| Of
course, being on the Board must have been part of the
deal.
Yes, apart from a decent package, this was explicit.
Did you know about the deal fermenting between
Brindco and Grover when you left the job
 I
can say it categorically that there was no such talk
during my tenure. I used to meet every potential investor.
In fact there were 2-3 suitors with whom I was interacting
even when I left. Jerry Rao of Mphasis was one of them.
Other names I would not like to disclose because of
confidentially pact with those prospective investors.
Brindco was nowhere in the picture when I left Grover
in September.
I believe the shares were transacted at Rs.
135 a share
I don't have a close idea at all so I won't like to
speculate. But they could be at lower price, I don't
know.
Do you think Kapil tied up with Brindco to
gain distribution strength
Grover never had any problem with distribution system.
We had loyal distributors. But he might have felt that
due to my leaving there was now some gap in the marketing.
But Grover wines did become more expensive after
Brindco stepped in. La Riserva was hiked up by Rs.100
in Delhi
I feel it was not justified. La Riserva is a fine
wine. But Rs.440 was a good price. See, whether Indian
or imported, the market wants good quality wine at affordable
prices. The price increase might hurt them.
What level of operations has USL reached in
wine marketing
We launched our Bouvet Ladubey in Le Aperitif in Delhi
a couple of months ago. We have 13 labels. It is proposed
to be sold through hotels, fine dining restaurants and
a few select retail stores for the sparkling Brut.
What price point are you talking about
In Delhi it would be around Rs.1300. It may become
slightly cheaper with the duties coming down. It could
be in the range of Rs.1100-1300. A wine that has been
declared as the best non Champagne in the world by Harrod's,
our regular stockists, tells you something about the
quality. The price is amazingly low for such quality
of wine.
What about your Indian wine portfolio
For the young, entry level consumer, we plan to bring
out ZINZI Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin in white while
Cab, Shiraz and Zinfandel will account for the reds.
What selling prices are you planning
In keeping with our philosophy, we shall price it at
Rs.275-Rs.300 a bottle.
So this will compete with Riviera, Madera
and Sante.
I don't like to think so. It will be made from the
same grapes as Four Seasons, our signature wines. The
wine will be fruit forward so the first time drinkers
enjoy the taste. It will have a market of its own.
We have the advantage of getting better prices because
of our volumes. For instance, we paid around Rs.20 a
kilo for the white grapes whereas the reds were between
Rs.30-35 for Cabernets and not Rs.38 as some other people
bought them for.
When do you plan to launch Four Seasons
The grapes have already been crushed. We propose to
launch it in November. The usual varietal format of
Sauvignon, Chenin, Cab, Shiraz and a Blush will be marketed
at a retail of around Rs. 375- 400 each, keeping with
our philosophy of good wines at affordable prices.
How many bottles do you plan to sell in the
first year
We are planning to make 500,000 bottles (over 40,000
cases) with almost equal quantities of Zinzi and Four
Seasons.
Where does your company plan to be in 5 years
Well, we would like to be one of the leaders. Our
targets will be 5 million bottles- over 400,000 cases.
How can you be so optimistic about your growth
Mr. Vijay Rekhi sees a great potential in the wine
consumption growth. There is already a 40% growth which
will be sustained.
Where do you plan to make all this wine
For this year, we have contracted with Renaissance
till our own winery comes up. We are signing up with
contract farmers too for long term, apart from our vineyards
that we plan to buy.
Will you have any export leverage Bouvet you
own being a French company
Definitely. We have had a very good response from some
French companies who have tasted the wine under process.
We feel we shall be able to sell a reasonable quantity
between $4-6 a bottle.
How about import of wines
Again, we are certain we want to enter this area-Bouvet
Ladubey being already a BIO (bottled in origin) import.
We have partners all over the world. We want to use
their strength to sell imported wines. We already have
a huge distribution for beer and spirits in place. We
will utilise this existing channel for these wines.
Will you count on your existing distributors
for marketing your imported wines
 Yes,
we will. For instance, Viveka (director, SV Distributors,
Mumbai) is already distributing our Ladubey.
How about distributors like Brindco who are
already selling competitors imported wines.
(Smiles) I will answer that in one month's time.
You do remember UB had tried importing wines
about 6 years ago and failed miserably
Yes, but that was different. There was no focus of the
company on wine imports then. An import department was
carved out of the same company without doing much of
feasibility studies. Now it is a full-fledged company.
We plan to get into areas which have not been covered
well. South Africa is one example. We are sure we will
be big players in the imported wine market as well.
What is your feeling about the new customs policy
because of WTO
I think it is very important to keep prices low and
wine education pumped up in order to increase the market.
It will be better for all in the long run. We must be
careful though that India does not become a dumping
ground for cheap wines. We must also remember that our
overheads are higher in India than Europe. For instance,
the rate of interest in India is between 10-12% whereas
they pay 5% in Europe . They get many subsidies while
we do not.
What if your chairman decides one day that compared
to the beer, spirits and airline business, this is chicken
feed and decides to shut it down
Our chairman is very passionate about wines. He loves
red sparkling wine and champagne. So passion is one
of the reasons why we are here. Secondly, we have done
a lot of research and then taken a decision. In fact
United Vintners Ltd. has been formed for imports only
and that will also be under my direct supervision.
As a matter of policy, delWine does not check out
facts or figures mentioned by any interviewee and should
be taken as his personal assessments only- editor
Page
1
2
|
