| IFE- India, the premier Food, Drink and Hospitality Show is maturing like a fine wine, as the recently concluded three day 'Tasting' of it at Pragati Maidan indicates. The dynamism that goes into making and aging a fine wine was seen at play at the show which had a strong presence from Italy, France, Spain, Austrade, UK and for the first time, Greece, in its portfolio of 16 countries.
Another first was the participation of Indian wine producers. Champagne Indage, the giant wine making factory, made its debut. So did Sankalp (Vinsura), Prathmesh, Renaissance, N.D Wines, Nira and Century wines-all from Maharashtra. It appears that finally, the wine producers have woken up to the potential exposure and benefits a show like this has to offer for augmenting their sales.
To enjoy a good wine, it has to balance with the food-neither should be overbearing. The presence of a lot of 'food' and much less of wine has been the bane of the Show in earlier years. But the winemakers Matt Benyon (MD) and his assistance Mel Shah (Project Director) of the winery, Montgomery International, London seem to have gauged the changing drinking habits of people and took a couple of steps forward to form a better balance. There have been many more wineries this year.
Friuli, the North-eastern province of Italy had some excellent wines. Buller from Pearls Wines, Howling Wolves and Warburne Estates carried the Australian flag. UbiFrance which organised several B2B meetings had a sprinkling of wine producers. Maureen Kerleau was her Champagne self with even bigger portfolio this year. There were some very interesting wines to taste from Vinovalie, a group from South West of France, represented by Sandra Feral, the petit & pretty French woman who was almost attacked for free samples, never mind if they were open bottles of some VDP wines.
 The inauguration by Mr. Paolo Trichilo (Italian Deputy Chief of Mission), Mr. Jean Leviol, his French counterpart and Mr. Manjit Gill, the Executive Chef from Maurya and the President of Culinary Council of India was well attended and an auspicious beginning to the show which beat the previous records of participation and attendance by over 20%.
The Retail Forum following had some excellent insights into the cold chain management of fresh foods and wine retail in India but it had few takers. Perhaps, retail is still a media story that will translate into sufficient participation at the next edition. The Power point Presentation by Mr. S. Sethi of Subhiksha was brilliant.
Certainly, improvements need to be made and they will be welcome. Wine glasses need to be of international and acceptable standards. Now that the Tasting is possible at each stall individually (thank God we are moving ahead with times!), the Wine Lounge can be put to better use for guided tastings with small lectures for different groups. But if you ask Maureen Kerleau who attended for the second time whether she is coming back next year,' Are you kidding? Of course, I am. I have invested so much on the Show. I am coming back with bigger space and will try to get some like minded producers to take part too. The organisers are so nice and helpful.' She should know. She has been taking part in wine shows for over 20 years and she feels right at home here.
F.lli Polli were not so comfortable-not initially anyway. With their 100years+ family company making Italian antipasti and pastes, they were not sure of the market. But they were pleasantly surprised that INA market was full of their products-but with the competitor's brand. They wished they had participated a couple of shows earlier. Even Pearls Wines who have only recently started importing Buller Wines from Australia were very bullish about the response. 'We shall come back again with a bigger and wider portfolio,' said Mr. K.P Singh the project director. 'We are long term players and such shows are a must for our visibility. Friuli, the latest entrant went away very satisfied with the 'We shall be back' resolve.
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