Wine Evolution 2007

Wine firms given a passage through India

By Chris Mercer in Paris

- Last updated on GMT

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A crash course on the potholes and pitfalls that await wine firms
looking to sell their bottles in India was dished out to industry
professionals at the Wine Evolution conference in Paris this week.

The talk, given by Magandeep Singh, a wine expert and on-trade consultant in India, formed part of an emerging markets session also including China and Japan.

Singh told conference-goers they would not conquer India with their wines until they understood the country's diverse culinary and religious culture.

Wine producers have followed in the footsteps of brewers by increasingly flirting with emerging markets in Asia, eyeing the region as a new frontier for their products. India and China alone contain roughly a third of the world's population and have rising economies.

"I'm not going to talk about figures because India's per capita wine consumption would still come to less than a teaspoon per person,"​ Singh said.

Around 80 per cent of wine in India is drunk in Delhi and Bombay, and the vast majority in restaurants and hotels.

But annual consumption growth is around 33 per cent and new opportunities beckon with the anticipated arrival of several major supermarkets in 2008, including Tesco and Wal-Mart.

Awareness of different customs and laws observed by India's different states would be paramount for wine firms looking to expand there, Singh said. Gujrati in the south, for example, is a dry state, and India as a whole has banned alcohol advertising, except for in liquor shops.

Starting with a quip that true Indian cuisine "does not exist"​, Singh took listeners on a whirlwind tour of regional eating habits to emphasise the importance of pairing the right wine with the right food.

Colder northern regions tended to eat heavier, more spicy meals, and warmer southern regions based a lot of cuisine on coconut and milder spices. A lot of food was vegetarian, while a v-shaped belt hugging India's vast coastline ate a lot of fish.

Wines generally should not be too powerful, Singh said. "Tannins are not always desirable because they can drown out subtle spices [in the food], and soft, fruity wines are better than heavy ones."

Young Indians were the main audience, with "education and brand loyalty in the market more important than price"​. He told BeverageDaily.com​ that knowledge of wine was also rapidly becoming a symbol of social status in the country.

Singh warned that bulk wine imports should not be a long-term strategy for wine firms, due to rising duty tax on the sector as the government looked to protect India's domestic wine industry.

Both Singh and the panellist for China, Shirley Tan, said poor logistics remained a serious problem for wine firms looking to enter the two markets, however.

"Transport is very difficult,"​ said Tan, founder of East Meets West Fine Wines in China, adding that distribution technology was still in its infancy and that many warehouses had no air conditioning.

Singh agreed: "Most people ship [to India] in cooler months. A crate inside a warehouse in the summer could reach temperatures of 55 degrees Celsius."​ Months to avoid, he said, were April, May and June in particular.

Wine Evolution was organised by respected consulting firm Skalli & Rein.

Related topics Markets Beer, Wine, Spirits, Cider

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