| Spanish wine producers who want to enter India must understand that they face a stiff competition from Australia, Chile, Italy, France .and Torres.
Ask any wine drinker in India about his encounter with Spanish wines; chances are that he would sing 'Torres'. The good value-for-money highly quaffable wines are a tough nut to crack. This largest family owned 206- year old, quality wine company owned by the Torres family has brought Pènedes region, near Barcelona to the forefront of world market of Spanish wines.
It produces 36 million bottles of wine (5 times the total consumption of wine in India ). This does not include 8 million bottles of brandy it distills. Today it has maximum global reach of all Spanish wines. Last year, it was recognized as the Best European Winery of the Year 2006 by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Torres has astute and aggressive pricing and marketing policy, especially for India . I am usually corrected by the producers when I tell them this fact. Apparently the pricing is very aggressive in most other countries too. It is difficult for other producers to compete with Torres. Nerola, Gran Viña Sol (not the ordinary Viña Sol) are the popular whites while Sangre de Toro (obviously not bull's blood, as the name suggests) and Gran Coronas are available at affordable prices in Spain and many places in India where they have a 50:50 collaborations with Thapar group, making it even more difficult for the new entrants.
Miguel A Torres, the flying President of the company is a passionate and marketing genius. His son Miguel Junior who looks after the internationally famous Jean Leon and the Indian market, is also very affable and supportive of the wine and the market. The additional portfolios of fine varietals like Fransola, Mas Borras, Mas La Plana, Grans Muralles and Reserva Real are also present to fend off any attack in the fine wine area.
Apart from these Catalonian wines, Torres has also added Celeste in Ribera del Duero. And we are not even talking about their wines from California and Chile !
It is a very tough scenario for the ordinary mortals the other producers of Spanish wines.
But there is surely life beyond Torres !
There are so many regions that use different varieties of grapes that along with different terroir offer practically an unlimited variety of exciting wines. Rueda makes some great wines with Verdejo grapes while Rias Baixas is known for Albariño varietal. Rioja (DOCa), Ribera del Duero, Toro, Tarragona , Priorat , Aragon produce some excellent DO reds. La Mancha , Extamedura are coming up very fast too.
Cava offers an altogether different world of sparkling wines produced by m ethode traditionelle. The southwestern Sherry producing region makes the world famous fortified wine with styles ranging from dry fino, Manzanilla, Oloroso, Palo cortado sherries to sweet, powerful elixirs with exotic aromas.
Tempranillo and Grenache (Garnacha) are two grape varieties that give a different bouquet of wines in all the above regions. The prices can be expensive in Rioja but there are locked values in many wines that can be sold. It would be a pity if the wine lovers in India or anywhere else in the seamless wine world are deprived of these Spanish beauties.
At the MadridFusion 2007, the participants were treated to 25 different wines including Torres, commemorating 25 years of ICEX (the Spanish Trade Commission) promoting the export of Spanish wines. The list and a few other relevant details of the wines we tasted follows..
There is surely must wear blinkers and have a focus to offer the alternatives. Price-quality ration will always be import, no doubt. But the variety and diversity of wines made available will be the crucial point.
Wines Tasted at the winesfromspain tasting :
At the Madrid Fusion Gastronomy Summit , which took place in Madrid between the 15 th and 17 th January 2007 at Madrid Conference and Exhibition Centre, Wines from Spain organised a wine tasting event where 25 of the best Spanish wines were tasted, including Torres. Here is the list with my personal ratings and the Retail Price in Spain:
25 years WINESfromSPAIN winee tasted |
