Who are your favorite artists? I first came across Caroline Brun through my Facebook page called as The Champagne Trails and soon realised that her life and work epitomises amalgamation of two of my main interests – Art and Champagne. The fact that my page is on the topic of champagne itself, further sparked my curiosity about her. Caroline is a champagne ambassador and a painter. And she is one of my favorite artists. She was born in an illustrious champagne family in Ay-Champagne. In her own words: “My Grand-father founded Champagne René BRUN, my great uncle, Champagne Edouard BRUN, and ..read more

What is your favorite hobby or pastime? These days my favourite pastime is watching and making YouTube Shorts. Here’s one which I published recently: There no end to being creative on YouTube Shorts YouTube Shorts are short-form videos up to 60 seconds long which can be made and posted on YouTube. Somewhat akin to Reels on Instagram, Facebook etc, this format of short YouTube videos is quite popular nowadays. Channel Much before this feature was introduced, I had already started my YouTube Channel. But I realised that not many people were watching the long form wine videos which I was uploa ..read more

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place. It was during my initial days in the world of wines. As a natural progression I had started attending many wine soirées and wine events happening in the town where there was always something new to learn besides making like minded friends and contacts. Normally on such occasions the host ensures adequate avenues for the proverbial breaking of ice where people meeting for the first time can talk to each other and get comfortable. This is a good practice since wine events (especially a formal wine dinner) can become quite intimidating if you are ..read more

Your life without a computer: what does it look like? My Computer My computer occupies a small space along the front wall of my office next to the entrance door. Sometimes I feel we both have shared a destiny in the sense that at times there is an excessive work load on us and and yet at other times we vile away our time without any productivity. My office work demands a heavy dependence on the computer mainly for making power point presentations. But besides that it remains mostly idle. During off office hours, I also use it for creative work like making video clips and snippets on the them ..read more

What skill would you like to learn? Disclaimer With about ten years of wine experience, I’m not a novice when it comes to wine tasting. I’ve studied it and can write notes of a wine tasting reasonably well sans identifying 20 aromas in one sniff though. Image: Google To Taste Or Not To Taste There is a section of wine people who are against the very idea of tasting a wine. For them wine should be savoured for the pleasure of the palate and certainly not subjected to any scientific breakdown of aromas, flavours etc. My Own Thoughts Whereas to a large extent I subscribe to the above idea howev ..read more

What details of your life could you pay more attention to? I’ve come to realise that the daily prompts given by WordPress are mostly personal. This leads to twin challenges for me. First, being somewhat reserved, I feel bit uncomfortable in opening up to the world at large and second is that I try to relate each prompt to my blog theme which is wines, which becomes difficult at times. Nevertheless, as a blogger and a writer, I accept these challenges with a smile. Today’s prompt too I shall cover in two parts, personal and my wine passion. Personal Life As I near 54th year of my life, I feel ..read more

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow? For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers, and much exercise of his own style. (Ben Jonson, 1640). Catching up on my reading Today (02 October), being a holiday here in India (and also a dry day) on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, I plan to do follow the above advise and catch up on my reading. And since it’s a long book, I plan to continue reading it tomorrow also. So my #1 priority tomorrow is to finish reading the book titled But First Champagne. A modern guide on Champagn ..read more

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? The hard work put in by me makes me feel fulfilled by the positive results it generates. Besides quantified results, such hard work done also fills me with a sense of achievement, happiness and pride on a job well done. Let me explain this with a real life example. During the MBA course I selected a rather unusual topic for my lecture presentation which was titled “Drivers of rapid growth of wine industry in India. Presenting my Research Work I call it unusual since there weren’t any major studies existing on this topic in India at that ti ..read more

What’s the trait you value most about yourself? Hard work has been the trait which I value most in myself. Glamour of Wines On face of it the wine industry seems to be a fun place to be. Things like Wine Soirées, Blind Tastings, Wine Movies etc add a lot of glamour it. Wine is a Glamorous Industry Image: Editorialist Studying Wines However if you are a student of wine then it’s totally a different world. One where you not only need to pursue it as a subject and even pass exams but also endeavour to upgrade your knowledge consistently. And all this requires hard work. Passing Exams For me the ..read more

List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter. Wine Educator Having become knowledgeable in the subject of wines, I would like to be a wine educator to further spread wine knowledge and educate those who have a similar interest in wines. Viticulture Expert I would like to be a viticulture expert providing requisite advise to the wine houses on best practices in the vineyards with special emphasis on tackling the challenges of climate change. Pruning in the vineyard Business Development Associate This role with any major international wine house, would be one where my two pro ..read more