Wish to raise your spirits this weekend? Head for the third edition of Pune?s wine tasting festival that gets underway on Saturday. For winemakers, such festivals are turning out to be the perfect mode to connect to consumers and offer a platform to boost their sales.
?India is a developing market. People need to familiarise tastes by varietals rather than brands. And therefore, wine tasting festivals are a great leveler. Such festivals put the smaller unknown players on a par with bigger brands. Consumers here are more open to the idea of sampling different brands instead of sticking to only known names,? says B Shankarnarayanan, chief coordinator, Pune Gourmet Club (PGC) which organises the event.
Usually, bigger players like Sula Wines, UB Wines or Grover Vineyards organise tasting sessions to create awareness among customers and understand their wines. However, boutique winemakers and smaller wineries, with little access to the market, find such festivals a great way to do business, says Shankarnarayanan.
With a clampdown on direct marketing of wine, industry majors are betting on these festivals as the perfect mode to connect to their end consumers. ?The state?s excise laws and regulations do not allow wine tasting by companies on a large scale and hence it is difficult to reach out to the consumer. Wine tasting festivals like these offer a perfect platform especially in a new category like wine that needs to be promoted,? says Abhay Kewadkar, business head and chief winemaker vice president, UB Wines.
According to a report by industry research firm RNCOS, wine consumption in India is set to grow at a CAGR of around 28% during 2009-2012 owing to low current per capita wine consumption in the country. Volume consumption indicates that per capita wine consumption in the country hovers at around 9 milliliters as opposed to 50-60 litres in France and Italy and 10 litres in US. Sales of wine in India have grown from 3, 40,000 cases in 2001-02 to about 1.5 million cases in March 2009, indicating a growth of nearly 25% per annum.
The response to the festival has been heartening. PGC has had over a 1,000 confirmed online bookings. Several walk-ins are also expected. In last year?s festival, wineries got bookings worth Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. Interest levels among the Indian consumer are on the rise and people are now making a play for such festivals to understand the finer nuances of drinking wine, says Shankarnarayanan. Over 2,000-odd people had visited the festival last year. Around 13 wineries, including overseas players Jacob?s Creek from Australia and Riona Wines and Indo-Italian JV from the Marche region in Italy, will participate in the festival featuring more than 50 wines and some Reserves.
PGC is currently working out the final details on its tie-up with a local restaurant to manage its wine portfolio. Monsoon Winds, the company formed by PGC members, which underwrites the festival, will manage the wine portfolio and also launch wine flights. A wine flight is a tasting pour of four to five different wines served next to each other. This year?s cuisine includes Oriental teppanyaki, Chettinad, Indian kebabs, biryani, Lebanese, European and seafood barbeque.
