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 When Ashwin Rodrigues, owner of Good Drop called to invite and inform me about the Good Earth Brand being resurrected and re-launched by him as the brand owner, at a piano recital at Bungalow 9 Restaurant in Bandra on Sunday June 7, I was slightly perplexed.
Girish Mhatre, the U.S. East coast based NRI who had introduced the wines in Mumbai with a style in 2009 had packed up in 2013 due to several challenged despite creating a good image for the brand. Right after that conversation, I contacted Girish in the US who confirmed that the Brand indeed had been now sold to Ashwin with all the rights, with no other assets or liabilities.
Ashwin always dreamt to become the sparkling wine specialist in the Indian wine industry, covering a full range of the bubblies and had so confirmed to me barely three months ago in Nashik.
He concedes and says, ‘I had indeed positioned Good Drop as a specialist sparkling wine producer and never seriously intended to make still wines, at least not so soon! But I realised that in order to recover high sales and marketing overheads one must have a larger portfolio. So when I heard that Good Earth brand was available, I approached Girish Mhatre and closed the deal.
‘The brand is now completely owned by Good Drop wine cellars. My good friend Dr. Rajesh Rasal who was Mhatre’s winemaker will continue to be my consultant winemaker,’ says Ashwin who is not only the owner but also an accountant and Aussie-trained winemaker.
But only after the purchase did he realise what he had got into. ‘The brand benchmarked itself with international wines and set out to prove that Indian wines could be really serious drops. So I've decided to produce very small quantities and release a vintage for the high end basso and brio only if the wine cuts it. Thankfully, I have Rajesh on board so I am quite confident we can maintain the quality and get better over the years,’ he explains.
‘Another thing I have figured out more recently is the way Girish marketed the brand. It was treated and priced as a luxury product with an air of exclusivity. The marketing campaign was  sharp & focused. He did many innovative marketing firsts. All this came at a cost and I imagine he must have spent huge sums on marketing. I've decided that we will continue to market it as a luxury product even if I have to dig deeper into my pockets,’ he adds.
He plans to drop the earlier price by about Rs. 200 of Basso and Brio- to Rs. 1,250 and 1,200 respectively. ‘I'm mindful of the competition in that price range viz. Rasa by Sula, Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection, Grover’s La Reserve, Reveilo Reserves, Charosa Reserves and Fratelli Sette and intend to offer my consumer nothing less in terms of quality,’ he says.
Ashwin who is also an exponent in guitar and says has performed in several classical music
events during younger days, has conceptualised a separate music property Good Earth Classical Soirees in partnership with UK born pianist Leena Mistry, a well-known sought out teacher in Mumbai. He intends to hold similar events at non-traditional venues where Good Earth Wine will accentuate the pleasure, he says.
Good Earth received blessings from the skies with millions of Good Drops pouring and bringing the onslaught of monsoon. Despite the heavy downpour before the start of the event, about 130 people attended the concert by pianist Karl Lutchmayer. It was followed by the Good Earth Basso, Brio and Antaraa. His flagship Casablanca white and rose sparkling wines were also poured.
Ashwin has taken a gamble by investing in the Brand not only because of the initial undisclosed amount paid to Girish Mhatre but also selling the wines would not be as easy as playing guitar. But he is very confident he will pull through. For the sake of the stability and growth of the Indian wine industry and his sake, one hopes he will succeed.
For earlier related articles, please visit
Rodrigues: Sparkling Man from Rio and Casablanca
Good Earth Winery Comes down to Earth
Get Set to Taste the Good Earth
Subhash Arora |