Indage promises more wine brands

Leveraging from the recent scrapping of additional customs duty of imported spirits and wines, Champagne Indage Ltd, which recently launched -- two low cost wines""Vino Sparkling and Hammer"" will bring Broken Earth and Wontanella premium wine brands in India within the next six months.

Broken Earth and Wontanella are popular wine brands of Australian wine company Tandou, which was recently acquired by Champagne Indage for an undisclosed amount.

According to a source, while the pricing for the new brands are yet to be fixed, the cost for each of 750 ml bottle, excluding the taxes, would be close to $10-20.

Also, the company plans to launch two super-premium wine brands within the next one year in India.

Champagne Indage, which markets 32 brands in the country now, has set the target of opening 1,000 retail outlets for wines within the next five years.

It has recently inked a deal with the Himachal Pradesh government for building a winery in the state, which will start production within the next two years.

The company at present has one winery, with four bottling plants, at Narayangaon in Maharashtra.

The vineyards area is close to 1,000 acre.

Another 2,500 acres will be added in the next two years.

With the launch of Vino Sparkling and Hammer, Champagne Ltd is planning to tap the niche wine market, which until recently was dominated by imported wine brands, which were subject to high import duty.

According to Gothwal, the scrapping of additional customs duty by the government has reduced the price of low-cost spirits and wines between Rs 100-300.