Alok Chandra: Taking wine places

Wine is a low-alcohol beverage that’s farmer-friendly and good for health. This was the caption of my pitch made to the Karnataka government in mid-2003 while advocating that the state come up with a wine-friendly policy, along the lines of what had been enacted in Maharashtra two years earlier. 

This eventually led to the enactment of the Karnataka Wine Policy in 2008 which, among other things, allowed the issuance of licences for Wine Boutiques (wine-only retail shops), Wine Taverns (wine-only bars), and the setting up of several new wineries in the state.

Karnataka and Maharashtra are still the only two states in India with a wine policy that recognises the need to remove some of the barriers to both the production and marketing of the beverage and to provide an indigenous alternative to spirits. In the rest of India, wine is still treated at par with spirits for licensing and taxation, which pushes up prices and inhibits sales.

A key issue is that state excise departments continue to club wine (and beer) with spirits on the subject of their marketing, taking inspiration from Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy (of the Constitution of India), which states that “...the state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purpose of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health”.

What stood out at ‘A Wine Affair’ were the Australian wines, in particular the Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro 2014, a 90-point wine from Australia’s most iconic winery

The key phrase here is “...intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health”. While wine certainly has alcohol, at 11 per cent to 14 per cent, this is substantially lower than the 35 per cent to 43 per cent in spirits, so the potential for abuse of wine is considerably lower. Secondly, wine has resveratol, an antioxidant derived from grape skin that has all sorts of beneficial properties and helps with reducing both cholesterol and blood sugar (“good for health”). 

In this situation, wine companies can use only the experiential route to promote their products — which is slow, expensive and reaches a very limited section of consumers, both present and potential. Hence the importance of wine fairs and exhibitions, which provide an opportunity for both wine education and branding. 

And what about the “farmer-friendly” tag? Well, wine grapes provide growers with a high-value product that can be cultivated even on land not fit for grain and, if local policies allow it, provide a sustainable use for this raw material. States where soil and climatic conditions in some areas are fit for wine grapes include Tamil Nadu and Telangana, and one hopes that suitable policies will be framed to enable licensing of wine for both production and marketing.

Wines I’ve been drinking: Brindco is the largest importer of alcoholic beverages in India, and its owner Aman Dhall’s wife, Madhulika, had set up the La Cave retail outlet at the Select Citywalk Mall in New Delhi in 2015, which today features nearly 200 wine brands (as well as spirit and beer labels). More recently, she organised “A Fine Wine Affair” at The Oberoi, Bengaluru, over three days, which showcased 104 wines from nine countries — and I sampled some 20 of those on offer.

What stood out were the Australian wines, in particular the Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro 2014, a 90-point wine from Australia’s most iconic winery. It had notes of blackberry, mineral and cedar wood with firm tannins and was juicy, intense and expressive on the finish.
 

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant