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 Rajeev was speaking last Friday afternoon, on the second day of the Symposium. The theme for the session was, ‘Beyond Success: creating a strategy for sustained growth’ and was moderated by Bob Betz MW. He focused on the great potential but also cautioned about the super difficult day to day operating issues in India. Although the per capita consumption of wine was perhaps the lowest in the world at 12mL, the industry had shown a strong growth recently with the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) estimated at over 20% during the last 10 years. There was an advantage due to the demographic shift with many new drinkers in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities and young urban women and middle classes driving the consumption.
The challenges facing the stakeholders were numerous too, he warned. India was more of a continent than a country with diverse social profiles. Being a Federal nation with States having constitutional freedom to decide their own policies of sales, promotion and taxation, it was really 32 countries in 1-counting the union territories like Delhi. The bureaucracy had created archaic rules and regulations-very complicated and not easy to follow and changing constantly with all uncertainty. High taxes at various stages, was a problem known to many but not appreciated by all. Like in China, the geographic diversity and the huge area made distribution very difficult and it was highly fragmented. He also touched upon the subject of poor infrastructure that made the logistics of wine a nightmare. The cost of land was so prohibitive in the emerging wine regions like Nashik that the grapes became too costly for producing wine at a reasonable price.
Another challenge facing wine marketing, like in most emerging markets, was the lack of wine knowledge in all segments including the consumers and decision makers. The government did not generally differentiate between wine and spirits and was not aware of the huge economic potential the wine industry. The consumer who has been drinking only liquor for decades was not knowledgeable about the benefits of wine. This has been changing slowly but will take time, he said.
 Before his concluding remarks, Rajeev touched upon the subject of viticulture and winemaking in India too. He talked about the distinctive wine regions of India and the peculiarity of tropical viticulture. He informed the audience that the early ripening varieties worked the best in India and Tempranillo and Sauvignon Blanc were the most promising red and white grapes for Nashik. Elaborating on the fragmented acreage of vineyards, he remarked that the total area was spread out for the relatively small acres of vines planted and this created several practical constraints. He briefly touched upon the climate change, labour and water shortage problems as well.
Rajeev Samant left the audience with an optimistic note, projecting the CAGR of 15-20% over the next decade followed by a double digit growth for the 20 years following the decade. He clarified that there was enough room for imported wines besides the domestic labels. He was also hopeful that the regulations for wine and beer will be gradually eased by the government. He also briefly touched the topic of the ongoing talks on the FTA negotiations with the EU, that have been on the backburner because of the recent elections. The results of these talks could be the game changer and would be watched with interest.
His speech went very well with several people coming up to him over the next couple of days and congratulating him on a good talk.
This session was part of the 10 sessions organized over 4 days, with a moderator for each session. The opening session of the Symposium was ‘Wine Communication: reaching tomorrow's audience’ and had Jancis Robinson MW talk about wine communication along with Alessandro Torcoli (editor of Civiltà del Bere) and Daniel Alegre of Google with Sarah Jane Evans MW moderating.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Debate
An interesting topic that drew a lot of debate at the Symposium was the talk in Session 3 - A New World of Wine: How the viticulture map is changing - moderated by John Hoskins MW. The talk was about grape genetics by the Swiss grape geneticist Dr. José Vouillamoz who has collaborated with Jancis Robinson MW and her staffer Julia Harding MW to bring out the Bible of grapes, called Wine Grapes. His hypothesis that genetically modified (GM) grapes might solve quite a few problems in the fight against vine diseases and climate and speculation that top estates like Domaine de la Romanee-Conti may be using GM grapes around 100 years from now, did not go down too well with the winemakers. In fact, Olivier Humbrecht MW, of Domaine Zind Humbrecht in Alsace said that using GM crops to fight disease or anticipate climate change would be the equivalent of using weapons of mass destruction, that might solve one problem but would create many others.
 Other scientists at the conference, including Dr Hans-Reiner Schultz, President of the world-famous Geisenheim University and Peter Godden, of the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), highlighted research into GM yeasts and root stalks, which could eventually be engineered to grow deeper into soils and so help vines to combat rising surface soil temperatures.
The future is predicted to be affected because of climate change with the Genetically Modified (GM) grapes and obscure varieties being distinct options. At the World Wine Symposium last November in Villa d’Este, Dr. Vouillamoz had mentioned a study suggesting GMO - Genetically Modified grapes since
they could take care of many problems in the grapes- like Powdery mildew, Downy mildew disease, leaf roll virus, Pierce’s disease and botrytis bunch rot. But he had conceded that it had not been accepted well generally and there had been serious and violent protests including vandalism wherever the experimentation was being carried out. He had clarified that he was not a supporter of GMO. He and Schultz acknowledged at this Symposium in Florence that public acceptance is 'so low' that introducing GM vines would be a very, very difficult thing.
Session 3 - Sommelier Extra-ordinaire Gerard Basset MW
One of the star speakers was of course Gerard Basset MW with an MS,MBA and OBE to boot. Voted as the Best Sommelier of the World in 2010 (a competition held every 3 years), he is a Sommelier Extra-ordinaire who runs his own hotel in UK. In a talk with Debra Meiburg MW in Session 8, his sincere advice to be a good sommelier was that a sommelier also needs to be a good salesman. He needs to be good psychologist; to reflect & enhance customers' experience. The delegates could have picked his brains from the article ‘Tips for Sommeliers from Top Sommelier’ he penned for delWine after Vinisud 2012 where I had met him first. For more about the world’s highest qualified Master of Wine (Vinisud 2012: Tips for Sommeliers from Top Sommelier)
you may like to visit Star Interview: Gerard Basset Sommelier Restaurateur Extraordinaire
In her closing speech on May 18, Sarah Jane Evan MW, Vice President of the Institute of Masters of Wine said, ‘We experienced intense and beautiful days as we enriched all the ideas and thoughts, of great wines and unforgettable dinners. It was the Symposium with the greater geographical representation and for the next few years the goal would be to make new friends all over the world, starting from Italy.’
 This was the 8th International Symposium, the largest event in the 60 year history of the Institute with 450 delegates from 33 countries making it the most diverse group geographically. Held at Palazzo dei Congressi, in the heart of Florence in Tuscany, it was organized for the first time in Italy. The sold out event marked the presence of a record 120 MWs, about 40% of the total number of 313 who have earned the coveted title since inception. Nine panel sessions with leading figures from every aspect of the wine world, and four special tastings were the highlight of this Symposium where over200 wines were poured for the delegates who enjoyed the Grand Finale at the new Antinori Cellars, fast becoming the Mecca for the wine tourists visiting Tuscany.
The Symposium, which is held every four years, has previously been held in France (Bordeaux), the United States (Napa), Austria (Vienna) and Australia (Sydney). It will be held next in 2018.
Along with the Master Sommelier (MS) title awarded by the Court of Master Sommeliers, Master of Wine is the most coveted title in the word of wine. In 1953 the first six successful candidates, all male and all British, earned the right to be called Masters of Wine. Today almost one third of the 313 Masters of Wine are female, and there are MWs in 24 countries. There are 296 students, from 36 countries including India, in the current Master of Wine study programme. The 92 students who took the Master of Wine exam in June 2013 in Adelaide, London, and Napa were evenly split by gender. This statistic means that we can expect to reach parity in numbers between male and female MWs in the next decade. In 2014 a record-breaking 104 students will be taking the MW examination.
Subhash Arora
Tags: Rajeev Samant, Sula Vineyards, Institute of Masters of Wine, GMO, Dr. José Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes, Institute of Masters of Wine, Tuscany, Master of Wine |