Can you tell the vintage of a wine by tasting it?Paolo Basso – Wine Ambassador Kempinski Hotels answers this and more at the World Gourmet Summit at its flagship Hotel in India

Are you confident picking wine at a restaurant? Do you know what grapes makes Moet et Chandon Brut Rose? Can you tell the vintage of a wine by tasting it? Can you tell the country it belongs to and the grape variety by just tasting it? How about French wine? Do you know your claret from your Beaujolais?

Can you tell Shiraz when you taste it? If not, then you are not alone, for this is how the Master Class by Paola Basso started at Kempinski Hotels flagship Indian property, Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi at it’s World Gourmet Summit focused on worldwide trends and their implications on regional culinary arts, as well as food and beverage innovations ; saw more than 140 food and beverage executives plus corporate executives from Kempinski properties across the globe

Anyways coming back to the class apart from guessing the Champagne related questions ( This is owing to visiting Champagne twice...so I better know the basics), I am sure I flunked in answering most of the questions. Paolo Basso – Wine Ambassador Kempinski Hotels is arguably one of the greatest wine professionals and is the Sommelier‘s Sommelier; is also winner of the ‘Best Sommelier of the World’ title in 2013, is world renowned for his extraordinary palate and experience in the field of fine and rare wines.

It was an enrichening class and both my daughter Akanksha Dean ( First Year Culinary Arts Student at IHM Aurangabad by Taj) and me were extremely thrilled to learn the nuances of wine tasting and also that it is not tough to achieve anything if you are focused, dedicated and honest with your profession. Post the class we tasted an exceptionally amazing dinner cooked in Various courses by the speciality chefs across Kempinski Hotels and we had the pleasure of delightful company on our table including my friend Puneet , General Manager of the hosting Hotel... A proud moment for a Hotel in India to be hosting this event. 

DID YOU KNOW?

Basso is one of only five sommeliers in the world to have won both the European and global titles for ‘Best Sommelier’ and among the rare few sommeliers to have reached the final level of an international competition eight times. He won the title of best Sommelier of Switzerland in 1997, of best Sommelier of Europe in 2010, and of world champion in 2013. In 2014, the Grand Cru Committee of Italy, the most prestigious wine producers association in the country, crowned him ‘Sommelier of the Year’.