Up, Close and Personal with Bill Hardy

If you have had more than a fleeting encounter with Australian wines, chances are that  you would not

have been untouched by the Hardys name. Adjudged the seventh most powerful wine brand in the world according to “The Power 100 report 2015” by Intangible Business, Hardys is Australia’s biggest wine producer identified largely with  easy drinking and affordable wines. But there’s more to Hardys than just approachable wines. It has a vast repertoire that honours their founding fathers as also the terroirs from where their wines originate. And I had a priceless opportunity to converse about these wines with none other than William (Bill) Hardy who was on his second all time  visit to India towards the end of August 2015.

Bill, a fifth generation member of this wine family arrived as Hardys Brand Ambassador to launch his eponymous “William Hardy Collection”- a range that honours his contribution towards the family business. The meeting was at the initiative of  Prarrthona Pal Chowdhury- the livewire Head Marketing, Brandy Project and International Brands at  Sula wines- Hardys importers in India. 

The interview took place immediately after a wine masterclass by Bill Hardy at ITC Maurya- a premier property of the ITC conglomerate of India. We promptly took our seats within the same precincts for this stimulating conversation:

Me: Welcome to India Mr Hardy and congratulations on the launch of the William Hardy collection.

Bill Hardy (BH): Thank you! It is indeed my pleasure being here to introduce the new label here with all humility.

Me:  Hardys winemaking philosophy is generally recognized as being centered towards blending cuvées from your vineyards in different regions, does that mean that emphasis on terroir takes a back seat for you ?

BH : Not entirely ! Though our easy drinking daily wines may be inclined towards blending for the sake of a consistent wine style,  we also have certain wines that bring out respective regions quite emphatically. A classic example would be one of our top wines- the HRB (Heritage Reserve Bin) which includes cuvées from two to three distinct regions. I remember James Halliday (Australian wine writer and critic) tasting these wines for the first time and saying “I can see the exact terroirs associated with this wine!” I consider myself a champion of blending and believe that this is one of the greatest skills a winemaker can have. It often happens that once a winemaker is through with making some great wines from individual parcels, he sits back and asks himself ‘this is nice, but can I make something even better by putting some of these wines together ?’ And there comes the art of blending into play. There is a beautiful quote by Hugh Johnson-  “Dom Perignon was the first deliberate  blender. Also the first perfectionist”.

Me : With relevance to the Indian market, do you see competition coming the Aussie wines’ way in the event of the proposed Free Trade Agreement  between India and the European Union (EU) that is likely to soften trade barriers on wine from EU.

BH : Firstly I am positive that if any such agreement favourable to the wine trade is worked out, it will not be implemented selectively by the Indian government for different trading zones. But if it happens otherwise and if the same level of duty cuts are affected on high value as well as daily drinking wines from EU then it would indeed be serious competition to Aussie wines, as Australia is the biggest volume exporter of wine to India.

Me : The Hardys portfolio has a vast range of wines. How does a consumer differentiate between similar varietal blends across these ranges ? For example, how does one differentiate between Eileen Hardy Shiraz (named after Bill’s grandmother) from the now launched William Hardy Shiraz ?

BH : We have consistently made an effort towards educating the consumer on our different wines. I am quite proud of having elaborated on these wines through personal writings on the philosophy, style and characteristics of each wine. I also love to present our wines to people, highlighting the USPs of each range so that they understand as to why they should be paying more for a particular wine vis-à-vis a lower priced one. 

Coming to your specific query, the essential difference between the Eileen Hardy Shiraz and the William Hardy Shiraz is that while Eileen Hardy range is an example of the very best of wines we make, William Hardy range is a more commercial wine. Both these wines are single varietal single region wines with Eileen Hardy Shiraz being produced from 2-3 selected vineyards in McLaren Vale. Compared to this, William Hardy Shiraz currently comes from vineyards in Langhorne Creek with subsequent plan to shift the sourcing for this range to McLaren Vale as well. In terms of ageing potential, while Eileen Hardy Shiraz comes from  vines upto 110 years old and has an ageing potential between 12-15 years, William Hardy Shiraz  can currently be aged upto 5-7 years. In short you can say that while Eileen Hardy is our Prestige range, William Hardy range is growing to be one.

(Prarrthona signals me to  hurry-up as Bill has to leave for the next engagement- a dinner featuring the William Hardy Collection where I am also invited).

Me : How does your marketing plan look like in India ? Specially with reference to another competing Aussie brand Jacob’s Creek  that seems to have an ostensible advantage of leveraging on the Spirits brands in the Pernod Ricard portfolio .

 BH : I do agree that Pernod Ricard have managed their marketing well through well placed sports sponsorships and  leveraging their Spirits brands for wine promotion. At Hardys our focus is on spending our dollars on opening and sharing wine bottles rather than spending big time on advertisments. As for sponsorships and endorsements, we may have faltered earlier by spreading ourselves too thin, but in the present day we are very much  focussed on the subject. A good example of this is the recent launch of the Art of Cricket collection with Glenn McGrath as the brand ambassador, which has magnified awareness of our brand amongst the target consumer.

Me : A last question on the personal front. Since you are here with Mrs Hardy, are you visiting the Taj Mahal ?

BH : Certainly ! As a matter of fact we are doing a tour of the "golden triangle" (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) starting tomorrow. We have been looking forward to it.

A rare honour!
Raising a toast with the man himself and his eponymous wine- William Hardy Chardonnay.

* This interview was published as a narrative in vino india.

Experiencing the Charm of Glenfiddich

Festive season in India is in full bloom with Diwali just gone by and the countdown to X Mas and New year  well on its way. Amidst all festivities, I recently had the privilege of being invited by James Pennefather, General Manager William Grant and Sons in India for a vertical tasting of Glenfiddich whisky around a paired dinner at his residence. On most occasions, I have been attending or conducting wine dinners, so the invitation came as a unique opportunity to refresh my knowledge on whisky. It was only incidental that a few days prior, I had the pleasure of conducting a whisky appreciation session for a group of Executive MBA students from the  Duke University USA, that has famous alumni like former US President Richard Nixon and philanthropist Melinda Gates on its honour rolls.

There is a great deal of similarity between wine and whisky tasting. Cynics may scoff at this comparison but the fact remains that appreciating any aged alcoholic beverage involves a set methodology. It is all about discerning the aromas, palate and finish in the backdrop of the beverage’s provenance. So much about similarity- now the differences. Whisky is a distilled product made from grains while wine is  fermented from grape(s), hence there are different variability factors for both. I have endeavoured to summarise these in the graphic below:

Coming to the Glenfiddich dinner at  James’ place, it was heart warming to be welcomed by him in the company of his cute son Richard who had just returned from a Halloween party with ‘scary’ paint et al on his face. This warmth continued with James  carefully seeking to know my preferred way of enjoying  whisky, which I specified as a 1:1 dilution with a couple of ice cubes. The party got rolling as the guests – a select group of whisky connoisseurs- started acquainting themselves with each other. The graceful Mrs Pam Pennefather too, briefly joined-in to make this ‘stags only' (pun intended) gathering   feel at home.

The muster was followed by James introducing the proceedings that lay ahead before we took our seats for the tasting.

Band of whisky brothers

About Glenfiddich 

Glenfiddich means “Valley of the Deer” in Scottish-Gaelic language. Situated in Dufftown (popularly known as “whisky capital of the world”), in the Speyside region, Glenfiddich  distillery was established in 1886 by their founder William Grant, whose name is still borne by the family owned company. They also own the Balvenie and Kininvie distilleries in the same region.  

In the course of James’ presentation, he  showed an interesting image depicting the 1909 visit of Mr. Charles Gordon, son-in-law of Mr. William Grant to India with some of his staff on a horse carriage. On the lighter side James also showed a similarly themed image of his, albeit in an auto rickshaw!

(Above) Mr Charles Gordon on his first India visit (Below) Mr James Pennefather with his staff in the current day

The Tasting

First Course

The first whisky to sashay on the ‘ramp’ was Glenfiddich 18 Years Old (YO). With its enchanting antique gold colour the whisky had aromas of freshly baked apple pie with an unmistakable cinnamon touch. It was thoughtfully paired with the entrée course of parmesan sable with mascarpone truffle mousse and petit légumes which was innovatively served on a rustic stone platter.

James also emphasized that it is not always necessary to taste whiskies vertically in ascending order of age. It all depends on how one would like to highlight the subtle differences in each kind of whisky. In this tasting, he informed that the stress was on typical flavor profiles that were worked around the respective food courses.

Second Course

Next was Glenfiddich 15 YO. Apart from being aged in new European oak and Sherry casks  this whisky is further mellowed by a dynamic aging method innovated by their malt master, which is inspired from the ‘solera’ method followed in Sherry production. Only here, the ‘solera’ comprises of a single large oak vat (as opposed to a pyramid of interconnected barrels for sherry) that has always been half full since 1998. As the whisky is tapped from the vat, equal amounts are replenished from fresh batches, making it a continuously moving blend.

Paired with the main course of spice roast lamb confit with spiced jus,  the ample body of this fruity and floral whisky stood in apt balance with the varying flavours and textures of the food.

Third Course

The dessert course of decadent hot chocolate fondant with Baileys mousse saw the companionship of Glenfiddich 21 YO that carried rich aromas and flavours of fruit cake, caramel and dark chocolate. The USP of this whisky is its finishing in Carribean rum casks that originate from a special blend of rum made for the Glenfiddich distillery. With its deliciously warm character, this  was my favourite of the evening (and therefore I requested for an additional pour too!).

Surprise (4th) Course !

 As James briefly went inside the kitchen area, we thought it was for some routine instructions to his staff. Instructions he did pass- and they turned out rather special, as they culminated in the serving of Glenfiddich Anniversary Edition to us. The Anniversary Edition was specially created to commemorate 125 years of Glenfiddich and is available only in travel retail in selected outlets. It has a peated-fruity character commonly associated with Islay malts and if one were to taste it blind with other single malts whiskies, it could be a tough nut to crack. However mulling over it longer, I realized that apart from the peaty red herring, the underlying essence of Glenfiddich style is scrupulously maintained by the malt master. I hope that I get to taste it more often to face the blind tasting challenge sometime. The course was served with assorted cheese platter for us to experiment with the pairings. Truly the pièce de resistance of the evening!

My side of  the table

Thus concluded our voyage on the "Glenfiddich seas" with reminiscences of flavours still on our palate. Freshly brewed coffee (which we all needed to get sober again) capped the malty evening as we bid adieu to James, drenched in the spirit of the Stag,

The spirit that is shared enough to make it the top selling single malt of the world!

Au Revoir!

10 Indian Wines to Gift this Festive Season

The festive season in India is on its way to reach a crescendo with Diwali- the festival of lights- being just a few days away. With that, the scurry to plan celebrations and scout for gifts has also started. Traditionally on Diwali, Indians clean their homes elaborately, light them up with diyas (earthen lamps), and perform pooja (prayers) to invoke Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi- the Hindu deities considered as harbingers of good luck and prosperity respectively. Diwali is also the occasion to exchange gifts with near and dear ones, as well as professional associates. And this brings us to our favourite topic- wine.

Over the years Indians have been looking for new gifting ideas beyond the traditional sweets and dry fruits. With the overall awareness on wine going up, it is also turning out to be one of the favourite gifting ideas spelling class and sophistication. But choosing the right wine for  gifting can become a tedious issue if one is unsure about the preferences of the intended recipient. The dilemma is accentuated by a multitude of labels available on retail shelves. Then how should one go about picking the right wine?

Having received many such queries over the past years, particularly during festive occasions, I thought of coming up with a list of wines based on my personal experience. Since the  list could become humungous, I decided to stick to Indian wines on three accounts. Firstly, Indian wines have seen admirable evolution in the past few years, winning global awards and featuring in the wine lists of Michelin starred restaurants. Secondly, thanks to the absence of customs duties (as much as 160%), they invariably offer good value for money as compared to their imported counterparts. And lastly- the supply chain for these wines being much shorter, there is lesser chances of spoilage on account of improper handling/storage.

However, the number of 'good' Indian wines could be many more than just a list of 10. Hence I also narrowed down the focus based on the following considerations:

• I should have tasted each wine at least twice to find them consistently good.
• The wines should be available in at least two major metros of India- viz. Delhi and Mumbai.
• To include generic personality types of wine consumers.

So here is my festive pick for 2015 (wines listed category wise and not in any order of precedence):