Wine matters and money

As I’ve said before, wine is a low-alcohol beverage that’s farmer-friendly and good for health.

Wine consumption in India should by now have jumped to at least 50 million cases (450 million litres) — and that’s still only 0.33 litre per capita of the total population, as against 1.2 litres/capita in China (1,700 million litres in 2017), the only country of comparable size.

Instead, wine consumption here is stuck at about 4.5 million cases (40 million litres) — and that’s generously including all the “port-style” and “ad-mix” wines produced in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka using table grapes.

So, what ails