Boasting a fine collection of wine from
across Maharashtra and some international players, The Mumbai Wine
Tasting Festival is back as the Kala Ghoda Wine Festival 2012!
What is wine tasting without cheese? So there is a variety of artisan cheese from across India accompanying the wine!
Although the festival was marred with a
few snags, delays and change of venue it all looks to be for the better!
The Festival appears to be bigger and livelier than before!
They’ve gone a step further in the buildup to the festival. If you followed them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/winefestmumbai) you would see how they actively let out tips about wine, wine tasting, wine storing, etc!
The fest is hosted on the 11th and the 12th of February’12 at Rampart Row, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai from noon till 10:30 pm.
The fest seems to be well planned as
well, with a wide variety of veg/non-veg Indian and International food
and finger food being available for purchase, Cheese tastings obviously,
Cheese and Olive platters, Barbeque Cookouts, etc.
There will be live band, music and karaoke to add to the whole feel of the festival.
For entertaining the guests, and here it
gets better, they’ve hosted grape stomping! Wine enthusiasts can meet
sommeliers, wine experts, and wine makers and even join wine clubs!
Ms.
Nupur Joshi - mixologist will talk on wine cocktails - creative,
refreshingly different ways to enjoy wines. Easy to make delicious
wine-based cocktails or "winetails" on 11th and 12th Feb from 4.00pm
till 4.30pm!
And to top it all up, there are exciting games, vineyard getaways, discount on wines etc!
Stemware and other wine accessories are up for sale. There is an art for charity planned as well!
Here is the list of wineries participating this year:
It only remains to be seen how well they
actually execute their plans! But never the less, this fest does look
very promising indeed! Hope to see you there!
P.S: Please carry you age proofs, the festival is for 21 and above only!
The festival hosted by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce
in collaboration with DHL was a huge success the first time it came to Mumbai
back in 2010. This year it went bigger (Duh!). Need we speak any more about the trend of
the world’s most popular festival? These fests are hosted in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.
The first day of the festival witnesses the ritual of the
first keg being ‘Tapped’. With that out of the way, the festival gets kick
started! (Can’t believe we missed that this time!)
Now, let’s not compare the German Oktoberfest with that of
Mumbai’s. They are 200 years (1810 – Bavaria; 2010 – Mumbai) apart for god’s
sake! A three day festival is a good start for us, unlike the 16 day counterpart
which is well, Legendary!
Apparently about 120 tables (each seating 10) were sold out
for all three days! We got in on the last day of the festival and walked out
with mixed emotions. The cover charge for walk-ins was INR 3250, which included
2 litres of beer, a beer mug and a meal.
This year’s beer sponsor (like last
year’s) was Erdinger. Oh boy! What a delightfully refreshing beer!
Although the
fest started from 5:00 pm, crowd only started pouring in by 7:00ish. The band
was to play 6:00 pm onwards, but started playing only post 6:30 pm.
It was a little confusing, initially, to get used to the layout.
But we sniffed out our beer! We walked towards the counter to pick up our beer
mugs and first litre of the complimentary beer. OANS ZWOA DREI! G'SUFFA! (One
Two Three! Drink!)
Since we were the early birds (reached around 6:15pm),
getting our hands on the beer wasn’t very difficult. By this time the band
kicked off and soon we were swaying to their tunes. By 7:00ish the crowd
started pouring in and within no time the ‘Beer counters’ turned into a
standard fish market!
The band ‘Die Oberbayern’; plays at the Munich Oktoberfest
for 14 days! They played several folk songs, and then shifted to more popular
tracks like the German version of 99 red balloons, some Bryan Adams songs, etc.
The Band leader instructing the crowd.
All this while we thought we were the most sober crowd those
chaps have played for, Ever! No hooting, no shouting, no whistling and very few
were even dancing! Things changed, however, once the band got the audience to
participate in the song 'So a schoner Tag (Fliegerlied)'with certain choreographed
movements. We would flap our arms like wings for flying, pretend to swim for swimming,
hold our hand over our heads for tall, etc. But soon the crowd went crazier
when the sweet ladies in the group started singing Waka Waka tweaked a little
for this fest with the lyrics being ‘It’s
time for India!’
The Lovely Ladies who won our hearts!
The people who fell in love!
One of the other audience related activity was the teasing.
The band leader says "Prost ihr säcke!"
which means “Cheers, you pricks/morons!” to which the crowd is supposed to reply
in unison "Prost du sack!" meaning “Cheers,
you prick/moron!”
Every once in a while they would raise a toast to the crowd
with:
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Which translates into:
A
toast, a toast thecomfort A toast, a toast Thecoziness.
So much for the highlights and the good part of the fest, Am
not sure if it was the Indian crowd or the management, but we were in line for
a refill for a good hour and half! Made us think that Germans are only good at
brewing beer, not refilling them! I don’t know why there were no beer-maids who
would refill our glasses for us?! That would’ve added to the whole experience
of the fest.
Most people waiting on the refill rather than enjoying the fest!
We overheard a German
participant saying this is probably a tactic to prevent the crowd from getting
drunk. The high would wear off while they waited for their refills! We kind of
agree with him there!
Neither were the walk-ins provided with seating nor were
they given complimentary tidbits to munch on. Even on the paid tables, we saw
very few tables had the complementary pretzels and tidbits.
As if this mess wasn’t enough, by 10ish the open air dining
area was pretty much shut. The makeshift tent collapsed under the weight of the
rain water. The lights were shut because of the rains.
Sure the rain gods
spoiled the show, but this could’ve been avoided, considering it’s been raining
in the evenings for few days consecutively before the festival. The food wasn’t
that great either. But then again, we didn’t go there for food ;)
Post dinner when we went for a paid refill (INR 500/Ltr.) we
were shocked to see that the venue ran out of tapped beer! They were now
serving beer from pints! Since we loved the beer so much, we quickly got our
refills (thank God we didn’t have to wait this time) and headed out of the
festival.
Our advice to the organizers:
You could vary the table sizes and offer for 5, 10 or
individual basis. Most people (talking about people we know) weren’t able to
form groups that big!
You know how many tables have been bought. Be prepared for
the turn out!
Some free tidbits per table wouldn’t really harm!
Get some beer-maids, adds to the effects, plus they’ll
decongest the beer counters.
Our friends kept contemplating if this festival was worth
the price. We think it sure was! The beer and the band were worth it all!
Besides the wait for refill, and them running out of kegs and some minor
arrangements here and there, we think this festival is worth the price.
If you ask us, we'd love to be here again! Hopefully for the tapping ceremony!
On a Saturday
evening we headed to Woodside Inn. Battling the weather, the heavy downpour of
Bombay’s rains, traffic snarls and slowed down trains, nothing
was going to stop us in our quest to taste beers and burgers from around the
world that day!
Having
finally made it to our destination, drenched from head to toe, we made our way
inside and were warmly greeted by very well trained and courteous staff.
Thoughtful people that they are they handed us hand towels to dry ourselves and
be comfortable, damn we felt invited!
We settled
on the first floor, we’ve spoken about the interiors of Woodside Inn in our
previous blogs.
"So we decided to hit on last bar, Woodside Inn, a friend
suggested. We hit the place, and oh boy! What a fantastic place! Tucked
away in
the architecture of old Bombay, this little place is a smooth blend of
the old
architecture and modern life. Pleasantly lit up, they retain and flaunt
the
wrought iron support beams! A lot of wood work has been done, and very
tastefully indeed! A bunch of black and white photographs donning the
wall remind of the bygone era. A close look on one of the photos however
will
reveal a Toyota Corolla! The service was quite prompt and the beer
refreshing! I think it's become one of my favorites in town!"
We browsed
through the menu, and were left baffled! So many options to choose from and we
wanted to taste them all! We ordered the Belgium four cheese Beef burger along
with Hoegaarden Wheat Beer and the German beef burger along with Schneider
Weisse Wheat Beer.
[While we
were ordering, I was refraining from ordering beef and thought of ordering
Belgium Potato burger instead and was discussing the same with the waiter
aloud. Just then the company I had gone along with me asked if I ate beef and
if we should order beef burgers. Thinking that ‘she’ wanted beef I changed my
preference and ordered a beef burger instead. Turns out she doesn’t eat beef!]
Swiftly we were served our chilled beers and
asked to wait for a moment for our burgers although it wasn’t even five minutes
since we placed our orders! Before we said “Cheers”, our burgers arrived, each carrying
its respective country flags. Neat.
To be
honest, the burgers did taste as good as they looked! Perhaps even better! We
would like to see these burgers on the regular menu at Woodside! Oh boy were they
filling as well! This was an amazing event held by Woodside Inn, a really commendable
effort! (sorry by the time our burgers came we were too busy munching, thus no pics)
Although
we wouldn’t do justice if we spoke just about the good points! Now let’s talk
about what we thought could have been better or different.
Firstly,
the menu is a little overpriced for a ‘Festival’. An average rate of 400+ for
every burger and about the same for beer pints is a little out of reach for a
lot of people (explains why we were still sober when we left). To think of it
from a broader perspective, you could use this festival as a promotional event
to attract larger crowds. Later on these items could be put on the regular menu
at these rates.
Another
thing that we found odd were the combo meals, although were very economical,
they weren’t quite attractive. The thing is people have had different beers at
different times in their lives but not necessarily these exotic burgers. A
country’s burger can be combined with that specific country’s beer only. It
would’ve been better if one could pick any burger and any beer as a combo, just
a thought.
Also,
considering the Indian diet it would be nice to see some non beef and some more
veg options.
But
overall the experience is worth it. I’d say visit this fest next time it comes
to town.
This is a typical Seagram’s Royal Stag TVC. It is inspiring and
triggers one’s senses about making it large. Live life king size. Now
obviously that would be like promoting your competitor's brand- the
self-promoted ‘king of good times’; hence make it large (my opinion).
These TVCs were smartly made, filmed and scripted. A good ad campaign
overall no doubt. Except, who would’ve known that the two players seen
rubbing their shoulders in this ad would one day be cast by two major
competitors?
But this is where it all started from (only for the current TVC face-off)
.
Again the typical Royal Stag TVC which has now taken shape of a Johnnie
Walker/Nike/Adidas type of advertisement campaign where prominent
players/celebrities talk about how they rose above the normal challenges
and became who they are today.
This is where the UB group (in my opinion) f***ed up. I think that these
gimmicks are best suited where you have simple options for consumer to
like/dislike. Like Cola-Pepsi, Rin-Tide, etc. Consumers either go for
this or that (provided they pay some attention to your ad wars).
Apart from this, am
not sure if many paid attention to the lil birdy which went ahead to say a lot.
This is a snapshot of Mr. Mallya's Twitter account.
Big deal! As if sponsoring the other team
makes them any different than yours. Well, you certainly must’ve outbid the
rivals for the sponsorship. These are
the days of multinational markets by multinational companies. This way or that
both aimed at targeting a widespread market!
The thing is, on one hand you claim to be the ‘King of Good
Times’ and on the other you conduct yourself like this? How is anyone having
good times like this? I am not sure if this is considered as unfair trade
practices, but if it were to be anything else it surely is unethical and
immoral.
You are, whether knowingly or unknowingly, pitching a
cricketer against another team mate using a religious community (Sardars) to
have a jab at your business rival? See I don’t know the personal equations of
Bhajji and MSD, and thus will not comment whether it is good/bad for their
games. It’s beyond my domain anyway. What am more concerned is how could the
Liquor Baron’s empire take low blows at rivals using patriotism and/or
religious community?
I know this ad would’ve looked appealing in the discussion board and
quite hilarious as well, but should’ve never left the discussion board
at all. Brand loyalty is quite huge in our country where people stick to
one brand of drinks, cigarettes, underwear, etc not in any particular
order. Whats more important to note is, fan following is equally big in
our country. Am sure no son of soil north Indian would like to see
Bhajji being belittled! Or any cricket follower for any player for that
matter!
Now what remains to be seen is how do Seagram’s come back.
They better be smart with their approach. Taking this any further will only
escalate the matters.
As it is Bhajji’s mother has approached the courts
because of UB group’s little stunt. I hope the mocking ends here without MSD’s
mom coming into the picture!
