When UB Group?s wine training manager talks, people listen. After all it?s not easy to ignore opportunities to acquire new knowledge for this metaphor for sophistication. ?That?s how it began in China ? it took the corporate route,? says Abhay Kewadkar, business head (wines), UB Group, recalling an interesting reply he got when he once asked the CEO of an infrastructure company why the latter was losing out to competition. ?Abhay, my chaps don?t know how to handle wine,? he said.

?That?s the power of wine,? says Kewadkar explaining that wine has become a vital tool for corporate success. And sommeliers today are in high demand as they make you wine literate. Knowing that Pinot Noir goes well with cheese and Chardonnay with grilled fish would definitely make you feel more confident in a sit-down dinner.

Rajbir Singh is part of a select group that meets every alternate Friday evening at Shanri La to educate itself ? on wine appreciation. In about a couple of hours they learn about wine, its origin, its pairing, and flavours, and how to tell one from the other. ?Now I feel like an oenologist from Bordeaux,? says Singh.

?Older people are not switching to wine. It?s the younger, educated class of professionals and women,? says Subhash Arora, president, Indian Wine Academy. According to the recent Rabobank Report, India today has about 60 wineries with an estimated investment of about $60 million, which is a 61% increase over 2006 figures. A nation which consumed just one million litres in 2001 will sip an estimated 17 million litres of wine by 2011, according to International Wine & Spirits Records. Kavita Chougule, founder of Tiger Hill Vineyards puts her ?year-on-year growth at 40-60%.? A designer by profession, she literally grew up in the vineyards of Chateau Indage in the Nashik valley. The produce from her boutique winery, which houses imported Italian oak vats and smaller French oak barrels today, is being served in some leading restaurants in Britain, the US, Germany, Dubai, Norway and Japan. Add to the list the Tiger Hill Vineyards resort, and the ?soon to be launched vinotherapy spa?, where a champagne massage in a wine cellar will get the better of you.

Kapil Grover, director, Grover Vineyards too has his hands full. He has just added 200 more barrels to his renovated winery in Bangalore to increase the production of its flagship wine, La R?serve. Grover is looking to scale up capacity from one million bottles to 1.5 million bottles and is busy with the launch of Shiraz & Chenin Blanc in August this year. The company is exporting 2,50,000 bottles a year to France, UK and USA and ?targeting a growth rate of 30% year-on-year. The popularity of Indian cuisine abroad helped our wines find an easy inroad, unlike in the case of Chileans and Austrians,? reasons Grover. At 30%, India?s wine industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. ?China?s is growing at just 7-8% and the world average is no more than 2-3%?, says Dharti Desai of Finewinesandmore (FWM). Desai has added sparkle to the evening with M Chapoutier labels priced between Rs 1,500 to Rs 25,000!

Upbeat figures of growth notwithstanding, Indians aren?t exactly consuming too much of the spirit. While India accounts for 0.8% of the total wine consumption in Asia, China accounts for more than 62.7% market share, as per the International Wine and Spirit Record report. ?With per capita consumption a little over a tablespoon, imagine the potential of the industry when consumption grows even to two table spoons, leave alone reaching levels of one litre per person when a global average is nine litres,? says Chougule.

Agrees Karan Nivetia, director, Sundeep Vintners, who currently shells out a total tax component of 600-700% on the import value. ?There is no reason why wine, which is medically proven to be a healthy drink should be clubbed with vodka, whisky or rum. If some of these laws are liberalised, we can see growth rates in triple figures for the industry. A reduction in taxes will also lead to Indian producers having to compete with imported wines in price and quality, which will lead to greater domestic innovation and a windfall for the wine consumers in terms of greater quality overall.?

Domestic wine entrepreneurs have other hurdles to cross. Most hope for a central excise policy on wine and a uniform duty structure. ?As compared to more mature wine producing countries where good local wine can be bought from $3 upwards, Indian wine of decent quality is still prohibitively expensive at more than $12 at entry level. It will take some time to reach the level of even New World wines from say Chile or Australia,? says Nivetia.

Quality is definitely a big deterrent ? an issue that has been holding back Indian wine. ?What we offer for $12, wouldn?t sell for more than $3 internationally. Nobody drinks Indian wine in a French restaurant, they?d rather have South African wine,? says sommelier Magandeep Singh. He feels most of our wines are rather immature and that we have very few dry wines to talk about.

Probably for similar reasons (the brand refused to comment on the move) Beam Global Spirits and Wine took wine off its portfolio. Arora supports Singh, adding that ?Indian wines can compete with the cheaper imported ones because the duties are high for imports and the local wines are having a cushy time with low taxation. If duties come down, it would be difficult for them to compete.?

While most would take it to be a valid argument, the fact that people are trying Indian wines still stands. ?A lot of our guests ask for Indian wines,? says Shirin Batliwala, VP, Food and Beverage at the Taj Group of Hotels, which stocks 350 labels of wine. ?Every year we see a marked improvement in the quality of Indian wines. However, it?ll take some time to reach the level of international wines,? she further adds.

As winemakers take the wine and dine route to promote it, hopefully that?ll happen soon. UB held a mega wine tasting session during the IPL recently; FWM runs a wine club that has added 25,000 new members this year and Shangri La provides its guests 32 varieties of wine by the glass: ?Most people aren?t sure which wine to choose. So they can just try a 50ml shot and order more if they like,? says Rohit Bajpai, assistant food and beverage manager at Shangri La.

WINE WISE

* Around a quarter of the wine consumed in the country is imported and France accounts for 41.7% of wines imported by India. Chateau Indage leads the market with over 35% share followed by Sula with 15% and Grover Vineyards with 8% share.

* Maharashtra?s grape wine export jumped 50% in FY 2007-08 to 525,000 litres, against 350,000 litres in the last fiscal, netting Rs 10.5 crore.

* In FY08, 536,000 litres of grape wine was exported from India. Of this, 5,25,000 litres was exported from Maharashtra alone to France, Italy, Germany, US, New York, UK, Singapore and Belgium.

* The major cities ? Mumbai (39%), Delhi (23%), Bangalore (9%) and Goa (9%) ? account for 80% consumption of grape wine in India.

* Pubs, bars, restaurants and five-star hotels are the primary wine selling outlets, with 63% of sales coming from these channels.

* According to a survey by FWM, over 60% of wine consumers in India are women.