Blink, and you'll see wine shelves empty out faster than vintners can stock them; blink some more and you'll be surprised by the new labels replacing them. The wine story in India reinvents itself every half-year. Despite being a small market, it's rapidly losing what for long was considered a "niche" segmentation, with a 25-30 per cent year-on-year growth that is amazing (considering the high import duties).
And in Nashik, where a large number of wine growers are turning vintners (mostly with disastrous results), Sula Vineyards is growing at a scorching pace. Already, it has doubled its grape production from 7,000 tonnes last year to 14,000 tonnes this year.
The winery added a capacity of 5,00,000 litres of wine last year to its existing 1,70,00-litre capacity, and last month it laid the foundation for its third phase of growth (1 million litres of wine; 80 per cent of which will become utilised by January 2006).
And now, Sula has introduced two new and exciting wines to its stable. These include the Dindori Shiraz Reserve (from its spring 2003 harvest; the fall vintage will follow soon), and the Chenin Blanc dessert wine in pint size.
"Dindori," explains Adrian Pinto, general manager, national sales and marketing, "is a taluka in Nashik, and we'd like to promote the Dindori appelation as an appelation within Nashik." The terrain at Dindori is ideal for growing grapes, as a result of which Pinto is convinced that "Dindori is the future".
Sula is certainly pinning great hopes on it. For now, 150 acres in Dindori are under grape cultivation (in a mix of its own acreage as well as contract farming).
More excitingly Sula, it is learned, is looking into the possibility of attracting foreign investment into its business. "It'll be the first in the wine trade," assures Pinto, even as he remains elusive on details.
While both the Dindori Reserve (Rs 550 in Mumbai) and the Chenin Blanc (Rs 275 for the pint) are available in Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore, they will be in the Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana markets following label registration some time this month.
Sula's Delhi market has exhibited great strength, growing from 900 cases consumed in 2002-03 to just under 11,000 cases in 2004-05; it hopes to achieve a sale of 15,000 cases this financial year. "Our sales have outstripped competition in Delhi," says Pinto.
According to expert wine tasters, the Dindori Reserve is a sweet wine with none of the complexities of a superior red; it is the perfect "bridge" wine for those wanting to graduate from whites to reds.
The fall vintage promises to be more full-bodied and should raise the bar further for a domestic reserve. And with only 500 cases currently, blink any faster and you know it'll have flown off the shelves.
