Even as made-in-India French wines bask in their place under the sun, Vintage Wines is working on the first made-in-India Italian wines. Yatin Patil, director, Vintage Wines gives a whiff of what is brewing…
Vintage Wines, known for bringing Italian winemaking technology to India, is truly ready for yet another first! Its vineyards at Niphad, Nashik are now home to grape varieties Sangiovese, Nero d’avola and Grillo brought from Sicily region in Italy. “The growing conditions are similar,” sounds an exuberant Patil. While the vines take root in the Sahyadris, the winery already equipped with Italian technology has always had Italian winemaker Andrea Valentinuzzi to take care of the details.
Patil, with an MBA in finance had a plush corporate job, as did wife Kiran, before they took the plunge and came up with their own company Vintage Wines. “It was around the year 1999-2000, when we saw the opportunity,” informs Patil. Today, Vinatge Wines is producing international quality premium wines going by the brand name Reveilo. “Reveilo is selling on good quality,” assures Patil modestly. And with four of their entries making it to the roll of honour in the recently held India Wine Challenge at New Delhi, others seem to be saying the same…
Speaking about Reveilo’s presence at the recent wine tasting festival organized by Pune Gourmand Club at Pune, Patil avers, “Wine tasting festivals create an understanding of wine. Also, Pune is a mini metro, coming up economically, with an open, young crowd, and an increasing spending power…”
Where cities like Pune, Bangalore and Chandigarh are making it quick to the wine consumers' and marketers' radars, how does the Maharashtra government’s hike in excise duty on imported wine augur for the state’s wine market? Patil understands the logistics that work here, and shares, “The hike in import duty will affect different segments of the market variously. It looks good for the domestic industry. Wine is a new industry in India and capital intensive to boot.”
Making Indian wine of international standards doesn’t come cheap here, whereas bulk wines imported and sold at a lesser price can tilt the buying decision. “For budget wines, price is a decisive factor. A bottle priced even Rs 5-10 less will sell more. On the other hand, premium and super premium wines are not affected by small price differences. But when we are talking of an imported bottle worth Rs 25,000 or Rs 1,00,000, it’s a different story…”, sums up the man who understands pricing like none else in the industry. Not yet, at least.
Vintage Wines has a unique system for pricing and taxes, which none in the industry has yet emulated. The MRP stands the same all over India, irrespective of difference in taxes that happen to be different for different states. “On principle, we keep the MRP uniform all over India. We bear the difference in cost that occurs through state taxes. In some states, the taxes may be high, and lesser in some others, so it evens out in a way. The bottom-line is that that our consumers pay the same price anywhere in the country,” he signs off triumphantly. Vintage Wines are priced between Rs 1045 and Rs 1345 for Premium and Reserve wines, and in the range of Rs 505 to Rs 745 for Regular wines.
In the year 2009, their newest venture made-in-India Italian wines should also join the Indian wine connoisseurs’ wish list. Going by Reveilo’s success so far, and the meticulous, high-spirited preparations at Niphad for the Italian brand in the making, it should be worth the wait…