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Magandeep Singh - Judge
After completing my hotel management from IHM, Bombay, I went to Institut Vatel, Nimes, France to pursue a Master's in Hospitality Management. Following this, I worked in some very prestigious fine dining outlets, including handling F&B operations with a Parisian hotel (Concorde Saint-Lazare, Paris).
I pursued a Post-Graduate diploma in wine tasting (Sommelier-Conseil) from L'Universite du Vin, Suze-La-Rousse, France. This all-French course requires prior experience in the hospitality field and is the top-rated wine course in France. As part of the course I worked at star-classified restaurants, in the vineyards, and at wine cellars and boutiques. On completion of this course, I, now Sommelier Magandeep Singh decided to return so as to prepare the Indian consumers for a vinous attack!
Upon my return, I worked in a wine company and handled wine training & appreciation and wine-list building activities for them. Since then, I have conducted various wine-centric events (tastings, dinners, appreciation classes) for hotels & restaurants, wine clubs, corporates, management institutes and new brands as they come to India.
For the past six (nearly seven) years now, I am an independent wine consultant and work in liaison with several hotels and restaurants advising them on compiling wine lists, marrying wines with food and upselling wines. I also look into structuring the wine storage and movement logistics for outlets.
I also help out wine companies entering India to conduct wine events, tastings, dinners and other events to popularise the wine and to bring the winemaker in contact with the right people.
Amongst outlets and F&B establishments, I am corporate consultant to the ITC Sheraton group, Olive restaurants (Conde Nast Traveler award-winning chain), and also training consultant to the Taj group of hotels, and the Moet-Hennessy group. Ongoing assignments include wine-list engineering and training for Oberoi hotels, Imperial Hotel, Hyatt Regency, Radisson, Marriott, Heritage Resorts, and various fine dining restaurants in India (Azzurro, Thai Wok).
Apart from these, I have conducted consumer workshops for various corporate clients and multinationals such as Cisco, Infosys, Standard Chartered, Reliance group and independent bodies like the CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), YPO (Young Presidents Organisation), Yi (young Indians) and the YEO (Young Entrepreneurs Organisation). I also hold wine appreciation workshops regularly for debutante oenophiles and consumers who are trying to enter the world of wines for the first time.
Besides this ground work, I am the wine columnist with one of India's leading English daily - DNA and have earlier done columns for India's leading daily Hindustan Times (Sunday Magazine "Brunch"), the Hindustan Times City supplement (New Delhi) and HT Style (Mumbai), and The Hindustan Times Insight Page (Mumbai). I also contribute regularly to India Today Spice, Taste & Travel magazine, Circle magazine, Zest magazine, The Man magazine, Sunday Financial Express, and The Financial Express Business Traveller apart from the one-off piece for papers like the Business Standard, the Economic Times and the Indian Express and various lifestyle magazines. A book on wines (the first by an Indian author) with much relevance for the Indian consumer (Wine Wisdom: Buying and Drinking wine in India) was published with Penguin Books India and was launched in the second half of March 2006. It went on to win the second medal at the prestigious World Gourmet Awards. This coincided with the launch of my website http://magandeepsingh.com which will soon add reviews on wines and restaurants which I cover on a regular basis. The site will also be a live forum for answering all queries relating to the Good Life.
My aim is to make wines accessible to the Indian drinking class and be a pioneer of the cause of wines in this country.
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