It goes back to 6000 BC to Shulaveri in Georgia. In 5000 BC, the inhabitants of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros mountains of present day Iran took great delight in it. The settlers of Mesopotamia were ecstatic about its virtues 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. It has played a symbolic role in human history, having woven its way into ceremonies of birth and death.

And now wine — the ambrosia of the gods even in Hindu mythology — is all set to embrace Calcutta. The joys of wine drinking are being propagated in the City of Joy by newly-formed wine clubs.

“We mooted the idea of having a wine club in our hotel during a discussion some time ago when we realised that wine was really coming up as a beverage all over India,” says Anirban Simlai, food and beverages manager at the Park Hotel. Simlai says that the idea of launching a club for wine lovers was enthusiastically supported by his colleagues who felt that the culture of drinking wine needed a boost in the city.

And thus Calcutta’s first wine club was launched at the Roxy Lounge in Park Hotel at the end of June, 2006 with a gathering of wine aficionados. Sourav Ganguly’s Prince of Cal is planning to launch one in September and Peerless Inn has drawn up a plan for a similar enterprise at its lounge Ego. The bond that ties all of them is the intention to popularise a drink that can be enjoyed by everyone on all occasions, as Simlai puts it.

The city’s wine clubs, the organisers point out, are still evolving. Not quite institutional, like the traditional clubs in the city, wine clubs are chalking out their do’s and don’ts. At Roxy, membership is by invitation — but the members, 50 so far, have to pay a discounted rate for special dinners or shows. “The concept of wine clubs is a new one,” says Namrata Ray, manager of events and entertainment at Roxy. “We are at present planning on how to organise our events better.”

Members socialise, quaff their wine and taste new kinds of food or nibble on cheese. The launch of a new wine can be a big do, or an evening of Italian food, with just the right kind of jazz playing in the background, can turn into an event. For the hoteliers, it means business. As Simlai points out, wine sales have seen a rise of almost 35 per cent this year as compared to last year.

But it is not just the attraction of having a leisurely beverage that ties people to wine. There is the nobility of a long tradition indulged in by kings and peasants throughout the world. The fascination of savouring a product that undergoes several stages of development from production to presentation gives an added level of enthusiasm for wine admirers. The wine clubs of the city draw in members whose passion for the drink goes way beyond a casual sip.

Subhashish Ganguly, regional manager of INOX Theatre in Salt Lake, is one of them. He has been an oenophile ever since he became a hotelier by profession. His profession has changed but his love affair with wines has not. “I was a member of the Wine Society in Mumbai and that is how I learnt the intricacies of wine as a beverage,” he says.

Ganguly, an avid reader of wine books and a collector of wines, feels that the development of wine clubs in the city is a step in the right direction. “A wine club, well run, can provide an opportunity for wine lovers to exchange notes on their likes and dislikes. There is indeed a lot to share in these gatherings,” he notes. He also says that wine clubs would enable people to appreciate the enormous variety of wine that is available for consumption today.

And variety is certainly on offer. “We are planning to introduce new wines at our wine club to suit our members’ tastes,” mentions Saikat Sarkar, general manager of Sourav’s Food Pavilion. Sarkar says that his wine club will offer members a wide range of facilities, from events featuring classical music to distribution of the latest wine news. “We will have a very wide range of wines on offer, starting from the French George Duboeuf Beaujolais Villages to the Italian Chianti Classico,” he says. Wines from California, South Africa and India will also find their seats of honour at the Prince of Cal where people would be treated to the soft notes of a Haydn or a Mozart.

The clubs also plan to arrange wine guides who will explain the intricacies of a wine to those interested. “It is great that there is someone at hand to assist you in understanding what wine to choose with a particular dish,” says Geetanjali Alagh Jolly, manager of Spotlite, an events management company. “I recall a wine launch where we were served an elegant five-course meal and were taught how to hold a wine glass and it was great fun,” she adds — fondly remembering the novelty of having rabbit washed down with white wine.

Hotels have already started flying in foreign experts to popularise their events. “A French wine connoisseur came over to a wine gathering we held about a month ago,” says Sarbendra Sarkar, manager of Food and Beverages at Hotel Peerless Inn. The Ego Lounge at his hotel is promoting a wide variety of wines, especially New World wines — from the Americas, South Africa and Australasia.

Indeed, New World wines are proving enormously popular in the city with all the wine clubs and wine lovers going gaga over their virtues. “At our wine club we can definitely say that if classical French wine scores 10 out of 10 then New World wines can score at least 7. This indicates that there is improved choice,” says Simlai of Park.

Indian brands are not being overlooked either. “It is heartening to know that Indian brands are slowly catching up in the connoisseur circuit with brands like Sula, Riviera and Chantelle making their mark,” says Navin Pai, an entrepreneur who runs a firm named Coffee Pai. Pai loves the opportunity offered by wine clubs to experiment with new brands of wine. “Earlier, it used to be very difficult to discuss wine in Calcutta,” he remarks. “But with the new wine clubs, it can now be done.”

Adda over cups of coffee was the city’s signature tune once. Today, it’s tête-à-tête with wine.