The galis of the old city in Jodhpur (where I was recently) are about as close to "Indyaa" as you can get: too narrow for cars, the only way to get around is by tuk-tuks which barrel down the winding lanes, avoiding cows, incoming two-wheelers and people with aplomb and inches to spare. And about as far away as one can get from wine.
'Real' India has no concept of wine - for the vast majority anything alcoholic is daaru or sharaab, to be drunk to get drunk. This stereotype has been reinforced in countless Indian movies: one drink and the hero goes macho and bashes-up the bad guys, while the girl who drinks anything immediately becomes a vamp.
So what wine (if any) would I recommend for the 'real' India?
Well, janta wine has to be drinkable, reasonably priced and must keep well. Since 'dry' equals to 'sour' on the beginner's palate, the wine has to be quite sweet to be considered drinkable; the price per bottle should be between Rs 100 and Rs 150 per bottle if the aam aadmi is to go anywhere near the concoction; and of course, it should not spoil in our tropical weather - none of those namby-pamby air conditioned storage requirements should apply.
We already have such wines in India: port-style wines from Goa and elsewhere (for instance, Golconda) that are produced from the Bangalore Blue or Baramati Purple grape, sweetened with cane sugar and fortified with extra neutral alcohol to 14 per cent v/v, and packed not only in full bottles ('quarts') but also half-bottles ('pints') and quarter bottles ('nips') - the last being available in Karnataka for as low as Rs 25!
Purists will pooh-pooh this segment (which was about 1.5 million cases in 2013-14, growing at 25 per cent annually) as "not really being wine", but demographics have prompted even Sula and Grover to start marketing such wines (albeit with different labels, so as to not taint the image of their mainline brands). Indeed, Golconda (which is currently sold only in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) is actually the largest single wine brand in India, with estimated sales of over 2 lakh cases last year!
Fortified wines was how wine consumption got going in almost all new world markets: the Aussies called them 'Stickies' (from Sticky Fingers, due to the sugar), and they consisted of the majority of Australian wines produced right up to the 1970s. The first such wine I ever had was the Goan Vinicola which used to be placed free in hotels: served in an AP wineglass, it was sweet and syrupy, but served as the first rung on the stepladder to what's become a vocation today.
So that's perhaps one answer to the wine industry's woes in India: a 'bottoms-up' approach to the business that starts with what the mass consumer wants, rather than only what the wine connoisseurs want.
Wines I've been drinking: The selfsame visit to Jodhpur also involved staying at the Umaid Bhavan Palace Hotel, arguably the finest such property in the world, and I expected the wine list there to reflect that standing. Since it was a family wedding, I only got to sample what was dished out at the buffets: Jacob's Creek, which is the largest-selling imported wine in India and seems to have become the staple fare at weddings in star hotels across the country. JC is a $6 to $8-per bottle, entry-level wine overseas, whose status here is a tribute to our xenomania (love for all things foreign) and the marketing and distribution skills of owner Pernod Ricard India, which bundles the wine with its spirits (Glenlivet Single Malt, Chivas Regal Scotch, and Absolut vodka) for such occasions - what more could one ask for?
'Real' India has no concept of wine - for the vast majority anything alcoholic is daaru or sharaab, to be drunk to get drunk. This stereotype has been reinforced in countless Indian movies: one drink and the hero goes macho and bashes-up the bad guys, while the girl who drinks anything immediately becomes a vamp.
So what wine (if any) would I recommend for the 'real' India?
Well, janta wine has to be drinkable, reasonably priced and must keep well. Since 'dry' equals to 'sour' on the beginner's palate, the wine has to be quite sweet to be considered drinkable; the price per bottle should be between Rs 100 and Rs 150 per bottle if the aam aadmi is to go anywhere near the concoction; and of course, it should not spoil in our tropical weather - none of those namby-pamby air conditioned storage requirements should apply.
We already have such wines in India: port-style wines from Goa and elsewhere (for instance, Golconda) that are produced from the Bangalore Blue or Baramati Purple grape, sweetened with cane sugar and fortified with extra neutral alcohol to 14 per cent v/v, and packed not only in full bottles ('quarts') but also half-bottles ('pints') and quarter bottles ('nips') - the last being available in Karnataka for as low as Rs 25!
Purists will pooh-pooh this segment (which was about 1.5 million cases in 2013-14, growing at 25 per cent annually) as "not really being wine", but demographics have prompted even Sula and Grover to start marketing such wines (albeit with different labels, so as to not taint the image of their mainline brands). Indeed, Golconda (which is currently sold only in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) is actually the largest single wine brand in India, with estimated sales of over 2 lakh cases last year!
Fortified wines was how wine consumption got going in almost all new world markets: the Aussies called them 'Stickies' (from Sticky Fingers, due to the sugar), and they consisted of the majority of Australian wines produced right up to the 1970s. The first such wine I ever had was the Goan Vinicola which used to be placed free in hotels: served in an AP wineglass, it was sweet and syrupy, but served as the first rung on the stepladder to what's become a vocation today.
So that's perhaps one answer to the wine industry's woes in India: a 'bottoms-up' approach to the business that starts with what the mass consumer wants, rather than only what the wine connoisseurs want.
Wines I've been drinking: The selfsame visit to Jodhpur also involved staying at the Umaid Bhavan Palace Hotel, arguably the finest such property in the world, and I expected the wine list there to reflect that standing. Since it was a family wedding, I only got to sample what was dished out at the buffets: Jacob's Creek, which is the largest-selling imported wine in India and seems to have become the staple fare at weddings in star hotels across the country. JC is a $6 to $8-per bottle, entry-level wine overseas, whose status here is a tribute to our xenomania (love for all things foreign) and the marketing and distribution skills of owner Pernod Ricard India, which bundles the wine with its spirits (Glenlivet Single Malt, Chivas Regal Scotch, and Absolut vodka) for such occasions - what more could one ask for?
Alok Chandra is a Bangalore-based wine consultant