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 In his impassioned speech Kapil complimented delWine for the wonderful initiative delWine Excellence Awards, to honour people in the wine Industry. He said, ‘in 10 years since it was launched in 2006, delWine has become a very important stake holder in our Industry and I honestly believe that if it had not been the sponsor of these Awards, Subhash would have been even better choice to receive the Award which I am getting today.’
Kapil Grover was the first Recipient for the most coveted Award decided by Subhash Arora as Editor of delWine, in consultation with the co-founder of the Awards Sourish Bhattacharyya and presented by Yasho Saboo, Chairman of the sponsoring company- Chandigarh based Ethos Watch Boutique. This was the most important Award and was the last Award given in the evening.
Mr. Sham Chougule, Chairman of the now defunct Indage Vintners launched the bubbly Marquis de Pompadour a few years before Grover Vineyards released the red wine in Bangalore. But ‘Mr. Kanwal Grover was the true pioneer of the Indian Wine Industry’, said Kapil of his late father to whom he dedicated the Award. ’We were the first to import and start experiments with the wine grape varieties never grown before in India. My Father always said that a project is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Grover Vineyards was his inspiration but he also said that the perspiration had to be mine. It was his inspiration and passion for wine that set us on this journey 35 years ago,’ he added.
While thanking the support from his family which was also present for this historic occasion, he made a special mention of his UC Davis- educated winemaker daughter Karishma whose efforts along with her winemaking team had helped Grover Zampa Vineyards win 57 International Awards in a relatively short span of 3 years and felt that it was probably a major reason he was being bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Serious issues for the industry
An eternal optimist about the future of the Indian Wine Industry, Kapil did raise two serious issues being faced by the industry. He reminisced about an interview in the late 1990’s when a young journalist had met with their well-known French wine consultant Michel Rolland and asked him what would be the 3 most important pieces of advice he would give to the Indian Wine industry. He thought for a long moment and said, “quality, quality and quality”. We know that quality of wine can be produced only in the vineyard as the quality of grapes contributes over 80% of the final quality. Winery comes into play only later with state of the art equipment and in particular good storage facilities which as we all know, are vital to protect the quality.’
‘My first concern is that we tend to ignore the farmer, the most important stake holder in the whole process of winemaking. The shortage we are all facing with regard to good quality wine grapes is in fact affecting the growth of the industry more than anything else. We tend to concentrate on the glamour side of the Industry and unfortunately pay least attention to carry with us the farmer without whose support the wine industry cannot succeed and grow.’
According to the initial plans for the Awards Dinner at Hotel Pullman Aerocity, hospitality partner for the delWine Excellence Awards, Kapil had planned to bring with him a group of farmers cultivating wine grapes, to stress the point about their importance. But the idea had to be dropped since there was a conference with a foreign well-known viticulturist addressing the farmers who had to thus stay away.
Not sparing contract farmers for their earlier attitude of focusing on quantity at the cost of quality, he said, ‘they have to take a fair share of blame for the past when they focused only on increased quantity at the cost of quality. Based on some recent interactions I had with farmer groups, I get the feeling they are now willing to listen about the huge impact that grapes have on quality of the wine and it is time that we nurture them and take them along with us.’ Incidentally, when Arora had phoned him a couple of months ago to congratulate him for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Kapil was driving to Mumbai after having meetings with them in Sholapur.
Sympathizing with them on their plight, he said, ‘I believe the time has come for the industry to seriously lobby with the government for support to the farmer so that it becomes profitable and interesting for him to grow  the wine variety of grapes. When I was a member of the Karnataka Wine Board as a representative of wineries, I actually pleaded with the government officials not to give excise relief to the wineries but instead pass on the benefit to the farmers.’ He exhorted delWine to pitch in too and said, ‘I think the time has come when Awards should be given to farmers who produce high quality grapes on a regular basis.’
According to him, the second big area of concern is the severe pressure being faced by wineries in terms of disproportionally high distribution and retail costs which are heavily eroding the profitability and discouraging them from making the much needed investments. ‘You are all aware of the large number of wineries which have been forced to close down. I personally feel that with the high marketing entry cost today, it is almost impossible for a new entrant to reach a scale where he can dream of even breaking even. I think it is time for all stakeholders of the industry to take a longer term view to nurture this industry which can be very exciting in the years to come. The back-end of the industry i.e. the farmers and the wineries cannot sustain all the burdens of the industry by themselves,’ he said.
He concluded by saying, ‘I am certain that my father would be very proud that the third generation of the Grover family continues to share his passion for wine, with the result that I can happily pass on my perspiration.’
Lifetime Achievement Award has been instituted by the delWine Excellent Awards to recognize people who have spent a considerable portion of their life to contribute to the quality, sales or promotion of wine and wine culture in India. The Awards were co-founded by Subhash Arora and Sourish Bhattacharyya who were later joined by India’s first Master of Wine Sonal Holland who recently also became the first Master of Wine in India, to take the Awards nationally.
Sonal announced at the Awards that the Mumbai edition will be held around January-end/ February end. For complete details about the Awards, click here
Subhash Arora
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