Shaw Wallace knocks global majors to import bulk wine

Sambit Datta

Mumbai, Jan 2: The Manu Chhabria-controlled Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd is in talks with global wine majors for importing wine in bulk.

The company plans to bottle and market the wine in the country. To this effect, it has initiated talks with Concha Y Toro, the largest producer of wine in Chile. The company is also in talks with the French, the US-based and an Australian wine major.

When contacted, a company official confirmed the move but said that the talks are at an early stage and nothing has been finalised yet. "The wine market in India is at the nascent stage. In lower-segment product, we are the market leader with our flagship brand Golconda having 60 to 70 per cent market share," company sources said.

"We want to make our presence felt in all the price segments and are hence weighing every opportunity. We have decided to focus on the premium range to offer our consumers a wide variety of products," company sources added.

Shaw Wallace is the oldest and the largest player in the Indian Wine Industry with a market share of around 32 per cent. Shaw Wallace commissioned India’s first winery in Hyderabad with the help of an Australian wine maker. Unable to meet the demand from Andhra Winery in Hyderabad, Shaw Wallace leased the Bangalore Grape Winery in 1996. The company’s wine products range from Golconda Ruby Wine, Golconda Special Ruby, Golconda Dry Wine to Sacramental Wine.

Shaw Wallace has recently set up its wine division and has aggressive plans to exploit emerging opportunities in the industry.

The wine market in India is still small and five lakh cases of wine and 30,000 cases of sparkling wine and champagne are sold annually as compared to 37 million cases of whisky, 11 million cases of brandy and nine million cases of rum. However, the wine market is growing at 30 per cent annually, according to industry estimates.

Globally, wine is a growing category and among the Indian consumers, there is a shift towards lighter alcohol, a trend which can augur well for the market.

The big markets for wine in India are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa and Pondicherry.