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 I was recently looking at the online website (www.madhuloka.com) of Madhuloka Liquor Boutique, a retail chain primarily for wines, spirits and gourmet foods owned by the enterprising K S Lokesh in Bangalore. An ideal place to shop for wines it is well spread out within the city. I was flabbergasted when one morning while searching for some wine labels I came across a Chateau Palmer 2005 listed at Rs. 900! Out of sheer excitement, I asked a few friends in Bangalore to buy a case for me too. Lokesh told me later that it was a typing mistake by the designer as the wine was actually priced slightly higher than Rs. 25,000 each. Good retail price but not attractive enough, for me!
Reserve vs. Premium wines
But when I went through the site and looked at it as a critical outsider, I was amused by the page going from G to H, (Grover to Heritage-shown on Top Left). It starts with the Grover’s Art Collection Shiraz Red Wine (Rs.610) and goes on to Grover La Reserve red wine (Rs. 800). And then comes the surprise entry-Heritage 2000 Premium red wine listed at Rs.138. If you are a wine novice, what would you make of it? On one side is a La Reserve and on the other is a Premium wine-Heritage 2000! You often read about Sula and Grover claiming to make Premium Indian wines. So where is the confusion? The difference of prices and the choice to make are enough to give you a headache even before you open the Heritage Premium bottle.
Grover La Reserve
‘Reserve’ category is not a legal term in India-not as yet anyway. In the Old World wines, it usually indicates some legally defined grape quality and yield, aging in oak, period of aging or alcohol levels that are slightly higher. La Reserve is the oldest ‘Reserve’ wine produced in India by Grover Vineyards in the mid-nineties. Barring a short period a few years ago, it has been considered one of the Best Indian red wines with good value-for-money characteristics as well. It has won accolades from the likes of Steven Spurrier who chose it as the New World’s best Red wine in one year whereas Jancis Robinson MW has praised the wine on more than one occasion. Even today, it commands respect and could still vie for the Best V-F-M red wine- a Cabernet-Shiraz blend aged in oak.
The company, known as a premium wine producer, climbed a notch further and introduced in its new avatar, Grover Zampa Vineyards (GZV), what it calls a Grand Reserve Chene. A Tempranillo-Shiraz blend it is made from grapes grown at its own vineyards in Nasik and undergoes 30 months of aging. At Rs.1650-1700, it vies with Fratelli Sette, another wine of the same genre selling for a similar price but does not call itself a Reserve wine. A white GVZ Reserve has been now introduced from the Viognier Clairett blend which is heavily oaked in the new barriques but will mellow down in the future vintages as the new barriques undergo a couple of passes.
Sula Reserves
Sula introduced the Dindori Shiraz Reserve, a notch above the regular range indicating some oak aging and later introduced the white equivalent in Viognier. It has recently introduced a Chenin Blanc Reserve which is slightly drier than its Chenin Blanc varietal but has also added a touch of oak to give it some complexity and age-ability. Surprisingly, it does not name its top label Sula Rasa Shiraz with any ‘Reserve’ notation though.
Reserve Galore
Vintage Wines was one of the earlier boutique wineries that introduced Reveilo Chardonnay Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and at a Syrah Reserve-all indicative of oak aging and higher price. Four Seasons has distinctly upper-class Barrique Reserve wines-Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz where it has accentuated the aging of wines in the oak barriques. Priced at Rs. 800-1000 these wines are a notch above most of the non-reserve red wines in the market because of the complexity and balance. In fact, it has developed a Double Barrique Reserve range of wines which are going to compete to be the Top-of-the-heap Indian wines but has not launched it in the market yet for some reasons.
Seagram’s Nine Hills wines, one of the Top Five producers in India had also introduced Nine Hills Shiraz and Nine Hills Cabernet Sauvignon at a very early stage of their production career.
Newer entries to the Reserve Club have been Alpine Vindiva Reserve Shiraz, Vallone Reserve Merlot and now the new entrant Charosa has also introduced the Reserve Tempranillo.
This is not a complete list of Reserve wines for the simple reason that any winery may decide to age the wine in the oak barrels-new oak becoming the buzz word whereas oak chips and staves was the word used in a hush-hush tone till a few years ago. Some wineries like Mercury, Chateau d’Ori and the new kid on the block KRSMA in Karnataka produce premium quality wines but have not introduced any Reserve labels.
The prices of these Reserve wines vary from Rs. 800-1700 and are generally indicative of better quality, more complex and better age-worthy premium offerings of the wineries for a novice.
Premium Confusion
Enter Madhuloka web page once again, as mentioned earlier, and the Heritage 2000 Premium red wine stares at you with a price tag of Rs. 138 and a whole new possible definition of ‘Premium’ wines slaps your face. You cannot even blame the King of Karnataka, Heritage Winery (Pampasar Distillery-makers of Golconda Ruby may challenge us for the title) that clocks more than 150,000 cases of wine every year. Heritage would justify the use of Premium label because, as you will notice from the site, the regular Heritage red wine is available for Rs.100! And if your head is not spinning so far, there is also a Heritage Cabernet red wine for Rs. 440 from the same producer located on the Bangalore Mysore highway and known for its wine tours for the uninitiated.
If you are a novice, a bit of wine education might help before you get turned off. The premium wines the industry talks about, usually refer to wine made from wine grapes, the vitis vinifera variety-like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc etc. Such ‘premium’ or otherwise red wine produced by Heritage and in fact several wineries in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, is either fortified or produced from the left-over grapes of any colour, size or quality and fermented.
Most of these wines are fortified. The fermentation of grapes is stopped and alcohol added to bring the alcohol level to a minimum of 20%. A few unspecified additives may be added to give different flavours and sweetness. At 1.2 million cases this segment constitutes more than the so-called premium wines our producers talk about-costing over Rs.400-450 a bottle. In fact, IWSR which annually brings out market reports on the Indian sector, recognized this factor and for the first time last month, conceded and included what according to their estimate was 1.08 million cases of the fortified wines in 2013, which are being produced and in the absence of any laws, label their product as wine-the fastest growing segment of the wine industry.
It may be a matter of conjecture why these wineries have not introduced ‘Reserve’ category so far-by simply immersing oak staves for a few days –and ‘compete’ with the best of Reserve wines in India. So what if the hapless and wine-uneducated consumer gets even more confused.
Until the wine laws come into effect, we shall have abundance of Reserve and Premium wines- not necessarily defining the quality standards of the liquid inside the bottle-you simply buy and drink at your own risk. For any further clarification, write to us at delWine@delwine.com
Subhash Arora
Tags: Madhuloka Liquor Boutique, K S Lokesh, Grover, La Reserve, Grover Zampa Vineyards, Grand Reserve Chene, Sula, Vintage Wines, Four Seasons, Seagram’s Nine Hills, Alpine, Vallone, Charosa, Reserve |