Indian wines seem to have caught the fancy of foreign tourists. This season has seen an influx of international wine lovers to Nashik, the country’s wine bowl, and also Bangalore.
Many of them are from the world’s best-known, wine-making regions of France, Italy and other European nations.
“The world is taking notice of our wines, which explains why the Indian Association of Tour Operators ( IATO) is including Nashik for wine tours along with their rest of India tourism schedules,? Manoj Jagtap, coordinator, All India Wine Producers Association ( AIWPA), said.
AIWPA is an association of wineries spread across India that organises activities such as vineyard tours to promote wine culture in the country. Recently, a team of 31 Italians, representing the Italian Oenological Group, came to Nashik for a tour.
Another large group of 51 visitors from Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, the famous French champagne house, was also in the city. This month, a big group of 57 grape growers from the champagne firm Moet & Chandon arrived in the city and were pretty much impressed with our grape-growing and wine-making techniques, Jagtap said. ?If these sparkling wines are kept for blind tasting in France, it will be difficult to believe that these wines are made in India.?
Jagtap has escorted over 2,000 international wine visitors to the city in the last three years. Other wineries such as Sula Wines, York Winery have wine-tasting rooms in their vineyards that also attract visitors. A normal wine tour would include a visit to the eight wineries in the Vinchur Park.
The maximum number of wineries in the country are located in the Nashik district. There are total 93 wineries in the country, including 75 in Maharashtra.
According to Avijit Barman, wine entrepreneur and promoter of thewineclub.in, around 48% hits on his website came from foreign nationals. Many of the visitors are from California, London, Australia, New York.
?In the last 5-6 years, there has been qualitative improvement in Indian wines with Indian boutique wineries winning medals at international competitions.
Some of them have seen these wines in their own country and are curious to try these out,? he explained.
Black Grape Holidays, which conducts culinary tours to Europe and wine tours to Nashik, said there has been an increased interest from foreign nationals for such tours.
The firm has been conducting tours to Nashik for the last three years and on an average hosts 10-12 couples a week.
