Will its wines ever make India proud?
Raju Narisetti -
Saturday, September 06, 2008 5:01 PM
There aren't that many Indian wine drinkers--snobs or connoisseurs alike--who don't have an opinion on Indian's young wine brands--Grover, Indage, Sula et al. But, leaving aside the limitations of climate and non-availability of certain kinds of grapes, can Indian vineyards ever hope to turn their bottles into brands that come to stand for India, much like some wine labels have done for Australia, Chile or South Africa?
While there are scores of wine reviews in Indian media, panning or loving India's wines, two recent attempts looking at Indian wines both asked--and answered--this larger question of Whither Indian Wines?
Melissa A Bell and Seema Chowdhry of Lounge, the weekend magazine of Mint, recently asked three experts to try four new brands of Indian wines. You can read what they sipped, spit and said here. What was more interesting to me is what the experts had to say about how Indian wines can compete globally. One suggestion: Be Indian.
"Indian winemakers want to copy what happens in France or other parts of the world. The key should be that instead of using all that money to make wine that is not Indian, use it to find out how they can make a wine that is Indian, that has its own identity. Why replicate tastes that are already out there? Concentrate on what is Indian. Meanwhile, a few innovative Indian wines have not changed in 25 years: Indage still makes its one Chantilly. Grover only makes one thing that is good, but it’s not consistent. Sula still hides behind sugar with every wine. All three experts believe that Indian winemakers need to experiment and that it’s (all about) trial and error, and the industry is still young.”
This week, wine critic Gary Vaynerchuk, who famously (rashly?) predicted India will make a big splash on the world wine scene in the next decade, brought his nose and mouth to three Indian wines to try and see if one or more of them has a shot at doing just that. He tasted the 2007 Tiger Hill Sauvignon Blanc, the 2006 Sula Dindori Reserve Shiraz, and the Chateau d’Ori Cabernet Syrah 2007. Gary, for those of you who haven't run into his reviews, is an over-the-top and down-to-earth wine critic so, if you are a fan (or not) of Indian wines, you are in for a surprise I suspect. See Gary's Mumbai rooftop video review of the three wines and his unexpected conclusions at tv.winelibrary.com here.
So, what do you think? Based on what you have drunk so far, do you see a wine brand that will, much like Infosys, Oberoi resorts or Kingfisher beer, come to stand for India outside India? As for me, I am more of a Single Malt kind of a guy and there, I know for sure, India and its great fascination for blended scotches stands not a chance.