Austrian wine producers target Indian market
An ad on the back page of a popular US magazine for the August issue focussing on the pale gold wine in a glass in front of a sushi roll ,with the well-known wine journalist of Singapore, Ch'ng Poh Tiong saying, "Young grüner veltliners are vivacious aperitifs, and a can't-put-down food match with tempura, dim sum, pakora and sushi," gives the message across that their white wine is a great match with the Asian cuisine.
Not only is their signature white wine delicious with pakoras as Poh Tiong says, it is great match for samosas, dosas and similar finger foods like fish tikkas or even serious Indian vegetarian food and curries because it is fruity, aromatic and leaves a very pleasant mouthfeel with the touch of vivacious acidity that cuts through the fat. Riesling is another fine grape variety which comes at various price points some of which dare to compare with the best of German cousins. Zweigelt is the popular indigenous red grape varietal which is unique and palatable to Indian taste and not too tannic for the vegetarians either.
Austrian wines are also authentic, artisanal, family-produced, individualistic styled and natural as compared to many other countries, especially the new world where they tend to be commercial, industrialized, big-corporate run, uniform styled (‘coca-colaised’) and technical. There are about 9,000 bottling wineries, mostly family owned, compared to about 2,200 in Australia, according to Willi Klinger.
Austrian wine exports to India have been negligible so far. However, the AWMB has decided to give it a strong push in the Indian market now. Christian Dworan, the marketing manager looking after the Asian markets including India is very bullish about India and says, ‘we have decided to take part in the Taste Expo being held in Mumbai in January-end 2010. We know that if the on-trade gets the whiff and flavour of our wines they would like to have them in their wine lists-and they go so well with the yummy Indian food.’
With many of our top chefs and the senior hoteliers having studied in Austria, known to have some of the best catering colleges in the world, the job might be slightly easier for Christian and his countrymen wishing to get on the Indian wine bandwagon.
The Austrian wine campaign in the US aims to attract wine lovers with food match, through a 12-page pamphlet offering detailed matches between Austrian wines and some of the most popular Asian dishes. One hopes that AWMB comes to India with a similar pamphlet to win the palates of the Indian wine lovers who will take time to roll out the name ‘Grüner Veltliner’ with some difficulty initially.