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Photos By:: APEDA
 If you look at the pictures of the event on the Facebook page of APEDA, you get at least a part of the picture of the event –a curtain raiser for which was provided by delWine in a previous issue: APEDA: Ancient Sura in Vogue at London Showcase for Indian Wines
You may like or not like the branding of the event as Indian Wines: Ancient Sura in Vogue, but it certainly didn’t get the wine drinkers of London conjure up the images of the land of Kamasutra with perhaps their mystical wines as well. If the organisers and the graphic designers expected lines of people waiting to get it, they must have been disappointed. Despite the general curiosity about Londoners about the wine making in India, there were a total of mere 150-250 people present during the 3 days show accrding to various estimates. This, despite, Steven Spurrier being at the head of the seminars about Indian wines, aided by a few of the BBC programmes that form a part of the event collage on the Facebook.
Peter Csizmadia - Honigh, who had recently launched his book The Wines of India and presented a Seminar attended by about 30 people, feels it was a great initiative but due to various factors including the lack of the local experience of conducting an event like this and the low attendance the event could not achieve what it had set out to be and became a mere part of the learning curve. Ongoing Hong Kong International Wine Show had already attracted many of the British oenophiles. Decanter Fine Wine Experience around the same time is always a major center of attraction and many people did not show up due to that event. But the improper use of the PR machine and lack of proper use of social media precluded many potential visitors.
 In fact, a couple of visitors who attended due to the Article published in delWine both said on the promise of anonymity that they could have done a better job of promotion on the Facebook and attracted twice the crowd that was seen in the empty hall. This was of course, a boon for those present as they could attend the Masterclasses and taste the wines Ironically, the wines were not cleared and did not arrive at the scene on the first day of the event when journalists, media and special people had been invited.
York and Charosa were the worst sufferers since the others have some presence already in the market. As Ravi Gurnani who went specially to attend the event with his winemaker brother Kailash said, ‘we had many people who wanted to taste our wines which we didn’t have. Although some people came and tasted the wines subsequently, we feel we lost a golden opportunity.’ He said, the people who did taste their wines finally, liked them and they felt encouraged.
Soul Tree seems to have been a wild card entry as they were not mentioned anywhere earlier. Since it is an Indian wine brand existent in the UK they had apparently been given a spot as well.
Dimple Athavia who lives in UK and works on the Distribution of GroverZ wines was at the Show. ‘We were lucky to have had our local stocks because the wines did not arrive on the first day. The master classes were good when held but unfortunately many of them had to be cancelled as there was not enough audience. When prodded further she said, ‘it wasn’t the best Show to be honest, and it was frustrating that due to all the mistakes they made, a brilliant opportunity was missed.’
 Alessio Secci, the Italian Director of Fratelli represented his company. ‘I must say that the event was very well organized. I did like the format with master classes and booths for tasting. There were a lot of interesting master classes and huge media coverage on BBC,’ he says, adding, ‘the only big problem was the attendance was very low. It looks like it was not known by people about this event
In fact, the BBC coverage was a big saving factor as the message about Indian wines reached a much wider audience in UK through TV and the Social media, thanks to this communications channel.
Christopher Walkey is a London-based CEO of a magazine Glass of Bubbly. After reading the article in delWine, he went to the Show on Friday, the 6th, the first day. He says, ‘Very relaxed atmosphere and only a few attendees so you felt part of a small group of privileged individuals to hear the somewhat unknown story regarding Indian Wine. The talks were all good and really made you aware that this is a big untapped market which could make a good entrenchment into the UK market depending on external issues such as taxes. Welcomed the Sommelier‘s talk which was totally engaging. The one Sparkling Wine I tasted was really good and with the right kind of marketing it will be well received and can certainly find its way in to the UK market.’
 The most amusing remarks were heard generally at the Show with murmurs going louder that Sette from Fratelli was in fact an Italian wine. There could be nothing more complimentary for the winemaker Piero Masi who lives in Tuscany but has worked very hard to create the vine and wine on Indian soil. But as one visitor opined, ‘at £18 + taxes it is difficult to see a growing market for this wine in London.’
From all accounts, it was a good show for the first attempt-if you consider it the first such event. In a world of Shows where the next year’s event is announced before closing and where the exhibitors normally make a booking for the next year, one hopes the decision for dates, venue etc will be taken soon and the things start at a proper time.
A 2-week window for publicity is not enough for sending wines on time either. It’s not even practical to expect wine professionals to make plans to visit when their calendars are filled up months in advance. The organisers will also need to have a deep look at the PR and event management company selected, according to many local observers. Wizcraft may be a unique organisation for Bollywood extravaganzas but wine business is no Show Business. They also need to start early with engaging the producers to participate at the next event-and the next.
It might be of interest to those interested in Indian wines that this was not the first time an event was organised to popularise Indian wines. India has been taking part at the London Wine Show on 3 occasions earlier and covered by delWine. One such event 2 years ago was reported to have had a similar Mixed Response.
Subhash Arora |