¨I
am a foreigner in any country¨, This is how Aziz Abdul responded with a
smile when I asked him to which country he belonged. ¨What is your
mother tongue?¨. He smiled again, greeted me in Tamil, switched to
English with heavy French accent and then completed the conversation in
fluent Spanish. He was born in South Vietnam where he lived for the
first fifteen years. He speaks Vietnamese like a native. His mother is
half-Vietnamese and her mother local Vietnamese. His father, a Tamil
from Pondicherry. When Saigon fell in 1975, his family lost everything.
They went back to Pondicherry and started a new life running "Chez Aziz"
a gourmet restaurant . Aziz went to the French school there and
improved his Tamil language. He went to Paris for higher education. He
studied mathematics and thereafter computer science at the University of
Orsay. He fell in love with Najma from Madagascar who was studying
Sanskrit in Paris. I raised my eyebrows … With his trade mark smile, he
said Najma chose to learn Sanskrit since she wanted to get back to the
root of her original country. She is an Ismaili muslim of Gujrati origin
and speaks fluent Gujrati. They have two daughters. Aziz has named his
wine Chateau Hana, a combination of the initials of his family- H- Hema
his first daughter (his wife is a fan of Hemamalini), A- Anjuli, the
second daughter, N- Najma, the wife and A for Aziz.
Aziz produces high-end wine which sells for 90 pesos ( 22 US $ ) in the wine shops
of Argentina. His wine is served in the upscale hotels such as Park
Hyatt and in exclusive restaurants and high-end wine shops in Buenos
Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Cordoba and Rosario. Info on
his wine http://www.chateauhana.com
He
is planning to start exports soon. How about exporting to India?, I ask
him and he beams with yet another smile. When we served his wine at our
embassy receptions, the guests were ecstatic. We told our guests, it is
an Argentine Wine made with Indian hands and spirit.
Picture: Aziz in El Paraiso ( paradise ), his house on the left, winery on the right and vineyard behind.
Aziz
worked for 20 years in the IT department of the French multinational
group Lagardere. But he did not want to end up life staring at the
computer screens. He wanted to become his own boss and longed to have a
quiet life in countryside. He was saving money to pursue his dream- to
own a vineyard and make his own wine.
Aziz
Abdul…drinking and making wine? I could not hide my puzzle. Aziz
smiled again and started another story. It was his father, a Muslim who
enjoyed alcohol and let his son also follow. He was liberal and
cosmopolitan and inspired his son too. While studying in Paris, Aziz
tried wine and liked it. He was a frequent visitor to the cellar of the
home of one of his university friends. He was very excited to drink a
21- years old Morgon on the 21st birthday of his friend. The taste for
wine lead him to explore the vineyards in France and beyond. He visited
the wineries and got to meet wine makers such as Alexandre Thienpont and
Denis Lurton. He studied viticulture and enology.The taste for wine
became a passion. As soon as he had the minimum savings he started
looking to buy a vineyard. The French and European ones being expensive,
he tried India. He visited the wine growing areas of India hoping that
he would be able reroot himself to his fatherland. But it did not work
out.
Thereafter,
Aziz came to Argentina, the fifth largest wine producer in the world.
He bought a 15- hectare vineyard on the outskirts of San Rafael city in
Mendoza province in 2008. He put up a brand new boutique winery, with a
capacity of 85, 000 litres. He is into his fourth crop this year. He
grows malbec, cabernet sauvignon and bonarda varietals. He manages the
farm himself with the help of a local husband-wife pair who live in the
farmhouse. During harvest season, he hires extra help. He takes the help
of an Argentine enologist too. He uses certain French practices in the
growing of grapes, pruning of the plant and in the making of wines,
different from the the local Argentine way of doing things. He enjoys
taking care of the plants and the processing with an eye for every
detail. Aziz's favourite quotation ¨God had created water, men the wines- Victor Hugo¨.
Aziz
has integrated well in the small town San Rafael society. He speaks
fluent spanish and has made a number of friends. While he makes upscale
wine he himself leads a simple life. He enjoys working with his own
hands in the vineyard and the winery. He literally breathes the aroma of
his wine every day and night since his house is full of wine cases all
around. When he gets time, he plays tennis and goes for skiing in
winter. He is connected to his family in Paris by skype. His wife shares
her time between the husband in Argentina and the daughters who live in
their apartment, a few blocks from Eiffel tower in Paris.
Like
Aziz, many foreigners are investing in vineyards in Mendoza for the
pleasure and pride of having their own vineyard and boutique winery. Of
course, it is a solid investment too, given the constant appreciation
of the price of the land and the profitability of wine business. Aziz
had bought the vineyard from an American investor. A few retired people
also settle down in the farm houses surrounded by their own vineyards or
spend a few months every year. The Argentine prices are affordable and
vineyards and land are available. There is no restriction on foreign
investment. Aziz's own investment in the vineyard and winery is about
500,000 dollars. The cost of living in Mendoza is low while the quality of life is excellent with peaceful atmosphere and friendly local people. The climate is perfect for the grapes with warm days and cold nights and sunshine throughout the year.
The Argentines have started producing and exporting more wine in recent years. Their exports reached 864 million dollars in 2010.
The Argentine wines are getting more recognition in international
markets. It has overtaken the Chilean wines in the US market. Malbec has
become famous around the world as the signature wine of Argentina.
I
spent two days last month visiting his vineyard and listening to his
stories over many glasses of Chateau Hana wine. After this, I have
become an admirer and started calling him as Che Aziz. In Argentina, Che
is a colloquial way of saying ¨friend¨, as Che Guevara.
Cheers…Che Aziz…
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