Wining & Dining Heading For A Logical Cultural Shift

"French wines are the best! New World Wines do not age well and Rosé wines are the latest trend."- Sumedh Singh Mandla, Partner, Finewinesnmore analyses the trends in wine production and consumption in India.

Having given over 18 years to the Food & Beverage Industry, I have lost count of the number of times I have come across these remarks. After enjoying a great tenure with Hospitality Industry, it was my passion for Wine and the yearning to find the truth which motivated me to move into the import, marketing and distribution of wines.

One of the greatest things about wine as a subject is that you can keep learning about it throughout your life. There is learning every time you open a new bottle of wine! Though that may not be the only way I’ve gathered my learning!

During the last 3 years, I have traveled extensively to Italy and France. As my travels increased, so did my passion for wine. These travels to Europe have been a  great source of knowledge for me. While enjoying some lovely wines at some of the top restaurants and wine bars, I noticed that most of the service staff was quite confident in recommending, up selling and service of wine. However, they did negate my earlier belief that Europeans know everything about wines. While traveling through different wine regions in these countries, I was quite surprised to discover that people in general had their knowledge limited to the wines available in their region - so much so that they would not even try the wines from the adjoining region, let alone adjoining country. Still, Wine is such an integral part of their culture and day to day life that knowledge on wines, grape varietals, pairing with food comes quite naturally to them.

One question I invariably ask my European friends and feel extremely amused by their responses is whether they like the wines produced in the New World. The response is seldom positive. What amuses me is their response to my second question which is whether they have tried these wines - the response remains "No!"

Back in India, even when I visit some of the best restaurants, I get a feeling that the service staff (leaving a handful of people) is not very familiar or comfortable with their wine offering. This results in lack of confidence in the recommendation and service of wines. Needless to say, the passion does not translate to the consumer and fails to create a complete experience for them.

I spend a lot of time traveling across India to meet old industry friends and to develop our Business. Considering that the growth of Domestic Wine Industry is not older than 5 years, there is serious lack of infrastructure and knowledge of wines. Most of the Food & Beverage professionals in India have not had the opportunity of experiencing the ambience of a vineyards and getting first hand experience on wine making - which can prove to be quite an eye opener.

However, off late, Food & Beverage professionals have started spending a good amount of time reading, traveling and tasting wines to update their knowledge of wines and the latest offerings & trends.

I am quite often reminded of the old proverb, “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. As I said earlier, I quite frequently hear statements like: "I like only red wines. I don’t like sweet wines, as they are too sweet. New world wines cannot match French & Italian wines. New world wines are not to be aged. Older the wine better it is……..", I smile within. But I feel happy about the fact that at least the consumers are finally discovering wines and forming some opinion.

There have been some good initiatives taken by domestic wine players as well as Importers to educate people involved with wine at all stages starting with importing, buying, selling, service delivery and consumption.

However, I do feel that the Indian government has to take a lead by declaring Wine as an industry and by creating infrastructure for the development of Wine. The domestic wine players with their bigger reach can be instrumental to the growth of this Industry. Currently less than 1% of total grape production in India is used for making wines. This shows the potential that exists for this Industry in India. We need to work on quality, infrastructure, packaging & international marketing to grow this Industry and to gain international recognition and create openings for export.

There is a need to develop the concept of Wine Tourism in India. A visit to vineyards for education and recreation is a successful concept in lots of wineries across the world supported by the travel industry. Yarra Valley in Australia, Piedmont in Italy, and Bordeaux in France is some of the popular tourist destinations in these countries. As a first time tourist in Australia, way before my life revolved around wines - my itinerary included the Opera House in Sydney, the Whale cruise in Nowra and most definitely a trip to Yarra Valley. Considering the huge potential India has, this is one area which seems totally untouched. Many big wineries abroad have even invested into fine dinning restaurant in their vineyard to complete the experience for the visitors.

We understand that the real growth of wine in India started only in the last 5 years. However, in spite of over 40% growth in last 3 years, we still lack infrastructure for the storage, transportation and service of wine. A few years earlier, a retail store which used to carry 5 to 10 imported wine labels, now offers over 100 plus labels. Retail and concepts like Wine Bars could be a great learning point for several wine consumers.

Wine Bars work very well for the fresh impressionable consumers. There is a need to provide opportunity for training about wines and tasting even at the retail level for consumers. Currently, for organizing a tasting in retail in Mumbai, one needs an excise permit costing over Rs. 6050 per day which acts as a deterrent for the organizers. However, if the process was made easier, the frequency of these tasting could multiply rapidly - contributing to the growth of the industry. This could be a stepping stone for wine education in India.

Media has played a great role in promoting wine culture in India - Whether it is for the Health conscious, the social net workers, the hip-n-trendy crowd or any other reason. More focus on wine education on print and electronic media will definitely assist in the further growth in understanding and creating passion for wine in India - the way I see in some other countries. I will take off with this noble thought that India definitely has the potential to become one of the top wine producing, consuming and exporting country in next 10 years!