Mumbai Musings I : By Sourish Bhattacharyya

The wine scene in India's commercial capital is buzzing with excitement, fortifying its status as the country's No. 1 wine market

For those of us who think that Delhi is the centre of the wine universe, it's time for us to wake up and smell the cabernet. Mumbai is where the action is. It's in Mumbai that the wine market is shaping up, though I believe domestic wine producers are enjoying an unfair advantage. Unfair, because, like the five-star hotels, they are not passing on the humungous benefits they're enjoying, courtesy of the Maharashtra Government, to the consumers. But that's the subject of another article.

From Oct. 1, Mumbai's Supermarkets Can Sell Wine

Let's focus on the big news first. Maharashtra has allowed supermarkets - defined, broadly, as any retail space selling 75 SKUs or more - to sell wine from October 1. That's a big step forward. When will the other states follow in Mumbai's footsteps?

Talking about developments in the states, Metro AG, the German cash-and-carry outlet in Bangalore, has a list of 63 wines that the infotech city's foreign nationals now has free access to. A cash-and-carry outlet is open only to individuals holding sales tax licences, but a thoughtful Infosys management, which employs a large number of expats, lobbied successfully with the state government to provide consular status to foreign nationals, which allows them the facility to buy wine and other alcoholic beverages from Metro subject to a minimum order of Rs 1,500 each time they buy.

Where does all this leave Delhi ? In the boonies, naturally. Not surprisingly, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Goa together comprise 70% of the Indian wine market.

Menon to Distribute New Nashik Label, Gets Spurrier's Backing

Another bit of interesting news is Mumbai-based importer Sanjay Menon's entry into the domestic market. He's launching Hambhir Phadtare's Bahula Chenin Blanc in Mumbai, marking his entry into the thriving domestic market. Phadtare has spent his life teaching Sociology at Michigan, USA, but Nashik beckoned him back to his old village, Aambe Bahula, where his grandfather was a grape grower.

Interestingly, it was Phadtare, who has been experimenting with wine varietals in Nashik since 1998, who gave Sula's Rajeev Samant his first Chenin cuttings. Now, he's ready to launch his own label and Menon, recently called the Baron of Wine by Hindustan Times (which is interesting because he writes a column for HT 's rival, Daily News & Analysis ), has got Steven Spurrier, the man behind the historic Judgment of Paris, to give the wine his endorsement. Spurrier's verdict: "Pale yellow, lovely floral and fresh pear bouquet, fruity and rounded on the palate with an attractive citrussy lift of acidity, a fine wine for current drinking." Next on Menon's agenda is Reveilho, which is being produced at the Niphad taluka near Nashik. We'll tell you more about it later.

Menon has tied up with Spurrier also to launch the Indian Wine Society in Mumbai. He's in final stages of his talks with Citibank - it took him more than the year to get a handle on the legalities - to float the idea to high net worth individuals on its plastic database. The idea is to make six wines with tasting notes available to all premium card holders every quarter in Mumbai - it's a win-win for both: the bank gets card holders to swipe more and Menon gets to sell more wine. With Maharashtra 's laws allowing home delivery of alcoholic beverages by retail shops, it shouldn't be difficult at all.

Talking about societies, Menon has brought the International Wine & Food Society to his home city. Some time back, he did a Syrah vs Shiraz tasting at Indigo. Mumbai's good food aficionados paid Rs 15,000 per person to wash down a perfect evening with 17 wines from top houses across hemispheres - Hermitage, Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Rene Rostaing and E. Guigal from Hermitage and Cote Rotie, coupled with Australian blockbusters from Penfolds, Henschke, Torbreck, Giaconda and Yalumba.

What Bubbling Under at Indage? New-Look Riviera, For Starters

At Champagne Indage, work just doesn't seem to stop, even as the market is abuzz with expectations of an IPO from the country's largest wine maker. Recognising Riviera 's rock star status, the company proposes to lift it up the quality chain. It will be sold in Bordeaux bottles with hip, New World-style labels in vibrant colours from December. Not only that, Riviera will be upgraded to varietal status. It will be available in seven varietals.

Just in case you believe you've outgrown Riviera, the company has decided to release the 2006 vintage of its premium range, Indage Vineyards, into the domestic market from this year. It promises to be a treat, because only 4-5,000 cases of this wine are produced in a year.

The company is also releasing the country's first Champagne with a domestic label. The bubbly, sourced naturally from Champagne , will come in a bottle that'll remind you of Laurent Perrier and it's being named MDP Cuvee Reserve. MDP is what the trade calls Marquis de Pompadour, the sparkling wine with which Champagne Indage launched itself.

Other news from Indage House:

• Company patriarch Shyamrao Chougule, with the help of Dr K. L. Chadha, who was Horticulture Commissioner, Government of India, when the country's wine pioneer had just launched his venture, has put together the country's first manual for wine farmers titled Wine Grape Varieties: Clones & Rootstocks. The manual is designed to share with farmers Chougule's encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject.
• The new Champagne Indage wineries in Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab will be operational within this year. The ones in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will follow soon.
• The company is collaborating with Adelaide University, which houses Australia 's premier wine school, to launch India's first integrated wine education programme at the Indian Institute of Vine and Wine, Narayangaon. The institute will operate out of a 100-acre campus. The South Australian Premier is expected seal the deal when he visits the Champagne Indage headquarters in Narayangaon, Maharashtra, early next year.