November 2009 - Posts

• York Winery, Nasik

  Interview with Ravi Gurani from brand new York Winery, located at Nasik. The whole family is getting serious in to the wine business. York Winery The notion of York Winery was conceived by my father, Lilo Gurnani, back in 2004. It was out of a passion for wine and the opportunity in the then nascent domestic wine market. The project took off in April 2006 leading upto the first crush in February 2008. A lot of time was dedicated to understanding the workings of the industry at a worldwide and domestic level before the actual work began. It is a family concern also involving my brother in law, Ravi Shamdasani. My younger brother Kailash is studying to become a winemaker in Adelaide, Australia and will be one of the first qualified winemakers in India in a couple of years when he graduates. We have a South African winemaker who consults for us and under whose guidance the wines are made. The objective has been to produce international quality wines at reasonable prices. Now I know everybody says they are making quality wines, but we genuinely know and believe that our wines are better than many in the market. The Winery Nasik being the place with ideal climate for growing wine grapes, the winery is located in the Gangapur area not too far from Sula Vineyards. It overlooks the scenic Gangapur Dam and has rolling vineyards on the sides. The winery is state of the art and at full capacity can handle upto 1 million litres of wine. The current capacity of the winery is around 400,000 litres. There is also a 6 acres estate vineyard which grows grapes for our Reserve wines. The winery has separate fermentation halls for red wines and white wines. The tanks for the red wines has been customized to enable punching down on the grapes during fermentation, which I believe is a first in India. We also have a barrel cellar which is underground and used to age the red wines. We have also planned for sparkling wine in the future. The Wines The wines will be sold in the domestic market under the York brand. Our winemaker being South Africa, the approach to winemaking and viticulture is very New World unlike some of the other wines in the market who have European winemakers. The regular varietals include Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel Rose, Shiraz & Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for these wines are sourced from our contract farmers with whom we work very closely throughout the year to monitor the quality and yields of the vines. We also have a Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon which are aged for 8-10 months in French, American and Hungarian oak barrels. The grapes for these wines are grown on the estate and the wines will be sold under the York Estate Reserve label. We are also planning to make a dessert wine and sparkling wine in the next vintage. The wines have been priced competitively compared to other premium wines in the market. This is in line with our philosophy of making quality and affordable wines as generally Indian wines are still expensive for the type of quality one gets compared to imported wines. The Tasting Room We have also opened a Tasting Room at the winery for visitors. It will also include guided tours of the winery. The Tasting Room overlooks the scenic Gangapur Dam, rolling vineyards and a gallery looking into the inner workings of the winery. Its open for visitor 7 days a week from 12 am to 10 pm. The winery itself is conveniently located just 5 mins down the road from Sula Vineyards in Nasik. The way forward We have started our Tasting Room about 4 months back and also launched the wines in Nasik. We plan to start selectively releasing our wines in certain parts of Mumbai in restaurants and retail outlets through to the end of the year. We want to focus on Maharashtra first before venturing into other domestic markets. Also planned are exports to UK and Hong Kong, but that would be under a different brand from York. Infact we will be shipping our first container of wine to UK next week! for indianwine.com Venki Posted Nov 08 2009, 02:50 AM by venki with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Wine Business, York, Winery

• Allow 6 Bottles of DF Wine on Arrival - Subhash Arora

  Indian Customs allow two liters of whisky or wine duty-free for tourists on arrival at the international airports whereas duty-free goods worth Rs.25, 000 are allowed otherwise. I believe the limit on duty free wine should be raised to six bottles, for equitable justice. During my return from Singapore a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see almost every other passenger carry big boxes of 32-46 inch LCD TVs.  Looking at the rest of the baggage accompanying them, it was a fair assumption that there were some commercial interests behind the purchase. But if the law allows it- why not, one shrugged off. But the allowance of 2 liters of whisky/wine does seem a little unfair. But I did think of section 147 of our constitution which encourages all states to discourage alcohol sales and to be fair, most countries do have a limit on the duty-free alcoholic beverages entry. But if it is the alcohol that is of concern for setting the limit, then the government needs to be more equitable and fair to the people bringing alcohol. Whisky, vodka and other hard liquors have on an average an alcoholic content of above 40%. Wine on the other hand has 13% alcohol by volume. This means that one bottle of whisky has an average of 3 times or more alcohol by volume than that in a bottle of wine. The government should use the logic to increase the duty free limit to 3 bottles in lieu of a bottle of hard liquor. In place of 2 bottles of whisky, 6 bottles of wine-simple mathematics!! Actually, if one looks deeper and calculates, it works out to around 8 bottles as whisky allowed is in 1-liter bottles whereas wine is generally 750mL in each bottle-unless it is a magnum which is 1.5 liters. During my various winetravels overseas, I am generally loaded with samples by wineries for tasting. I try to bring around 4-5 bottles and refuse any more quantity. The x-ray check at the airport sometimes puts an x-mark on my bag, which many frequent travelers know about and simply rub off. I leave it on intentionally and invariably am stopped by the customs officer. Most of the times, they understand my logic and let me go since I do not normally carry any other gifts; despite my trips to Singapore I bought my TV at the local store. Sometimes, they direct me to the senior officer who appreciates my reasoning that sampling is the key in wine marketing and lets me go without payment of any duty. But he does not have the authority to change the law-that has to come from the ministry. Could some of our readers carry our message to the right sources? The additional side benefit would be a tremendous boost to the sales at the local duty free shops as people would find it convenient to pick up a 6-pack on arrival. There might be then better storage and more variety available too. It is ironic that the immigration form on arrival form screams ‘Incredible India!’ on top. Methinks it is really incredible! Does the whisky loving nation understand the concept of alcohol in a bottle? Incredible! Subhash Arora     Curtsey: http://www.indianwineacademy.com   Posted Nov 04 2009, 03:37 AM by venki with no comments Filed under: Tax, Wine Business, wine policy