A taste for vintage India

Although efforts have been made to export Indian wines for 25 years, the “balance of trade” between Indian wines exported and imported wines is still terribly one-sided, with only about 35,000 cases exported against some 300,000 cases of wines imported into India in 2011-12. The value would be even more skewed, since Indian wines tend to be priced at $3-4 per bottle (FOB or free on board), whereas there are many high-end wines coming in for star hotels.

The first Indian wine to be exported was Omar Khayyam, a méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine produced by what was then called Champagne India (now Chateau Indage), which pioneered the effort to produce wines from vitis vinifera grapes way back in 1986. Omar Khayyam even won a silver medal for sparkling wine in the London Wine Fair in 1988 — thereafter champagnes were moved to a separate category! Total wine exports from Indage peaked at a reported 50,000 cases in 2007-08 — but that was before the company’s subsequent meltdown.

Grover Vineyards, which from 1995 started producing La Reserve, a Shiraz-Cabernet blend (matured in French oak), had started exporting this label to the UK from 1999 onwards. While La Reserve has remained the mainstay of Grover’s export efforts, its “Art Series” is now also being exported, with Japan and France being good markets. Volumes peaked at 20,000 cases in 2007-8, and were about 15,000 cases last year. “We are blessed with the world-wide popularity of Indian cuisine,” says its director Kapil Grover, “although I wish more Indian restaurateurs knew their wines.”

Current market leader Sula entered the Indian market only in end-1999, but has grown exports steadily over the years to 15,000 cases last year — its key markets are Japan (Sula Brut), the UK (Sula Sauvignon Blanc), the US (Sula Cabernet Shiraz), and Belgium (Sula Dindori Reserve). “Our effort is to position Sula as a genuine Indian wine,” says Cecelia Oldne, the vivacious head of Sula’s international business and its global brand ambassador. “We export Sula wines to 20 countries worldwide, and have just started to get going — wait till you taste the 2012 vintage!”

Many other newly-set up wineries are trying to export wines: wines from the UB Group’s Four Seasons and Zampa from Vallee de Vin made headlines when they were listed by UK supermarket chain Waitrose last year, while others such as York, Vintage, Nirvana Biosys, Vallonne, and Fratelli have been showcasing their wines in international wine festivals for the last couple of years under the aegis of the Indian Grape Processing Board.

Nevertheless, sales of Indian wines overseas are just a drop in the ocean: in 2011 Australia alone exported 703 million litres (78 million cases equivalent) of wine valued at about ~10,400 crore! Australia is now the world’s fourth-largest wine exporter — it has built this position in just over 30 years, whereas Indian wines are still nowhere internationally.

So what ails Indian wines overseas? Several factors: quality, price, positioning, image and market spend — in fact, the whole shooting match! While the quality of several Indian wines has progressed to the point where they should be able to avail of the propensity of consumers to try Indian wines at Indian restaurants, Indian wines tend to be out-priced by competitors from other new world producers who’ve been at this game for years. Two, wineries trying to enter markets overseas receive little support, either from the agencies concerned in India or Indian embassies overseas. When was the last time an Indian ambassador anywhere hosted a party for Indian wines?

But who knows: perhaps things will change in the future — and the “Incredible India” footprint will expand to cover Indian wines. We’ll say “balle balle” to that!

Alok Chandra is a Bangalore-based wine consultant