Jumping into the sea of red and white wine

It looks like the India’s dining future is paved with wines from exotic countries; even though we aren’t exactly topping the list of largest wine consuming nations.

“International wine companies are very hopeful, they see that India has numbers more than anything else, and wine drinking is on the rise even if it’s marginally so,” said Manu Chandra, executive chef of Olive Beach.

Even if the companies are not seeing immediate profits, the potential that rests in India’s population is seemingly endless. Chandra sees that the international markets are tapping into this potential, and the market will change at some point in the near future.

Sogrape Asia Pacific visited Bangalore last week, in light of the recent partnership with India-based Aspri Spirits, a top international distribution company, intending to promote its import brand of quality wines to India.

“There is a high potential in India due to its high population and growing economy. At this point, you can’t afford to not be in India,” Filipe Cardvalho, managing director Sogrape Asia Pacific, said.
According to Winedustry, at this point India’s wine consumerism is relatively low, but has been climbing the beanstalk ever since the government reduced restrictions on imports.

Consumerism is expected to increase in the upcoming few years, as trends in wine consumption continue to make a shift.

Jackie Matai, director of Aspri Spirits, sees the increase in wine consumption as, “part of global a trend.” More Indians are travelling, particularly to Europe, and gaining international exposure. It’s affecting the collective consciousness of the country. The country is developing at a fast pace and more and more people have disposable income to treat themselves with a nice bottle of imported wine,” Carvalho said.

The rise in income allowing Indians to purchase the imported wine will take them back to that private island off the coast of Croatia, the pizzeria in Italy, or to the patisserie in France.

“The cuisine here has increased wine consumption. Italian cuisine is now the third largest in India, and wine comes with that. Indians never had a choice, and now they do,” Matai said.

India’s history of a short-sided approach to quality in wine production has hindered the ability of the domestic market to take off to soaring heights. But now they’ll have to face more competition as international companies, like Sogrape, have taken the leap of faith in India’s potential.

“Open competition will motivate domestic wine producers to work even harder to achieve international quality standards at the earliest,” Cardvalho said.

Quality means selecting the right grapes, constant tending to the fields, hygienic bottling processes and cool storage.

“Local wines have been improving significantly, but I believe there is still some work to be done. Eventually they could improve faster if a decrease on the duties for imported wines would make them have to be more competitive in terms of quality,” Carvalho said.

But improving the quality of production is a slow process, due to the growing season of grapes, which produce a once-yearly yield. Speeding up the shift will require heightened technical knowledge and expertise. 

As government restrictions continue to ease, competition will become fiercer, but India is taking a confident role in becoming a competitive market, and improvements are being made.
Ten years down the line, Matai sees that wine distribution in India, of wine in general, will be at a level ten times higher than it is today.