THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE I TALK ABOUT INTERESTING PEOPLE OF CHENNAI...
Over the years, I have come across many interesting people in Chennai who opened new fields of creativity, enthusiasm and vision. My friend Praveen is one such enthusiast, who got me to know there is much more to wine than drinking.
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| Praveen - The Wine Enthusiast, who can guide you to make money out of wine and drink it too... |
Recently few of friends from COIN Arisa Group got together and cornered him in the excellent wine cellar of Hyatt Regency and got a full-fledged run down on wine tasting as well an investment opportunity.
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| Coin Arisa Gang, which cornered Praveen at Hyatt Regency Wine Celler |
His journey towards knowing a lot about wines started from the time when he was working in wineries across Barossa Valley, where he was working at the time as summer intern.
When he came back to India worked as a banker, gained extensive knowledge on HNIs invest in and what drives them to buy an asset and eventually decided to merge his passion about wines and investment banking and undertook research on wine as an asset class. He spent two years in the UK apprenticing under one of the finest wine merchants in the world Berry Bros and Rudd in Basingstoke and went on to submit 20,000 word thesis to the University of Reading on the subject of wine as an asset class relevant to the Indian Context. Upon his return to India, he launched India’s first wine investment advisory service.
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| The most exclusive line up of wine in Chennai... |
Wine tasting has always been an integral part of what he does and he believes that in order to buy an asset you need to appreciate it first. Hence he decided to conduct wine tasting events for private and corporate groups. In these endeavors, his basic aim is to provide the tools for people to appreciate the living breathing beverage i.e. Wine and assist them to pair it with the right food to enhance the experience.
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| From Praveen's write up on " A Glass Of Shakespeare" |
He always tend to challenge wine tasting trends and constantly push the boundaries by creating wine parallels with inanimate objects such as books, cars, Zodiac signs clothes etc. According to him, everything conveys an emotion and so does wine in a lot of ways. He pushes the limits on the current food and wine pairing trends and experiments a lot in pairing wine with all cuisines and not just traditional European cuisine.
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| Please write to Praveen or me to get the full article, it has an interesting combination... |
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| Hyatt Regency Wine Celler |
He has extensively written and been quoted in the media as wine connoisseur and regularly writes and advises in the HINDU BUSINESS LINE about wine as an asset class and the current trends.
He is also a committee member and an active participant in Terroir - The Wine Club Of Chennai as well as he has worked with the founder of Chennai Wine Club Mr. Chinmaya on few projects.
He has successfully done tasting events from private evenings with snacks for few persons to a full fledged Buffets and proper sit-down four course dinners with various private groups to five star galas.
I was quite impressed with the way he guides investors to invest in the perfect Wine, which in the end gives quite a handsome returns over a period of time. He has multiple clients across the world, investing in this unique asset class.
In the end, he says, “I don’t like to be called connoisseur. I am more an enthusiast who happens to know a lot about wines. I personally feel it is reserved only for a privy few”.
And I am so glad that I feel quite privileged to know him and a lot more about wine, than just guzzling it down to get an immediate kick.
End Note: By the way, asked the inevitable question and the answer is yes, one glass of wine (No, not that, only 90 ml) is good for heart, though as Praveen says, there are various studies going both ways.
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Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय
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