When ‘A hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer’ what kind of thirst needs wine? As Paul Bailey spoke at length about his passion of life at the Pune Wine Tasting Festival the answers to many such questions tumbled out from his trove of experience. And as the Australian winemaker took the listeners on a roller coaster ride to the spirit’s growth process, eyes widened and jaws dropped witnessing the toil involving the process.

When beer dominated the spirit of alcohol in his country, Australian winemaker, Paul Bailey was busy satiating his thirst for knowledge for wine. As an Oenology student at Roseworthy College in South Australia, Paul explored all facets of winemaking.

“Australia for beer - thefamed Foster tagline represents the face of alcohol in the country but only a handful know that the country has a wine history that dates back to 1920s. As you can see shiraz, the loving and delicious small grape and also the wine from the country has rapidly replaced the face alcohol now,” beams Bailey.

An engineer by training, Bailey’s love affair with wine began many years ago. “I had a seminal experience when I travelled to France as a young man. I was in a vineyard in the Beaujolais region and that’s when I knew what I really wanted to do with my life. Winemaking isn’t a job. It’s a way of life,” reminisces Bailey. Paul who learnt the ropes of wine making on vineyards in Barossa Valley, Mildura and Sydney for nearly a decade brought his expertise to Vallée de Vin as winemaker since last two years.

Bailey’s Vallée de Vin is a two-year-old, fledgling Indian wine-maker that has already firmly placed its feet into the domestic wine market.

“Even though the pace is slow the Indian wine market has all the potential to emerge as one of the forerunners in the field. For instance Nashik is very similar to Australia. Our vineyard is on top of a hill, so the soil is really untouched and great for cultivation,” says Bailey

As a backpacker when Bailey came to India some 15 years ago the only thing he found amiss when savouring Indian cuisines was the lack fine wines to go with them. “Perhaps it’s a slightly early stage in India to make food-wine associations,” says he