India’s wineries seek to change the taste of millions

In the hilly terrain of Maharashtra, many eating-grape fields have been converted to wine grapes (a few wineries are also trying the tropical climate of Karnataka to the south.) To boost the industry a decade ago, the state government offered subsidies but the market glutted just as demand crashed. A third of growers abandoned the crop over the past two years. “It’s now on its way to righting,” Ms. Singh said. Producers who saw the chance of an easy fortune have realized wine will never offer that; as they leave the market, problems of uneven quality are also resolving.

One challenge that endures is the regulatory environment: producers are uniformly critical of government, which they say has done little to promote their wine domestically or abroad. Government, Ms. Singh notes, has a vested interest, since the massive duties on imported wines are a significant source of revenue. In addition, laws on the transport and sale of alcohol are arcane and complex – Good Earth Winery, for example, has its wines in restaurants in London but can’t sell them in Delhi.

Cultivating the domestic consumer remains the chief challenge. Current consumption is estimated at eight millilitres per person per year – which, said Good Earth’s chief commercial officer Navin Sankaranarayanan, means that less than 1 per cent of Indians are drinking wine. “We won’t need to export if we can cultivate that consumer.”

Good Earth attempts to do it with events it calls Vitiquette. For a Mumbai host seeking to make a splash with a party, they send a sommelier, a bar crew, the wine and the glasses, and set up shop in the living room. Mr. Sankaranarayanan said it works as both a status symbol and a way to learn for people who aren’t comfortable enough with wine simply to serve it on their own.

Ms. Singh believes that the key to success for Indian producers will be making wines that are truly Indian in nature, and not weak attempts to clone European wines. That means embracing all that Indian terroir produces – less minerality, for example, and higher sucrose. Sweeter wines are more popular here in any case, said Mr. Sharma, the sommelier. “You don’t go to temple every day but if you’re Indian, you go to the sweet shop every day,” he told the Golf Club crowd, to approving chuckles. “That’s why chenin blanc is an Indian favourite.”

India’s white wines “show well,” Ms. Singh said, and are perceived as being fresher – but they cannot withstand India’s climate conditions, while the reds are more robust. This is a serious concern. Wines are stored and sold in shops where the shelf temperature may be more than 50 degrees. “So many people have their first experience of wine with a wine they buy that is actually spoiled, and then they never want to drink it again,” said Mr. Sharma.

At the Golf Club, Mr. Tandon was intrigued enough to grill the Fratelli staff on where he might buy their wine, and nodded approvingly at the news that their bottles are priced around 550 rupees, or $10 – compared to $25 for the cheapest import.

“Whisky is a thing of the past,” Ms. Tandon said encouragingly. Her husband looked unconvinced – but poured himself another glass of that cabernet franc-shiraz.