Indian Wine Industry : Sula

Pro Food Pro Pack 2012 promoted Indian wines in Sri Lanka – Asian Tribune

anisha sharma — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:43:00 GMT

The ‘Pro Food Pro Pack 2012’ held from 6-8 July 2012 at BMICH Colombo provided a platform to around 45 participating Indian companies to showcase their wide range of agro and food products to the Sri Lankan public and business community.

There was strong buyer interest in the Indian products such as wine, fresh fruits like mango, pomegranate, apples from Kashmir and Himachal, table honey, ready-to-eat snack foods, pulps, fruit juices, health foods, curry paste and fresh ginger.

APEDA pavilion was adjudged the best pavilion in the international category at the “Pro Food Pro Pack 2012”.

The visitors to the exhibition had a special opportunity to sample premium Indian wines from seven wine companies from India, namely, M/s John Distilliers, M/s Chataeu ‘d Ori, M/s Renaissance Winery Pvt. Ltd., M/s Nashik Vinters Pvt. Ltd., M/s Vintage Wines Pvt. Ltd., M/s Vallonne Vineyards Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Valle De Vin Pvt. Ltd. The Indian companies were encouraged by the interest shown in the good quality Indian wines and noticed the potential demand for sweet wines / dessert wines in Sri Lanka.

High Commission of India in association with APEDA, All India Wine Producers Association and Taj Samudra Colombo also organized a function “Appreciating Indian Wines” at the Hotel Taj Samudra in the evening of 8th July 2012 which was graced by Mr. Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India and attended by representatives from Sri Lankan tourism and hospitality sector like hotels, restaurants, prominent chambers of commerce and industry, government officials from concerned departments and private sector companies.

India produces more than 13.5 million litres of wine annually and the Indian wine industry, according to Business Chamber Assocham, growing at a rate of 35% is expected to reach turnover of INR 2700 crores in 2012. Indian wines are fast developing a reputation in the world market.

More: Asian Tribune

THE DEN - A Contemporary Wine Bar

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:11:00 GMT

Inviting and comfortable, yet retaining an air of sophistication, Bandra’s first exclusive Wine Bar and restaurant, The Den, creates the ideal atmosphere in which one can relax and enjoy a superb selection of domestic and imported wines and signature wine cocktails complimented by European cuisine.

Upon arriving at The Den, clientele are greeted with a complimentary sample of port wine and introduced to a European style bar, with an open patio adorned by a stylish canopy, natural wood fence, and large, oak wine barrels serving as tables.

The wine bar further achieves the feel of a European wine pub as one walks inside and observes the intimate and casually elegant surroundings. Modern wine racks are stylistically placed throughout the premises, displaying some of the many varieties of wine available, while cubby holes in the wall feature some of the world’s most famous vintages. Intricate detailing can further be noticed in the bar’s interiors, created with natural wood and old fashioned sandstone brick.

Visitors to The Den are presented with an extensive collection of premium and super premium local and imported wines, including red and white varieties from France, California, Argentina, Australia, and various other foreign vineyards. Hosting the entire collection of renowned local producer Sula Vineyards, the wine bar’s respectable assortment of premium and super premium wines are guaranteed to delight both amateurs and connoisseurs’ palates. The signature wine cocktails can be chosen from a list of 30 unique flavours. A host of these would be ultimate indulgence for the sweetened taste buds.

Friendly servers will be trained by some of the most esteemed local sommeliers, to provide clientele with informed advice on what variety of wine will best complement their chosen meal, and mood, to ensure an enjoyable evening.

With the European cuisine and wine flowing throughout the day and night, The Den is the ideal location for hosting special events. With room indoors and outdoors, two-seater loungers and bar stools spread across the interiors, a secluded dining area, and a designated DJs corner - or alternatively room for live music - the premises are especially well suited for brunches, buffets, private parties and essentially, everyday lunches and dinners.

The den-like environment is perfect for unwinding and engaging in conversation amidst expressive jazz and blues acoustics to complement the dishes and drinks consumed. Whether with friends or colleagues, single, a couple, or on a first date, The Den provides good ambience in which to meet, greet and mingle over a glass of wine.

Curtesey: http://www.ambrosiaindia.com

WINE FESTIVALS - To Boost The Domestic Wine Industry

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:16:00 GMT

The Indian wine industry has recognised the importance of developing wine culture in the country. Wine festivals not only serve as the best place to convert non-wine drinkers to wine drinkers but also help boost the culture as well as wine sales in the long run.

Wine festivals are an integral aspect of any wine growing region. However, it’s just recently that India has woken up to the need of such events. Sula Wines and Chateau Indage being one of the pioneers in organising its popular Sula Festand Narayangaon wine festival every yearhas inspired many more this year.

Renowned as India’s first wine festival, Narayangaon Wine Festival follows traditional routes of the French Wine festival. Celebrations are conducted in a more formal way, but with pomp, splash and splendour. A wide range of ceremonies, starting from a walk through the vineyards to planting of individual vines is in offer. A tour of the winery is an integral part of the festivities.

Thrilling and exhilarating, with an array of celebrity guests, this wine festival is hosted by Chougule, the owner of Chateau Indage. Narayangaon Wine Festival is an exhibition of finest quality of wines that offers a rare chance to taste all the vines on display. The actual spirit behind this unique celebration is to promote a wine culture with tourism. Zampa wines had recently organized a

Zampa Crush Festival in Nashik. The event attracted around 450 guests having a day full of fun and frolic. Zampa Wines promoters Ravi Jain, Deepak Roy and Neeraj Deorah played gracious hosts and regaled their guests with loads of amusing activities which included zany grape crushing, a soothing foot spa at the top of the hill, live performance by JUNKT and a scintillating tour of the stunning vineyard. Grape stomping uplifted the spirits of wine enthusiasts Ashwin Deo, Kishen Mulchandani, Naaz and Remu Zhaveri and Shamita Singha as they were seen reveling in the wines and immersing themselves in an afternoon of sheer pleasure.

There was private wine tasting at their cellar where guests pleased their palette with some unique wine straight from the barrel by Zampa’s South African winemaker Nic Van Arde. Grape stomping was followed by a tour of the breathtaking winery which had everyone rushing to know more about the exquisite Zampa wines and all present breathed in the fabulous tour of the spectacular vineyards. Also seen having a gala time were Tejasvini Kolhapure, Manasi Scott, Mashoom Singha and Sanea Sheikh.

Corporate honchos Kishore Chhabria, Jaydev Mody, Mukul Kasliwal, Aditya Puri, Javed Tapia and Pradeep Shah added distinct charisma to the beautiful afternoon. According to Deepak Roy, Wine Festivals like this are important marketing fields to showcase the winery and brand. It also helps to cause wine making in a very pleasant and picnicking manner to bring consumers closer to wine and also build brand.

The whole effort of organising such an event in a very consumer-friendly way brings the concept of wine and wine making closer to consumers. Obviously the strategic intent at the back of mind is always to promote sales. Wine festivals are not done for sheer joy. As wine business expands in India, Harvest festivals will definitely become part of marketing calendar of every major wine maker. This will be in conjunction to wine tourism which is another way to promote wine culture in India, adds Roy.

Apart from the major wine producers, there are also clubs who have started organising festivals for its members and wine lovers. The Club, Mumbai, a leading private club in Mumbai suburbs had a wine festival showcasing few Indian as well as imported wine companies. This was organised by The Anada Wine Club, the only wine club in Mumbai that provides the opportunity to appreciate and promote both Indian and International wines, wine producers and wine lovers. Fresh grapes from the vineyards was trampled and stomped upon with a live band in attendance and celebrity guests. Undoubtedly, it was a visual delight to see the stomping brigade enter the vat, joyfully, crushes them and watch pure grape juice flow.

With a sumptuous spread of food by The Club and number of wines to go with, the event was a delightful one. Few of the participants were, Reveilo, Chateau Indage, Good Earth winery, FineWinesnmore etc. Fun and excitement being the key purpose behind these festivals, the SULAFEST this year roped in major bands like Jalebee Cartel, Shkabang, Something Relevant and Teddy Boy Kill to perform in its day long event in Nashik vineyard. From noon till midnight on

February 20th, Sulafest partygoers enjoyed a carnival atmosphere of music, food, wine and fleamarket shopping in the chilled environs of the winery’s beautiful open-air, Greek-style amphitheater. Spicing up this great musical line-up were eclectic food stalls that included kebabs, pastas & pizzas freshly made at Sula’s very own vineyard restaurants, washed down with a wide array of local and imported wines.

The event offered a great day out with loads of fun for the wine lovers as well as the usual visitors. Kiran Patil, the owner of Vintage wines which produces Reveilo believes in direct consumer contacts. “With the given market situation and issues with the stockists, these kind of events gives us the opportunities to do direct marketing with the consumer.” Wine festivals / events do contribute in creating and building awareness of a particular brand. The end consumer also gets a first hand experience by way of sampling the product, and to some extent, gains an insight into some more information about the product, the company, and the people behind it. These festivals also provide a platform to view all the brands absolutely, as well as, relatively, and can tell one from the other. However, she feels that wine festivals, per se, do not boost sales directly, but they do spread awareness about the category and the brand, per se, which, in turn, could enhance the sales of a particular brand, if evoked a good response from the consumer on a long term basis. A B2B event, in turn, could give good leads to the beginners.

If the events are well organized and based on a good format, for eg. B to C format combined with a plethora of allied activities in the side, coupled with adequate publicity and in a good location, it is bound to do well. Sharing his views on this new trend, Magandeep Singh, the internationally acclaimed sommelier says, “Wine Fests help promote the ultimate bond: that between winemaker and wine-drinker. Consumers can meet the producers and this is a very healthy interaction for both parties. This helps to gain knowledge as also improve or tweak wine styles.”

Do you think this is a new strategy to boost sales? To that he says, branding and brand marketing as also building brand equity have many facets and this is a good interactive version.

The future of such events seems bright at present. The quality may not always be top notch but as the consumer gets more discerning and the organisers less casual, things will improve.

— Rojita Tiwari

Elite Vintage Winery, Karnataka begins production: An interview with their M.D. Vinod Guraddi

venki — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:37:00 GMT

Vinod Guraddi grew up in rural Karnataka, balancing academics and helping in the fields. Today he returns to his agrarian roots with a spanking venture as Managing Director, Elite Vintage Winery India Pvt. Ltd. in Karnataka’s village Mudhol, district Bagalkot.

IndianWine.com gets up close with this engineer turned entrepreneur…

Back to roots

Being a farmer’s son, Vinod takes pride in contributing to the agricultural sector through his new winery. Also, his guiding principle in life, “Be something, believe something and do something,” has led him to start Elite Winery, and dedicates the enterprise to the farmers of Karnataka.

The last decade found him globetrotting for business matters and was thus initiated into the world of premium wines. A particular visit to a German vineyard got him thinking on these lines.

What kick-started Elite Winery, we ask him, and he is quick to share his tales of exploration and adventure: “For the last eight years, I studied the feasibility of several agro based industries. In the mean time wineries in Maharashtra were booming and mushrooming in a big way, where as in Karnataka hardly any…”

Congenial conditions

Karnataka has great potential, as several wine grape varietals are already growing here. “Keeping in mind the conducive climatic conditions for grape growing in Krishna Valley, we set up a winery here to develop quality wines to suit Indian & International markets,’ he begins.

“When we spoke to local grape growers we received an overwhelming response.” So that was it! “Their enthusiasm convinced us to venture into wine making under the banner of Elite Vintage Winery India Pvt. Ltd.”

Team work

Building a good team has been the key from the start. “Though I am the Managing Director and had dreamt the winery project, the dream has come true because of our dedicated General Manager - Girish Koraddi, who brings with him 17 years of experience in the sugar industry.”

Dermot Sugrue from UK is Elite’s Chief Wine Consultant and Dr. Krishna Mumbaraddi is the Agricultural Business Advisor. That adds to the 50 strong team at Elite.

Capacity

And just how successful is the venture? “I should say, we are very successful, because in the very first year we could produce 400 000 liters of wines. By next year our production will reach to 600 000 liters.”

Elite has also developed about 180 acres of vineyards that will start yielding from 2010 harvest.

That’s great going :-)

To market

What is planned on the marketing front? The products are to be launched this summer in Karnataka, while a strong distribution network is being worked upon for all India and foreign markets.

“As an ongoing process, we have been successful in finalizing the co-operation with M/s Nashik Vintners Pvt. Ltd. (M/s Sula Wines) for three vintages from 2009 – 2011,” reveals Vinod.

Prescription for the Indian wine industry’s progress

As a new entrant to the Indian wine industry, what does Vinod prescribe for the industry’s development? “Now it is time to pay an extraordinary attention by all the concerned for the betterment of Farmers, Industry, and Wine community…”

“Encourage the farmers to grow quality grapes and implement some standard practices for wineries to produce quality wines. That allows for healthy competition too,” says Vinod .

There is a need for more trained professionals, thus “Diploma and Engineering colleges should offer ‘Vine to Wine’ related courses” he adds.

Since the Indian wine industry has far to go, it is time that, “the Government of India should invest more on research and development activities and updating of new technology.”

“Encouraging export activities and standardizing taxes all over India at the same time would be another booster for the Indian wine industry,” says Vinod as he signs off.

Venki
for www.indianwine.com

Robert Joseph's view of 2008 India Wine Challenge

venki — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:21:00 GMT

Robert Joseph has just completed the 2008 India wine challenge. He shared his experience exclusively with indianwine.com. The complete results of 2008 India Wine Challenge can be downloaded from here.

1. How do you feel about this year competition? Like response etc.
This year's competition was around 50% bigger, and attracted 77 Indian wines, the largest number ever judged in a blind competition. This, and the enthusiasm of the local and international judges gives me great optimism both for the Indian wine market and for the future of the Challenge. However, I was also pleased to see that the judges this year were tough in their allocation of awards. I would always rather feel that good wines were unlucky to miss out on a medal than that poor ones were lucky to get one

2. How do you compare the quality of the Indian wine from the Previous year?
There is a definite improvement, but much remains to be done. There is too much unripeness and too many winemaking faults that keep Indian wines from living up to their potential. There were many Seals of Approval; next year, i'd like to see many of these producers get Bronze medals.

3. Any wine particular wines very interesting to you this year?
I was particularly interested to see the success of Chateau d'Ori which has great potential for the future and currently seems set to take on Grover's mantle; and the Sula Late Harvest Chenin which may do more to build Sula's reputation than its well regarded Sauvignon Blanc

4. What is the next year goal?
The mission statement if the UK Challenge - and all other Challenges - is "to encourage more people to drink more good wine". And that's what I'd like to continue to do next year.

Venki
for indianwine.com

INDIAN WINE INDUSTRY – READY FOR A QUANTUM LEAP

admin — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:17:00 GMT

John Harris, Green Point winemaker from Australia in his recent visit to India said that India is one of the major emerging markets for all companies. This is primarily because of the increasingly wealthy middle class which is looking out for popular lifestyle choice. We hope they embrace wine as their first choice in beverages.

As the Indian wine market becomes a hot spot, many international players are ready to gamble their fate. We decide to gather some response from the domestic players.
Read more:
The total wine production for the year 2007 has grown by 37 per cent in India over the previous year and seven new wineries were added to take the total tally in India to 54 during this year. A

As per the statistics provided by Jaideep Kale, wine consultant for the Grape Wine Park of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, commercial wine production during this season touched 1.42 crore litres, up from the 1.04 crore litres production during the 2006 season.

Of this, Maharashtra alone, with 51 of the 54 wineries in the country, accounted for 1.32 crore litres, while the three remaining wine units in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh produced 10 lakh litres. Seven new wineries were set up in Maharashtra and became operational during the new season, taking the total investment in the State from Rs 160 crore in 2006 to Rs 247 crore this year.

While most of the wine produced is for domestic consumption, four wineries, three from the Narayangaon-Nashik belt and one from Karnataka exported wines to European markets.

Currently, around 5,000 acres of land in seven districts of Maharashtra are under wine-grape cultivation, and grape crushing is an annual activity that happens in February every year. Several new wine projects are in the pipeline.

All these indicate that the Indian wine market is set for an upheaval with the world’s largest spirits maker Diageo declaring its intent to enter India. Currently, short of 1% of the overall domestic spirits market, the wine market is already growing at a rapid 20-30%. But the entry of Diageo is expected to accelerate this growth.

In an industry that is dominated by three players – Indage, Sula Wines and Grover Wines – who command 90% market share, the entry of USL and Diageo will significantly change the demographics.

Yet, Diageo is likely to fund United Spirits Ltd (USL) – India’s largest and the world’s third largest spirits maker – as a key rival in this nascent, yet fast growing, industry.
In an interview with Ambrosia, Abhay Kewadkar, Chief wine maker, United Sprits Limited and Director, Four seasons wines limited said that the UB Group has realized the potential of wines business in the country and has decided to form its own strategy for the same.

To go with the image of being a global player and to confirm its intentions, the Group decided to buy Bouvet-Ladubay, a quality winery with 156 years old heritage in the Loire valley of Saumur region in France. This is the first time an Indian Company has ventured into buying a winery outside India. In this case, it is special as wines are from France, a country which is the global leader in the wine segment.

Revealing his plans, he also said, “Bouvet-Ladubay products have been already launched in Maharashtra and soon they will be launched in Delhi, Karnataka and Goa in the next 3 months. To be present in all prices and product lines, there will be a Company, M/s. United Vintners Ltd., which will deal with import of wines from all over the world, viz. France, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, etc. to name a few.”

A green field project is coming up in Baramati, which will be India’s best and the biggest winery. 300 acres vineyard will be owned by the Company and long term contractual agreements will be made with local farmers for 1000 acres. The winery itself will be in the middle of 300 acres vineyard. This will give 5 million bottles production of wines exclusively using wine varieties of grapes over the next 5 years.

The bottling will start in October and in the first year of operation 600,000 bottles will be sold which will consist of 6 different varietal ranges. Additional 8 brands will be added over the next 3 years, to manufacture premium wines which will go through French oak barrels. Plans are also in position to manufacture sparkling wines using traditional French method (methode champagnoise) and with the technical guidance of Bouvet-Ladubay.

The wine market in India today is still in its nascent stage. The industry is one million cases of wines manufactured in India and 0.15 to 0.2 million cases of imported wines. This, against spirits industry which has 125 million cases and beer which is at 100 million cases. A lot needs to be done in terms of education, awareness and demystifying wine as a product. This will help in expanding the consumer base of wine as a category and this is what UB Group would like to achieve.

The wine market is expanding at 30% every year but considering such a small consumer base, though the figure sounds impressive at 30%, it is not enough.

The growth in wine industry will be directly beneficial to farmers, cultivating wine varieties of grapes and this will also create job opportunities in the rural area. The Government of India and different State governments should realize this potential and promote wines. In India, wine is considered as any other alcoholic beverage while in countries like US and Europe, wine is always separated from alcohol for licensing procedures. In these countries, the retail price of wine is hardly 30-40% more than ex-winery prices while in India, the minimum is 100% and can go up to 300%, in certain States.

Considering the health benefits of wines and the fact that it is associated with food, the authorities should look at this potential and take measures to promote Indian wine industry.

The Bouvet-Ladubay products have been received extremely well in the markets of Mumbai and we have listings in prominent retail shops, fine-dining places and star hotels. The general impression has been that the quality of wines is extremely good and at a given price. Bouvet-Ladubay has won many international awards and the list is enclosed herewith. Bouvet has also been associated with Art and Theatre, sponsoring the “Festival d’Anjou”, the “Premiers Plans” festival (Deubut films festival) in Angers, Arcachon, Biarritz, Brest and Mont Doré and the Company has been present at The Cannes film festival for the last five years.

UB has plans to invest about 20 crores in the first year of operation will be and same will be scaled upto 80 crores in the course of 4-5 years.

Marketing plans are in position to grow the wine as a category as stated earlier. Packaging will be premium and the product/presentation will be to match international standards, he said.

UB has already recruited best professionals from the industry and the focus is to also attract the best talents in marketing/branding even from outside the trade to bring in innovative ideas.

With the launch of UB wines, the industry experts expect huge volumes offered to consumers, backed by big marketing and promotional expenditure in the industry which has a very low consumer base right now.

Diageo has already appointed Adrian Pinto, former marketing head of Sula Wines, to explore opportunities in the domestic market. Asif Adil, MD of Diageo India has already said that the Indian wine industry is in for great times ahead and Diageo wants to be a part of it. He, however, declined to outline a time frame for his entry into the domestic wine market.

Established players like Chateau Indage foresaw this development four years ago and had prepared themselves, says Arun Shah, director Indage.

“We were the only one to bear the cost for the last 15-20 years. Now that will be shared. Their entry will only help the industry,” he said.

Rajeev Samant, MD Sula Wines said, “The Indian wine market is tiny but growing fast. In contrast to the Indian wine consumption, China’s consumption is estimated at 300ml per capita. But India is one of the world’s fastest growing wine markets, with an annual growth rate of over 25% for the past three years. We believe a 20+% annual growth rate for the next five years is very feasible. More and more people are drinking wine, every new restaurant that opens in the cities has a wine list, and awareness is growing fast. Women are drinking in much bigger numbers, and often their first choice beverage is wine. The movies reflect this change, with Bollywood actresses routinely seen drinking wine, which would have been unthinkable just five years ago.”
He said that the value of the market at the point of sale is around US$50 million.
Sula Vineyards has a wide portfolio of variety of wines. The Premium range includes Whites like Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, Blush Zinfandel, in Reds Cabernet Shiraz, Dindori Reserve Shiraz, Red Zinfandel and Satori Merlot. In the sparkling Brut (Methode Champenoise), Dessert wine from Late Harvest Chenin Blanc and entry level wines like Madera (Red, Blush, white).
Speaking of the performance of his brands, he said, “All the varietals are moving at a break neck speed and every vintage is sold-out.”

About Diageo’s plans, Asif Adil said, “The aim is to be present in every segment of the alcohol beverage industry. India is clearly important for Diageo Plc.”

Significantly, Diageo India has roped a senior executive from local wine maker, Sula Vineyards, to spearhead its wine foray. Adrian Pinto, who helmed marketing operations at Sula, is carrying the mandate to establish a wine business for Diageo. This could include showing up with locally-made wines as well as developing the franchise for imported brands. In this context, it must be mentioned that Diageo has been courting a local wineries for an equity JV or a contract filling arrangement.

But the only constraint with the Indian wine market is the almost non-functional storage conditions. Plus, the emergence of a strong local wine market has to be taken into account.

As Harris said, in a burgeoning market, he would like to sell at least half of his exports to India though that would be an unrealistic target. I have faith in our distribution system and am hoping they will help us achieve at least a 20 to 30 per cent growth to start with.

The 8 PM fame, Radico Khaitan has also designed its strategies to tap the growing wine market. In a significant move aimed at catapulting the Indian liquor industry to international standards, Radico Khaitan Ltd has an international division - Radico International. Some of the brands to be handled by Radico International include wines from Ernest & Julio Gallo, like, Gallo of Sonoma County, Turning Leaf, and Wine Cellars. The Gallo portfolio also includes Andre and Carlo Rossi. Abhishek Khaitan, MD, Radico Khaitan said, “The Indian Wine industry even though the base is small is growing at a rapid pace. We at Radico are focusing on the IMFL segment right now & are not looking at producing our own wines. The distribution tie-up we have with E& J Gallo fills the gap for wines in our portfolio.”

Much to the excitement of the domestic wine makers, vintners in Nashik have decided to open wine bars in winery premises, tying up with tour operators or hotels

Nashik, the country’s unofficial wine district is witnessing a new trend: set up a wine bar on the winery premises to promote tourism. This is done through tie ups with tour operators or hotels, which will put a clutch of wineries on the tourist map. This trend is emerging from a new breed of vintners, who are typically young professionals, bringing skills learned in other professions to this business.

The move is important since marketing is seen as the major shortcoming for an industry necessarily located in remote areas, where the vineyards are. Hence, this is aimed towards helping to push the wine consumption further in India.

Courtesy: http://www.ambrosiaindia.com