Sipping overseas wines

The Thelema Mountain Vineyards Shiraz 2013 is priced at Rs 3,726 in Bengaluru

It’s no secret that retail prices of imported wines in India are at least twice, sometimes four times, their retail prices overseas.

This is due to a combination of high customs duties (currently a total to 162 per cent of the landed cost, or CIF), state duties (all states levy excise duty by another name, even though goods suffering customs duty should be exempt), and the cost of doing business in India.

“The cost of doing business in India” is, of course, euphemism for the systematic extortion practised by central and state authorities in the guise of regulating alcoholic beverages — both