Intoxicated by Indian markets, global vineyards are saying cheers to new culinary protocols
Intoxicated by Indian markets, global vineyards are saying cheers to new culinary protocols
NEW DELHI: Winemakers from France, Chile, Greece, and Australia, who are sniffing at India’s markets, have begun calibrating their products to cheer the local palate.
International vineyards want to create wines that are compatible with Indian food —and in their push for new markets, they are uncaring about committing etiquette blasphemies.
“Gone are the days when a particular kind of wine was meant to go with a particular kind of food,” said Saloni Kayne, a winemaker. “We want Indians to shed their inhibitions about strict wine disciplines and just go for what they like, such as wine with masala dosa or pakoras.”
At the IFE-India 2006 — a food, drink, and hospitality exhibition being held in Delhi — several global wine brands seem to be going for the gullets of Indian consumers through their stomachs.
“Wines we are launching have gone through a process in which they were tried with Indian food,” said Anthony Nascimbem of Australia’s Warnburn estate. “In fact, one of our wines is well suited for Indian snacks such as kebabs.”
Sommelier Magandeep Singh said the trend acknowledges that India’s culinary tradition is much older than that of wines. “They know their wine and we know our food and the good thing is that they are spending time to understand our food,” Singh said. “Now, wines that go well with, say, beef are being paired up with rogan josh.”
Most of the new wines will be in the range of Rs600 to Rs1500, but some companies are also looking at the high-end sector. “We are trying to reach out to as many people as possible so we don’t want to keep the prices very high,” said Roger Ravoire, general manager, Cellier Val de Durance. “But there will be some luxury brands for our niche market which is, at least, 3 per cent of the population.”
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