THE INDIAN WINE REVOLUTION

Rede ning the Indian wine industry, its growth and its popularity

Words Aatish Nath

There are many ways to measure an industry’s maturity - from awards, volume and sales growth etc. whichever way you look at it, the Indian wine industry is growing by leaps and bounds. Sula was awarded the gold and bronze medal at IWC 2022, with the gold being awarded for its Sula Brut Tropicale, a sparkling rosé. In the past winemakers like Vallonne and Charosa have won awards at the London Wine Competition and more recently, Krsma’s Sauvignon Blanc was awarded a silver at the Sommelier’s Choice Awards 2023. In tandem, the Indian wine industry is producing more and growing in value. A Technopak report pegged the domestic market at Rs 1,250 crore. As wine-making in India evolves, wineries are experimenting while also contending with climate change. ere has recently been consolidation with Sula and York merging in 2021 and Grover Zampa buying Charosa, Four Seasons and Myra before that in 2019. rough it all, they continue to innovate and push forward; Grover Zampa’s Signet range features red wines that have been aged in everything from concrete tanks to clay amphora. It’s clear then, that as a whole, Indian wine-makers are gaining in con dence while drinkers are open to drinking more nuanced pours.

Karan Vasani, Sula Vineyards Chief Winemaker gives an industrywide overview when he explains, “Red wine consumption is growing faster than white wine consumption. ere’s a clear shi that we see in the market. People want reds.” He points out that 10-12 years ago, Sula’s share was 60% white wines with the rest being red, but now that gure has inverted, and it’s now 60% red and 40% white. He also notes, “Rosé as a category is nally growing, and the growth has caught us all by surprise, but we believe it’s a great thing you know, because rosés are great for India.” Shailendra Pai, founder at Vallonné Vineyards said, “India’s largely warm and sunny weather makes it conducive to have a glass of chilled rosé – at any time of the day. It’s a great crisp wine to serve as an aperitif, to pair with salads, to have with lunch or as a sundowner. Rosé is also quite a preferred wine when it comes to gi ing.” Nikhil Agarwal, founder of All ings Nice, a wine education platform says, “From a climatic point of view, a glass of chilled rosé ts the bill perfectly and is also versatile enough to pair with di erent types of food.” As a result, the trend is more for a drier, more complex rosé, like Sula’s e Source.

The Pandemic And Beyond

Like most other industries, Covid had an impact on the country’s winemakers given that ‘on-trade’ –bars, restaurants and hotels immediately ended. e pandemic rmly brought drinking into the living room. Jayanth Bharati, Deputy General Manager of Marketing at Fratelli Wines says, “We saw families starting to drink together. Many Indian families are kind of now ok with drinking, but there’s still a bit of taboo. You know you wouldn’t typically sit down with your parents and drink or with your whole family to drink, but Covid forced that and wine was the beverage which became socially acceptable.” is is a view echoed by others in the industry as well, Sula’s Vasani adds, “Certain beverages are more socially acceptable and more sophisticated than other beverages. It’s encouraging people to look at wine as a part of a table, the way Europe has looked at it for centuries and learning to drink wine to enjoy the beverage and not to drink it to get high.” is has also helped move wine to an everyday drink, whereas earlier it might have been seen as occasion based.

Drinking at home had two knock-on e ects; the rst was that drinkers started trading up. Sumit Jaiswal, VP of Marketing, Hospitality and Exim at Grover Zampa says, “I think that people upgraded and evolved their wine-drinking experiences by trading up to better quality wines.” So those that were working and suddenly saw their expenses curtailed, were able to upgrade.” Sula’s Vasani explains, “You know once consumers’ tastes change and they start drinking better stu , nobody wants to go back down so the more expensive wines are the fastest growing.” e second is that there is a renewed interest in Tier II cities. Fratelli’s Bharati says, “A lot of people moved to their hometowns and they’ve lived in Tier I cities and have gone back to their hometowns. ey have a certain lifestyle, a certain habit. And that propelled Tier II sales in wine as well.” However, according to the India Wine Insider Report 2022, “Nearly 85% of India’s wine consumption takes place in urban centres. Most important among these are Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai and Goa. Other cities like Hyderabad and Kolkata are also showing growth,”

You know once consumers’ tastes change and they start drinking better stu , nobody wants to go back down so the more expensive wines are the fastest growing

The top Indian hotels have made it such that Indian wines have to be featured on their list

Local Pride

ere’s a newfound pride in self-su ciency across all sectors of the economy and that extends to hospitality too. While restaurants and bars have always had Indian wines on the menu, they were very rarely highlighted. Now, Agarwal notes, “ e top Indian hotels have made it such that Indian wines have to be featured on their list.” It’s an important enough market that Grover Zampa has released its Signet wines that are exclusively available on-trade at hotels and restaurants. Even as the market has expanded, familiarity with grape varieties is limited. M Deepak of Krsma wines says, “At present, Krsma o ers the market its award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. We release newer vintages every year, especially in our white wines.” While that is especially niche, the Technopak report notes that the commonly grown varieties are - Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Viognier, Tempranillo and Malbec. Over the years, vineyards have expanded, and winemakers are working with farmers on contracts to plant beyond their land parcel. At Grover Zampa, Jaiswal explains how the winemaker blends di erent grapes and has started to add new grape varieties this last few years, which includes the Sangiovese, Chardonnay, Riesling, Muscat and Cabernet Franc.

Another factor is that wine consumption has also become popular among women, with the Technopak report noting, “women consumers have an equal say in the purchase of wines whereas participation of women in the purchase of other alco-beverages is very low.” Sula’s Head of Marketing Gregoire Verdin says, “It has a good image because it’s socially quite accepted to have a glass of wine.” He also points out that women perceive a health bene t to drinking a glass of wine over other alcoholic drinks that are available. Ipsita Das, Managing Director of Moët Hennessy says, “We had an entire campaign on Rosé-O-Clock which really did well.” e campaign was run last year and pushed Chandon towards becoming a round-the-clock drink. Chandon is the group’s sparkling wine that is made in India. e campaign worked to make Chandon’s two variants, Brut and Rosé, more visible to the public with changing habits, that could start drinking at brunch or dinner and everything in between. Sparkling wine’s share of the growing wine pie is also increasing, with the category expected to grow from 4% to 5% between 2020 to 2025. at’s while the overall domestic wine market is expected to grow from 2.1 million cases to 3.2 million cases in the same amount of time, as per the Technopak report.

Climate Change

e one unanimous point that every Indian winemaker or spokesman agrees on is that climate change is de nitely a real challenge. Vasani, Sula’s Winemaker says, “Summers are getting hotter. is past summer in Nashik we had 41-42 degree days. Around ten years ago in Nashik that was unheard of.” e second change he says, “is an unpredictable monsoon. As a result, it leads to a compressed harvest, with grapes ripening more quickly due to the heat.”

Wine grapes are planted and grown in both Maharashtra and Karnataka, with the warming temperature a ecting both states. Fratelli’s Bharati, which grows grapes only in Maharashtra’s Akluj region, says, “It’s not just about temperatures rising. Rainfall plays a critical role in the grape growing cycle, so when that gets delayed or there are extended periods of rainfall or the cycle gets changed it a ects how vineyards behave.” Summing up the mood in the industry, Krsma’s Deepak says, “Climate plays a signi cant role in terroir. From excess rains to drought, we have seen them all in the recent past. Progressively, we are trying to reduce our dependence on monsoons, focusing on rainwater harvesting and building reservoirs that would help cope with summer water scarcity.” Like other vineyards, they are working on going climate neutral and moving to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Another bene t of the pandemic has been the renewed interest in domestic tourism. Nashik bene ts from this given its proximity, by road and increasingly by air. Vallonné’s Pai says, “A growing interest or demand for wine is fuelled by direct access to wineries because that’s where the best experience is – when you see a winery, take a tour and do tastings with say the winemaker. Better connectivity has been bringing a lot more people to Nashik on wine trails and that, in turn, is increasing the demand for wines. With new ights from Nashik connecting the city with several tier 1 and tier 2 cities, there is a growing in ux of travellers who are interested in wine and wine tourism. Nashik is now connected to nine major cities through direct ights and several more through indirect ights.”

Women consumers have an equal say in the purchase of wines whereas participation of women in the purchase of other alco-beverages is very low

Given the pandemic and the focus on wellness, it’s no surprise that wine’s health bene ts are also what has drawn drinkers to it. Red wine which now outsells white, is known to have certain health bene ts like being able to lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes or strokes. It is something that Krsma’s Deepak thinks draws drinkers to reds, along with its lower acidity and higher tannin levels.

As we see the wine industry maturing, it’s clear that wine drinking is maturing for a certain section of the population and vineyards are working to tailormake their o erings towards this market. However, as Agarwal notes, “Because our country is so large, there will always be new customers who want fruit-forward styles of wine.” So, the market will always have to appeal to curious, new drinkers, while also maturing. at means that variants like Fratelli’s J’Noon and Sette, Grover Zampa’s Chene and Sula’s Rasa and e Source will continue to be what discerning drinkers reach for. It remains to be seen if new entrants decide to enter the industry, which has seen a lot of consolidation in the last couple of years. Whatever the future holds, the country’s wine drinkers will be excited by the evolution of the sector and increasing choice and availability. BTI