wine in India
so after a year of about some beginners
courses at the wine and spirits
Education Trust in London in 2008 I
enrolled for the two-year diploma in
wines and at the wine and spirits
Education Trust this is the flagship
qualification and it is essential if you
want to gain entry into the master of
wine programme
two years later I passed the diploma
with merit but before that in 2009 my
daughter Rihanna was born as a mother
staying away from home it was hugely
challenging I was flying all around the
world but there was really no choice
because getting access to the kind of
varieties and different styles of wines
in India was very limited two years
later in 2010 when I passed the diploma
with merit I was starting to feel that
despite the expense the huge amount of
travel and the toll on family life it
was all worth it so I without waiting I
enrolled at the Institute of masters a
wine and I was delighted to qualify for
the program this was the first time an
Indian had had been accepted
I was so euphoric that I forgot that the
master of wine exams are among the
toughest in the world in fact more
people have been into space than our
masters of wine and currently there are
only 369 m WS in the whole world
but without a shadow of doubt it is the
top accolade in the wine world and it is
the most prestigious wine title to hold
in the world of wines and now I was on
my way to becoming India’s first MW the
next few years were hugely challenging
and arduous but after six long arduous
years on September 5th 2016 I received a
call from the executive director at the
Institute of masters of wine naming me
the world’s first master of wine from
on hearing the news I was absolutely
speechless in between tears I told my
family the news and my daughter who was
now seven years old walked over to me
and said mama are you really India’s
only master wine because that makes you
one in a billion I think she was proud
and then it was time for champagne oh
and by the way the best way to enjoy
champagne is to gently pop open the cork
and drink the precious wine spilling or
spray spilling or spraying wine is
actually considered rude and any any
case why waste word you can taste right
even now the achievements are still
thinking in the exams or the exams the
theory exam at the master wine exam
involves five papers taken over four
days that tests your knowledge like a
fine-tooth comb
Ephram on everything from growing grapes
to making wine to packaging it to
transporting it marketing it to selling
it it’s not just a test of your
knowledge but also your writing skills
and that’s still easy as compared to the
tasting exam the tasting exams involves
blind tasting of 36 wines over three
days every day you are poured a flight
of 12 wines all of which invariably look
the same and you are required to
identify the country or region of origin
the grape varieties use production
methods age quality level commercial
potential and so on it’s really really
tough let me just say once you pass this
you already start to feel like the
master wine but apparently that’s not
enough to earn the top title once you
pass the theory and the practicals the
last stage is to submit a research paper
on any wine related subject of your
choice as long as it is deemed relevant
to the global wine industry so my topic
was my research topic was understanding
awareness attitudes and usage of wine
among urban Indian wine consumers and
what I found was that we should all be
drinking more wine it’s been a whole
year of living the life of an MW and
it’s been absolutely magical
I find myself
the most wonderful wine events lecturing
on wine horses judging at international
wine competitions advising hotels
restaurants and retail on their wine
selections
it’s absolutely terrific it’s it’s it’s
a world of privileges but being a master
of wine is not just a privilege it’s
also a responsibility a responsibility
to to share your understanding of wine
with others so and also to contribute
usefully to the global wine industry so
let me share with you some ways that I
am doing this you see in my world it is
very easy to make wine very complicated
and therefore intimidating I’m sure
you’ve all encountered a wine snob who
makes you believe everything you’re
doing is wrong wine snobs believe that
the more expensive the wine the better
it tastes ok and it’s kind of easy to
believe that it’s kind of easy to set
into that trap but you see being a
master of wine it’s not just about
snobbery it’s about believing that the
joy of its it’s believing that in fact
the the beauty of the wine is how in
isn’t how it tastes and it’s not
necessarily and how expensive it is it’s
being able to appreciate how well it’s
made rather than being prejudiced by its
price or its label let me give you an
example we recently conducted a blind
tasting event for a top leading
financial services company and that
clients in Mumbai so we organized three
red wines that we poured out for the
evening the three different price points
the first red wine was a super iconic
investment-grade
super premium wine the second wine was a
mid-priced artisanal boutique boutique
winery wine but a perfectly great but a
mid-priced wine the third wine was an
inexpensive wine perfectly delicious and
enjoyable in the glass but an
inexpensive value for money offering we
asked that we ask the clients to read
the order of the wines in terms of
quality without telling them which is
which guess what 80% of the guests got
the order wrong so the moral of the
story actually is it’s best to judge a
wine based on how it
case rather than try to figure out or
try to wonder what its price or the
label might be or be prejudiced by that
price alone does not define the quality
in the glass it is best to enjoy would
you enjoy drinking and not be
embarrassed about it I’m a founder of a
wine club and they have over two
thousand members we regularly meet at
wine tasting events and what they
enjoyed the most is discovering new and
exciting styles from not just all around
the world including India we advise them
on what wines they should be drinking
based on their budget preferences and
occasions and they really enjoy making
these discoveries because the world of
wine is diverse and it is exciting may
you never drink the same wine twice I
founded a wine Academy in 2009 through
which we now offer the wine and spirits
Education certified wine courses so
Indians don’t have to travel to London
and spend time and money like I did I’m
proud to say that in the consultancy
work that I did for a hotel chain
leading hotel chain in India we created
and trained the single largest pool of
certified wine professionals than any
other hotel chain and I tell the story
to inspire people to learn about more
about wine and in turn be able to share
their knowledge of wine with others with
the knowledge of wine you can be a
number of things you can be a wine
educator a consultant a wine marketeer a
wine writer or even start your own
business be a one wine through preneur
like me and finally through my industry
reports which is India wine insider I
want to help shape the industry the wine
industry going forward my my consumer
research report was launched earlier
this year and it was greatly lauded by
both the Indian as well as the global
wine industry I want to share some of
these astonishing findings with you
today
wine is increasingly gaining a lot of
cultural acceptance it is being it is
increasingly becoming a mainstream drink
and is being widely consumed at both
restaurants and at home across a range
of occasions in fact wine enjoys a very
unique selling proposition it’s USB
being consumers view wine as how
the classy and socially acceptable the
combination of these three factors being
so uniquely distinctive to wine almost
unlike any other beverage that you might
have tried before there’s another very
interesting finding and which is wine
women make a great fear of pairing women
are enjoying in research shows that
women are enjoying wine as frequently as
men and are in fact willing to spend
more on a bottle of wine than men do I
can tell you guys that’s certainly true
in my own house okay
wine women wine women view wine as
classy healthy and empowering and
they’re facing fewer cultural
inhibitions when drinking wine in the
presence in the presence of their family
friends and the society at large
now given that women have traditionally
been encouraged to abstain from alcohol
I find this trend hugely encouraging it
is obvious that wine softer image is
making it more appealing to women and
allowing them to go out there and
experience wine and enjoy it without
having to worry about how they’re being
perceived in the society in general and
in general research also shows that
women in general exercise moderation
health and balance in their purchasing
behavior when it comes to wine a word on
the youth Millennials the young
consumers are the groom lot they’re not
far behind
they’re also adopting wine into their
lifestyle believing that wine makes them
feel proud classy and sophisticated and
they are in fact seeking higher choices
in their wines so the future of wine is
bright right well not quite yet because
there’s still a lot of work to be done
in terms of per capita consumption India
is only drinking only a tablespoon per
person in India this is a bit of
something of a joke among wine
professionals around the world so now I
have a new dream which is to convert
India from the whiskey guzzling nation
that it is to a kingdom of wines because
wine is diverse it is exciting it is
wonderful and perhaps even healthy when
consumed in moderation and it is
certainly elegant to drink I want to
make wine part of wine conversation I
want to make India part of wine
conversation
all around the globe but I really need
your help in helping me achieve this
dream so gift so make wine enter into
your life give it a chance and let it
enter all you I’m going to leave you
today with six useful beginners tips on
how you can enjoy a glass of wine
without having to worry about its price
or its label when choosing your wine
don’t worry about whether it is enclosed
with a cork or a corkscrew or screw cap
in fact there’s a misnomer that wines
under screw caps are inferior to those
under corpse this is absolutely not true
in fact research shows that wines under
screw cap may actually be more superior
to cords when it comes to certain
youthful everyday drinking wines the
kind of wines that we most often end up
drinking when you pour your glass of
wine fill only about 1/3 of your glass
leaving the rest of the glass and a lot
of room for the wine to swirl and to
open up into your glass thirdly you can
hold the wine glass by the stem or the
base whichever you prefer whichever is
more comfortable whichever makes you
feel more cool ok if the wine is too
cold use the heat from the palm of your
hands to cup the bowl which will quickly
warm up the wine swirling the wine in
your glass swishing the wine on your
palate helps open up the wine it helps
you taste the full flavors of the wine
simple wines have simple fruity aromas
and flavors whereas the more complex
wines give you a range of flavors that
may range from fruity floral perfume
conclude on the quality of the wine
based on three or four things one the
finish of the wine which is how long the
wine lasts the flavor lasts on your
palate also based on how concentrated
the flavors feel or how complex the
aromas and flavors are and finally
overall how balanced or how
ammonia’s it tastes and one last single
tip being when you try a glass of wine
try and enjoy it with some food and in
the company of your friends because the
best wines are those that we drink in
the company of those who make us happy
ladies and gentlemen this is Solon
holland master of wine and my job and my
mission is to make india love wine
Cheers [Music]
Please follow and like us: