So surprising. So Indian!

THE WINE CLUB

Probably the first "foreign wine" widely available in India (Bosca excepted) was Cinzano, a vermouth, launched by yours truly exactly 10 years back (in end-1996) under the "So Surprising. So Italian!" byline.

The problem was, few people knew what a vermouth was, or how to drink it (I suspect that applies even today): here was something that was neither a wine nor spirits, but something in between, and bitter-sweet to boot.

The advantage was, few people knew what a vermouth was, so few had mental blocks about what wine to drink, so one could push this brand as a great cocktail mixer. Goa turned out to be a great market, and one still finds the odd bottle of Cinzano with retailers here and there.

Unfortunately, in 1998 International Distillers & Vintners (the owner of Cinzano and Smirnoff) merged with United Distillers (the Johnnie Walker Scotch people) to form UDV (now Diageo); in the process Cinzano was sold off "" and discontinued in India.

I've always wondered what would have happened if the brand had continued to be marketed here: would the market share have approached those in Brazil, where it is a million-case brand? We had sold 10,000 cases in 96-97, so 10 years on 1,00,000 cases is not that much of a stretch.

Today few wine aficionados in India will touch vermouth "" or even port or sherry. These are all fortified wines, made by traditional methods that impart very distinct flavours and characters to the base wine.

Fortified wines developed during the colonial era when the Mediterranean countries concerned (Italy, Portugal and Spain, respectively) were seafaring nations: since normal wines did not keep during the long sea voyages, they fortified the wines with sugar, herbs and alcohol such that the sailors could keep quaffing the stuff for years.

In India, the closest we come to making fortified wines is in Goa, where the venerable Dr DaCosta's Vinicola makes port-style wines in much the same way that they would have been made in Portugal: hand-crushed, fermented in small barrels in the sun (hence baked), and sold for a trifling Rs 100-150 per bottle.

As anyone who has ever been to Goa knows, there are a plethora of other 'port wines' available locally, at prices ranging from Rs 25 to Rs 200 per bottle "" all claiming to be genuine.

The reality is that most are concoctions. However, it is also a truism that many people (including yours truly) start their wine odyssey with Goan ports: they are cheap, easy-to-drink, and taste wonderful in Goa!

There used to be a time when hotels in Goa would leave a half-bottle of Vinicola or Adega de Vehla in the hotel rooms "" a wonderful practice which deserves revival as it generated much goodwill (not to mention a benign happiness).

So it is not surprising to learn that almost 50 per cent of the total "wine" market volume is of cheap port-style wines priced at Rs 100 per bottle or so. While my friends in the wine industry write these off as concoctions, this segment is valuable in being the first rung of the wine stepladder that drives the 30 per cent growth rates in India.

So, who knows, Cinzano and other international brands of fortified wines may make a comeback some day. And we'll be able to say "So Surprising. So...Indian!"

al_chandra@yahoo.co.uk