The southern sip

the wine club

It’s a little-known fact that people in south India drink — quite prodigiously, as it turns out. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu each alone guzzle some 30 lakh cases of spirits a month, with Kerala trailing far behind at 15 lakh cs/mo — together, that’s almost 60 per cent of the total market for spirits in India! Sales of branded spirits (mostly sold at the cheaper end) took off when state governments banned sales of “country spirits”, and have traditionally been a cash cow for their respective states.

However, perhaps because of the size of this market, most states “down under” pay scant heed to facilitating the sale of low-alcohol products like wine (and beer), particularly from overseas.

 

A recent visit to Chennai (Madras) brought this home quite starkly. Tamil Nadu does not permit sale at retail of any brand (Indian or foreign) that has not been produced within the state — the only exception being hotels or clubs having at least 20 rooms. So no stand-alone restaurants can serve anything but the slop made locally — sorry, no scope for an Olive or an Indigo-type restaurant here.

And, of course, there’s no question of any imported brand of liquor/beer/wine being available at retail: the retail business was taken over by the government some years back, and most others are squalid hole-in-the-wall affairs that swarm with pavement drinkers every evening.

As for hotels, they have to live with a “quota” system that dictates how much stock they can have on hand, with one “unit” being one bottle of liquor or three bottles of wine or 12 bottles of beer. So The Park has a quota of 4,500 units, and heaven forbid their inventory exceeds this limit!

The situation in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is only slightly better: while there is no quota, there are no imported wines or spirits sold at retail — and even if they were permitted, they would be sold at about twice the price as elsewhere, as local duties are very high and the state sales tax is an absurd 60-70 per cent at the last point of sale. Of course, hotels can buy imported brands — but, having a monopoly, they tend to have terrific mark-ups.

Karnataka is the one exception — even if expensive, there is a range of wines and spirits available at both retail shops and bars and restaurants, and a flourishing sub-culture of stand-alone places (Shiro, Caperberry, Bon South, Opus, Olive Beach, to name a few) that help improve the quality of life for many Indians and foreigners alike.

Effectively, as far as alcoholic beverages are concerned, most of south India caters to either the affluent (who can afford to go to a star hotel) or the poorer sections of society — there’s no middle ground where anyone can exercise the sort of choice taken for granted elsewhere. A sad commentary on the role played by politics in our everyday life. Things will change, but don’t hold your breath waiting.

Wines I’ve been drinking:
Dharti Desai of Fine Wines & More hosted a lovely dinner, “L’Art de la Table”, at the Leela Palace hotel in Bangalore (with illuminati like Vir Sanghvi coming down from Delhi) with an absolutely outstanding menu and wines from Chapoutier, one of Rhone Valley’s most famous wine companies. The Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Bernadine 2005 (92 points — Wine Spectator) was to die for: a classic, full-bodied red blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre grapes with notes of sweet cherry, blackcurrant and herbs, soft tannins and a long finish. Lovely mouth-filling complexity. Robert Parker has devoted 12 pages in his seminal The World’s Greatest Wine Estates book to Chapoutier — a fitting recognition of a great winemaker. Santé!

(al.chandra@gmail.com)