Delhi recently concluded an edition of Vinexpo, which was the second one in India this year. Quite a feat considering that even the mother country, France, can just about manage to pull off one annually (earlier it was even less frequent). That said, neither the first nor the second edition in India were anywhere close to what could be labelled as even a mild success — poorly organised venues, poorer turnout, unprofessional setup…I felt bad for the few winemakers who had taken up stalls, spending big money and then sitting here idle, the commercial silence only interrupted by the cacophony of group discussions which were frankly useful, if at all, only to the panel conducting it. I know this because I hosted an informal exchange with a dear friend in wine. More on that later.
Prowein, which was organised in Mumbai just a little earlier, was far better put together. It looked like the real McCoy back in Dusseldorf and the enthusiasm was palpable. Apart from an unnecessary award show, the fair, from the choice of venue to the quality of speakers invited, was definitely a success.
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But good or bad, in both cases one should not peg the entire blame on the organisers. I am sure they tried their best but with laws and restrictions that we often have in place, events around alcohol can be tough to execute. In Delhi, the local elections played truant, turning half the show into a ‘Dry Day’ — an alcoholic beverage show where no alcoholic beverage could be tasted, this kind of dark humour is almost inherently built into our system.
The consequence, foreigners sit and crunch the numbers in distant lands – a land of 1.8 billion with the largest number of billionaires being added annually and a potential drinking population that could outnumber entire Western continents, of course one must make a foray into such a lucrative market. But once they get here, the shoddy welcome of a general lack of organisation and the scarring experience of interacting with the local trade shows and tradesfolk where a majority obsess over the price without any regard for quality or rarity leaves them reeling, and returning with a vow to not to look back, at least not for another few years.
And yet, all is not dark here. The recently signed free-trade agreement with Australia intends to make quality Australian wine cheaper over the next decade for consumers at large, (even the EU may ink a similar accord) and some state policies do ease the straitjacketing regulations…we even lowered the drinking age very recently! Progress may seem slow when seen up close but over a period, it certainly adds up.
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The pandemic already did its bit in reducing consumption (as also volume of trade) for the last two years. Going ahead, we will need to be surgically precise in every sense to recover fast — be it government policies around alcohol sales and distribution which are drafted for the coming financial year, local hosts who collaborate with big international events and shows, and the organisers of these big trade shows as well who will need to understand the Indian market better and explore it deeper — choosing the right time and venue, liaising with the better professionals — if they wish to plant their feet firmly in Indian soils and not be carried away by the sheer momentum of it all. Oh, in case you are still wondering, what I was doing at Vinexpo — yes, I wondered that for a bit too — well, I was there helping the owners of Fruzzante, India’s first truly natural fruit-based wine start-up to showcase their ware. Priyanka and Nagesh Save have laboured away silently behind the scenes and not only have they made some exceptional drinks, their success is now inspiring fruit-farmers across the country to learn from them.
The times to come should see some fabulous (fruit) wines come from north-eastern states like Meghalaya and also from Himachal up north. In my defence, we tried to keep the discussion to a minimum and let the drinks do all the talking. Everybody seemed happy, maybe the people were enjoying my stage jokes or maybe, just maybe, they were making the most of the last talk of the event before the entire ‘alcohol’-themed trade show went dry! You may laugh now…
The writer is a sommelier
