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Dragonglass limited series #1 release party at Nuts Barcelona.

When you think of sparkling wines, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the largest producer of Champagne in the world with a revenue of $2.2 billion in 202When you think of sparkling wines, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the largest producer of Champagne in the world with a revenue of $2.2 billion in 202When you think of sparkling wines, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the largest producer of Champagne in the world with a revenue of $2.2 billion in 202.




When you think of sparkling wines, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, the largest producer of Champagne in the world with a revenue of $2.2 billion in 2022, comes to mind for obvious reasons. But Chandon India, one of the six connected wineries under the brand (others located in Argentina, California, Brazil, Australia, and China) has embarked on an ambitious project — to create the first still red wine. The brand’s experiments for nearly five years birthed Aurva (meaning ‘of the earth’ in Sanskrit), which stays true to its moniker, a celebration in a bottle, a tribute to terroir, and a product of cross-continental collaboration.


Aurva, the latest offering by Chandon | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

On a Zoom call preceding the launch of Aurva, Kaushal Khairnar, head winemaker at Chandon India, is buoyant about this shiraz. “We


wanted to create a wine that has layers of personality and character. With each sip, you get different nuances, creating a different experience as you go back to your glass.”

Aurva is crafted at Chandon India’s Dindori winery, in Nashik, Maharashtra, where the vineyard at a vantage point of 600 metres is rich with red soil, is scorched by the summers, followed by the raucous rainy season. This dichotomous

climate, followed by a mild winter, lends a unique character to the shiraz grown on the vineyards (40% of fruit used is grown at Chandon’s estate, and 60% is grown by highly supervised local partner growers).

Kaushal Khairnar, head winemaker, Chandon India | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The shiraz vines are carefully trained, with one shoot per branch and only a few bunches per shoot, aided by vertical shoot positioning to achieve just the right amount of sun exposure and ventilation. With just one harvest per year in March, the luscious grapes are harvested by hand, bunch-sorted, destemmed and painstakingly re-sorted, grape by grape. “We needed a degree of elegance, finesse and harmony to create a still red. The fruit is the most important, the processing is just the cherry on top,” adds Kaushal.





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