A wine festival full of contradictions

The Bangalore International Wine Festival 2014 was held from Friday to Sunday (25 to 27 July) at the Jayamahal Palace Hotel after a gap of two years: the first one ever was in 2009 in Lal Bagh, while more elaborate affairs were held on the grounds of the Bangalore Palace in 2010 and 2011.

The fest is organised by the Karnataka Wine Board as a “B2C” (business to consumer) format where participating wineries sample as well as sell their wines to visitors; in true government fashion, there was a big inauguration presided over by this minister and that luminary, with much speech-ifying (naturally in Kannada) and garlanding, after which the dais (located inside the exhibition hall) was confusingly used for various presentations on technical aspects of wine and grapes in the daytime, and given over to music and dance performances in the evenings.

“We had about 25,000 visitors on the three days of the Fair,” says B Krishna, MD,  Karnataka Wine Board. “People came from all walks of life and many parts of Karnataka, and all really appreciated the setup and the opportunity to sample different wines. As vendors offered a 10 per cent discount on the maximum retail price, Rs 2.5 crore-worth of wines were sold at the festival.”

Given the very short lead-time provided (15 days), most participants were wineries from Karnataka: of the 18 winery stalls, only four were from outside the state. On the positive side, despite the time constraint some participants had made good efforts to design their space — notably the new Krsma Estates winery from North Karnataka, also Fratelli, Four Seasons, and Big Banyan.

As such the “International” tag for this event was notional as even most of the wine importers selling their wares in Bangalore stayed away. Forget any wannabe importer or overseas winery taking part — the only imported wines were Jacob’s Creek (Pernod Ricard India), Hardys  (Sula Selections), and a gaggle of brands in local retail chain Madhuloka’s stall.

While a laudable effort, the Bangalore International Wine Festival has many contradictions as it tries to be all things to all people by including technical sessions on vineyard management (of no interest to consumers) with presentations on the wine industry (relevant only to wine professionals) in a consumer-oriented theme that included grape stomping and even a stand-up comedian! Consequently some sessions were virtually ‘hijacked’ by grape farmers airing their woes — a sure way of driving away people interested in wine.

Part of the problem is that since some of the festival’s cost is subsidised by the state government, the concerned officials want to ensure the inclusion of all ‘stakeholders’: grape growers, wine companies, as well as consumers. Missing in this equation are both retailers and the Horeca (hotels, restaurants, clubs) trade which is the vital link.

What needs to be done at future festivals is not difficult: plan the event six to nine months in advance, set aside at least one day for business visitors, have a blind tasting competition in advance to grade wines quality, do not confuse consumers with sessions on viticulture, wine-making, or the wine industry, and most of all involve professional exhibition organisers to bring the event up to international standards.

The Bangalore ‘International’ Wine Festival has enormous potential to become a landmark event in India — let’s hope the authorities understand that what’s required is for them to facilitate rather than try to run things, and to scale-up to international standards rather than remain a local affair.

Alok Chandra is a Bangalore-based wine consultant