The Delhi-based NV Distilleries will be manufacturing and distributing one of Europe’s largest selling vodka brands, Sobieski, from April next year across the country.
The launch is scheduled in Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Orissa, Karnataka, Nagaland, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.
Sobieski is a premium brand produced since the mid-19th century in Poland. The brand is owned by Belvedere, a France-based group.
NV, founded in 1966, presently sells 1.2 million cases (12 bottles each) a year, of 12 alcoholic brands. With a daily production capacity of 250 kl, it is one of the biggest distillers in the country.
Ashok Jain, Chairman, NV Group, said, “We aim at capturing at least 25 per cent of the vodka market, with the launch of Sobieski.” The group would also launch ‘Sobieski Impress’, a ‘breezer’ or premium alcopop (an alcoholic beverage flavoured with fruit juice), with eight per cent alcohol content.
The Indian vodka market across all categories is nearly seven million cases per annum and growing at 18-20 per cent yearly. Smirnoff and Bacardi are the big ones in the market.
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NV is targeting the young people with high disposable incomes and an urban lifestyle. It will advertise the brand through promotions at bars, clubs, top-end outlets and cocktail parties. Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, who endorses the brand, would be coming here for the launch.
Jain said: “The Belvedere group is one of the world’s 10 biggest wine and spirit companies and with the tie-up, we aim at providing the super-premium vodka category at an affordable cost. We want to tap the aspiration value among Indian youth to get international brands at a low cost.”
Adding: “In India, we only have Bacardi in the breezer category. The Bacardi breezer posted four per cent growth last year, whereas internationally the category is growing at 20 per cent. We realised an opportunity here and hence we are launching ‘Sobieski Impress’.
Bacardi’s breezer is rum-based and the new entrant would be vodka-based. Hence, the company would position breezer as an upper-class drink.
The products will be manufactured and distributed through NV’s distilleries in Haryana and Maharashtra. They have invested Rs 600 crore on three more distilleries, in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
The Sobieski Vodka would be priced at Rs 400 for a 750 ml bottle, at Rs 200 for a 375 ml one and Rs 100 for a 180-ml one (known in the trade as quart, pint and nip, respectively). Sobieski Impress will be sold for Rs 50 in a 250 ml bottle. Vodka is usually preferred as a day drink and has a large female consumer base.
The next addition to NV’s portfolio would be Belvedere’s high-end brandy in South Indian markets.