Ontario's liquor chain, LCBO, has placed an order for 700 cases of Sula Sauvignon Blanc and Dindori Cabernet Shiraz for sale in its 250 Vintages stores. Sula wines have been available in British Columbia since 2004.

Mark Fogleman of Churchill Cedars, the importing agency for Sula, told Toronto Star : " India is fashionable and chic right now, so we hope we can leverage that." The target market is Greater Toronto's Indian community, especially younger drinkers, who he hopes will be keen to try a product related to their roots.

Each wine sells for C$13.95 a bottle - a price that reflects the freight charges the LCBO negotiated to ship them from Mumbai, Fogleman said. But Gordon Stimmel, the Toronto Star 's wine critic, disagrees, saying a price under C$11 would have been more realistic.

"It's a challenge to establish a toehold in a giant monopolistic market. You're up against 3,000 wines (on the LCBO's general list). What they're competing with is a lot of C$10 stuff that is very, very good." After a taste test, Stimmel concluded that while "the white was drinkable, the red was sub-par, very, very smoky - almost charcoal tasting, which wasn't pleasant." Source: http://www.thestar.com