Meet India’s Master of Wine; The tea traditions of Makaibari

Hello,

After DeepSeek, China is here with a global action plan for AI.

At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Chinese Premier Li Qiang proposed the establishment of a global AI cooperation organisation, calling for international cooperation on tech development and regulation.

This comes shortly after the US unveiled its American action plan for AI, with President Donald Trump calling for a reduction of alleged “woke” bias in AI models and supporting the deployment of US tech overseas.

Here’s some more news from the world of AI. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s mission to recruit the crème de la crème of AI talent has landed him with former OpenAI researcher Shengjia Zhao, who will now serve as the chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs. 

Zhao—one of the co-creators of ChatGPT—played a key role in several of OpenAI’s major breakthroughs, including GPT-4 and its first AI reasoning model, o1.

The AI talent war is only getting intense by the day! 

ICYMI: How do you turn a crisis into an opportunity? Ask Astronomer’s new “temporary” spokesperson, Gwyneth Paltrow. 

And, in heartwarming news, the world’s most premature baby—an Iowa toddler born when his mother was less than five months pregnant—recently celebrated his first birthday! 

As the Guinness World Records aptly puts it: baby Nash Keen survived against phenomenal odds!   

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Meet India’s Master of Wine
• The tea traditions of Makaibari
• Capturing the spirit of Nilgiris

Here’s your trivia for today: Which prehistoric age is known as the "Age of Fish"?

Interview

Meet India’s Master of Wine

At the age of 33, Sonal Holland walked away from a seven-figure salary, cushy corporate job to charter the unknown waters of wine. After 10 years of study and research, she was honoured with the Master of Wine title by London-based The Institute of Masters of Wine—a title held by fewer than 450 people worldwide.  

In 2025, Holland continues to remain the only Master of Wine from a country with a population of more than 143.8 crore. YS Life asks her the reason behind this rarity. 

Simplifying wine:

• Holland travelled to London to enrol in beginner courses with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. She spent a total of 10 years studying wine, including the six years to pursue the Master of Wine title—widely considered the most difficult and prestigious qualification in the world of wine education. 
• With over a million followers on Instagram and more than 13,000 subscribers on YouTube, Holland uses her reach to educate enthusiasts on wine and beyond. She is also the founder of the India Wines and Spirits Award and holds global certifications in spirits, sake, and beer. 
• Calibrating her expertise with the realities of the Indian wine market, Holland organises tastings, collaborations, and delivers wine education through social media to meet the enthusiast where they are.

Wine and Food

The tea traditions of Makaibari

Sight, smell, taste, touch—a cup of Darjeeling tea, they say, is a complete experience for the senses. Each step in the brewing process is crucial: from the type and temperature of the water to the amount of time the leaves are infused. 

At the Makaibari tea estate in Darjeeling, tea is equal parts ritual and tradition, steeped in decades of history that drive everything from farming techniques to the processing of blends.

Royal tea:

• Nestled in Kurseong, Darjeeling, the Makaibari estate was established in 1859, making it one of the oldest tea gardens in the country. Much like the cup of the famed tea it produces, the estate fully takes over the senses as you make the trip up through the winding mountain roads. 
• The estate’s claim to fame lies in its Silver Tips Imperial tea, a semi-fermented oolong tea with a light ‘liquor’, or liquid yield after the brewing process. This particular tea, the estate manager tells us, as he sits us down with tea and snacks, has its own ritual woven into the plucking process. 
• A surprising amount of tea lingo and tasting rituals are shared with those of wine—in fact, the Taj Chia Kutir property nearby hosts regular tasting sessions with a master tea sommelier. 

Entertainment

Capturing the spirit of Nilgiris

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” This beautiful quote by Senegalese forest scientist Baba Dioum is what drives wildlife documentary filmmaker Sandesh Kadur. 

The Bengaluru-based BAFTA award-winning filmmaker and naturalist believes people are the custodians of the land, and they have to be sensitised to love, understand, and conserve the earth’s biodiversity. His latest wildlife docu-film ‘Nilgiris: A Shared Wilderness’ sets out to do just that.

News & updates

• IPO: Amagi Media Labs has filed draft papers with the SEBI to raise funds through an IPO. The public issue will comprise a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 1,020 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to 3.41 crore shares by existing shareholders, including major VC backers.
• Privacy: ChatGPT users may want to think twice before turning to their AI app for therapy or other kinds of emotional support. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the AI industry hasn’t yet figured out how to protect user privacy when it comes to these more sensitive conversations, because there’s no doctor-patient confidentiality when your doc is an AI.
• Products: Huawei Technologies showed off an AI computing system on Saturday that one industry expert has said rivals Nvidia's most advanced offering. The CloudMatrix 384 system made its first public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.

Which prehistoric age is known as the "Age of Fish"?

Answer: The Devonian period in the Palaeozoic Era. 

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