Wine O’Clock: The Women’s Day Edition
We’re back with our PS blog post for the month, this time we’re going to rewind the clock to two Sunday’s ago, before the lockdown, before we were all cooped up. To commemorate a late women’s day, the team at Pure Spaces visited the Grover Vineyard for a day of wine sampling, laid back conversation and above all a celebration of womanhood. Setting out on our escapade, on a bright morning, we drove down to the vineyard, slow music making its way lazily up the speakers.
The vineyard was located only a short drive outside the city, a quick journey to what can only be described as an oasis of vines, of grapes, of a soft stillness sitting just off the shoulder of Bangalore’s organised chaos and relentless motion.
If you thought 12 noon too early for lunch, you’d be absolutely right…and yet, that’s just what we did! Marching straight up to the lunch cabana and plonking ourselves down to begin what would be the first of five amazing courses. I’m not even sure we could recount exactly what we ate – that’s how deep the food coma that embraced us post-lunch was. Truly, is there anything better than lying on a comfortable lounge chair in the middle of a viridian green lawn, stuffed to the gills as the afternoon sun slowly falls beneath the curtain of the trees?
The quiet possibility of the day stretched forward, and what better way to squander – or embrace that possibility than by imbibing ample amounts of fine Rosé wine?
Well, we had done the driving, the eating, the relaxing – and now for the important part – the wine!
First, the grapes are meticulously selected and sorted from the vineyard. Then they are pressed in machines which preserve the freshness and maintain the softness of the wine. The whole-bunch pressing technique aims at capturing the essence of the grape fruit from the vineyard. Temperature controlled spaces allowed the grapes to be fermented in large stainless steel and concrete tanks, until all the sugar is been converted into alcohol. Once the wine has been fermented and distilled it is stored in oak barrels and even earthen pots. While the oak barrels give the wine a hint of smoke, vanilla and spice, the earthen pots retain the crisp original flavour of the grapes themselves.
And now on to the tasting! Four types of wine were served and using the short blast of knowledge we received so far, we tried intently to discern the various notes in the wines - their aromas, flavours, the way they sat on the tongue or the way they danced in the light. Sadly, wine appreciation requires a full-bodied palette, a craft in and of itself. One afternoon would never be enough to make us true cognoscenti. But what better way is there to begin, than by beginning?
The next part turned out to be our favourite. Grape stomping! Stomp, stamp, stomp – repeat. We went on for the next half hour and it was therapeutic, almost cathartic.
