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 To provide a complete Indian gourmet experience, wines were offered along with select Indian dishes to the visitors, says Paolo. The entry charges to the Show were €6 each (€4 for students and seniors) that entitled the visitors to keep the tasting glass provided, with 3 coupons entitling them to taste any 3 wines with a 30mL pour each.
Paolo Perilo is reportedly so enthused with the response that he wants to further explore the possibilities of expanding sales within the region through hotels and supermarket chains and set up country distributors. He says he has already appointed a stockist who can deliver Indian wines throughout Slovenia. He has ambitious plans to at least explore the possibility of local bottling of bulk imports to reduce the retail prices and make the wines competitive in the European Union.
 Paolo informs Alessio Secci, the Italia partner of Fratelli that the Indian wine stand Indivine received several hundred visitors who tasted and purchased wines from India despite stiff competition from the excellent local, pan European and even global wines offered and displayed at Vino Ljubljana. Fratelli poured all the wines in the Indivine collection which is Classic Chenin, Classic Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and their iconic blend Sette.
The Tuscany-based Alessio adds, ‘We are supporting Paolo for any marketing activity and fully backing him in his desire and wish to open in other Eastern European countries.’
‘We are thrilled about the response on our wines also in Slovenia as India as a wine producing country is fast establishing itself on the world wine map. We have never before received as many queries from wine enthusiasts, importer sand journalist around the world,’ says Cecilia Oldne
Global Brand Ambassador and Head - International Business of Sula Vineyards and Sula Selections.
Ljubljana is the embodiment of Central European Culture. Accordingly, the Show attracted people from the neighbouring countries like Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Italy. This fair is a legacy of the old Ljubljana wine fair which also had the international wine competition. Slovenians claim that Vino Ljubljana which started in 1955 is the oldest wine competition in the world. It is run under the patronage of OIV and despite a short break in recent years it celebrated its 56th edition in June this year.
 The Indian wines may have sparkled at the Fair but the local wine aficionados are not impressed with the quality of the organisation, it seems. ‘The Show was like 20 years ago. The glasses were the same, small old fashioned glasses in which one could neither taste nor enjoy wines,’ according to one of our sources who could not unfortunately taste the Indian offerings. ‘There was no ice to chill the sparkling wines, no water to clean the glasses, no spittoons (with the additional 1 Euro for a coupon of 3 additional pours of 30 cc, most visitors would not have felt the need for them though), and no breads or something similar to help clean the palate.’ It would appear that the Show was more consumer-oriented.
The approach and style of Tasting is different with Winemakers who do not like the coupon system and the 50 or so present to showcase their wines at this Show were no different. They poured wines for the connoisseurs without taking any coupons so they could taste as many of their wines as possible. One hopes that Paolo was able to taste the wines from Sula and Fratelli with a section of these professionals to get unbiased and objective feedback.
For more information about the Fair, read the Press Release of the Fair organized by "Gospodarsko Razstavišče (the equivalent of Trade Authority of India), according to our source.
Subhash Arora
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Tags: Sula, Fratelli, Vino Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Paolo Perilo, Alessio Secci |