Swirl and sell

SPIRITS: Winemakers continue to comb the Indian market.

India is the market of the moment when it comes to wine. Domestic companies apart "" the number has grown substantially in the last year "" imports are seeing an unprecedented growth, despite prohibitive duties.

When the finance minister unveils his budget this year, a majority in the trade will be rooting for a more rational approach. Whether or not this finally comes about is anyone's guess "" despite the frenetic lobbying. Nevertheless, the last few months have seen hardselling of foreign wine.

Bodies like Sopexa and Vin Italy, promoting French and Italian produce, for instance, have been relentlessly pushing not just brands in restaurants and F&B shows but also creating awareness about wine-drinking "" all to tap the mass market. And importers have been lining up winemakers, big and small, for tastings and interactions, hoping to find the right connect with the growing tribe of discerning Indian drinkers.

Two of the world's best-known winemakers, both from Italy, were in the city recently; both were here for the first time, and both very enthusiastic "" because as 66-year-old Angelo Gaja says, "When the bud blossoms, I want to be there to see it". But that later.

Guiseppe Mazzocolin was a teacher of philosophy until he married into a wine-making family and turned to the trade. That was in the 1960s, relatively recently by old world standards, but what a switch.

Felsina, the Mazzocolin estate in southern Chianti, is well-known, but if there's a true celebrity here, it would be Fontalloro, one of the five "super Tuscans", rated highly by everyone from Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker to the Wine Spectator; gods of the wine-drinking world.

And it doesn't even matter which vintage you are drinking "" though there are always traders who'll buy up huge amounts of one year's produce only to release it some years down the line and make a killing since this is a wine that ages well, not turn into vinegar "" it is uniformly good.

In the years Mazzocolin is not satisfied with the growth, none is bottled. But this is not the only reason why Fontalloro is so highly-prized. Instead, it is also the only 100 per cent Sangiovese (an Italian grape from Tuscany) in the world (instead of the blends other super Tuscans are).

There are other labels, and yes blends too, from the same stable. "Wine", Mazzocolin, the philosopher says, "is the moment it is bottled. But it is also the people who drink it." It is also the 4,00,000 bottles produced per annum, a fraction of which will now be available in India for the first time.

Gaja "" for the record it is a Spanish "j", as in "Gaya""" is a more familiar label to the serious wine-drinker, having been present here for a while. But for Angelo Gaja, patriarch and fourth-generation Piedmontese winemaker, celebrated throughout the world, this has been his first visit to India that he acknowledges as "the market of the moment".

India is spiritual, Gaja pronounces, Indians are oriented towards the family, just like Italians and that pleases him, and he traces other commonalties (corruption, robust food et al) between Italy and the market he hopes to connect with. The ambition is to establish the brand at all high-end avenues.

But numbers are not what occupy the winery that is more artisanal than commercial. In fact, Gaja remembers how he turned down a JV with Robert Mondavi, the fabled Californian winemaker, because he believed that a marriage between an "elephant and ant" would not work.

Both at the original winery at Barbaresco and subsequent ones in Tuscany, there is no effort to increase production, instead, it is to maintain quality. Annually, Gaja produces just about 3,00,000 bottles, 80 per cent are exported, and just about 3,000-4,000 find their way to India. The aim is to now increase this to 10-12,000 a year; duties and consumers willing.