' United Spirits and Jean-Claude Boisset have entered into a distribution deal and are considering the prospects of setting up a joint venture company for selling imported mainstream and boutique wine labels owned by Boisset', according to The Economic Times, reported by the Drinks Business Review a few weeks ago.
While Vijay Rekhi, President of United Spirits, said: "We are partnering Boisset in a trading relationship through our subsidiary company United Vintners, " Abhay Kewadkar, Vice President and Chief Wine Maker for the wine division maintained that United Spirits and Boisset are mulling over the prospects of a 50:50 venture, according to the report.
Jean-Claude Boisset has had a distribution agreement with Global Tax Free Traders in Delhi for over six years and has been on their Price List for as far back as one remembers. When Adil Mehra, son of the owner Mukul Mehra was approached by delwine, he brushed aside the news by saying that it was an incorrect report. 'Jean Claude Boisset has many divisions and perhaps they have sold the Bouchard division who would be selling their wines through UB. There is no truth in reports that J C Claude will be joint venturing with them Bouchard Aine & Fils, an old Burgundy house since 1746 and belonging to this one of the top 5 exporting group, made a momentary appearance with a few bottles at the UB Wines table at the recently held Aperitif-a la Francaise at Shangri-la Hotel.
When delWine contacted Abhay Kewadkar in Bangalore, he was quite nonplussed. 'We were looking for a good Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, since they are not grown in India. Burgundy was a natural choice. So we talked to Boisset (Jean-Charles, the son of the owner, who lives in San Francisco, looking after the imports). They are the third largest company in France and biggest in the Burgundy region, owning18 wineries. And they agreed to work with us,' he said.
Abhay also added that, 'the advantage with them is they have a full range that we can sell from Rs. 700 to Rs.20-25,000 a bottle.' Elaborating on the company philosophy one more time, Abhay added, 'we are not trader-importers but brand developers. We saw an opportunity in terms of forming another joint venture with them for trading in India, when this operation becomes big. At least it will be a long term commitment.' 'It involves the exercise of building brand for a long term association,' he insisted.
Mukul Mehra disagrees. Convalescing in a hospital he said, 'I can show you the emails from the family where they have assured me that the things are the same between them and us and that they have given them only one label which we are not selling anyway. They have also assured us in writing that they are very happy with our performance and there is no question of changing partners.' 'In fact,' he added' Charles has written to us regretting the confusion created by the media reports and has reassured me they would be extremely careful in giving out any reports to the media.
The son, Adil did read out one email confirming the same, pending his father's return to the office in a few days for sharing other documents.
So is this a case of flirtation, a fling or an affair on the side or simply a question of polygamy? In India, so far it has been a fairly monogamous relationship between foreign producers and importers. Producer from one region deals with one distributor in India and vice versa. Ironically, the most glaring exception is Boisset's Burgundy region where in a reverse situation Albert Bichot and later Louis Jadot 'married' the same importer, Brindco.
There have been a few divorces too. About 4 years ago, Gaja left Sansula in distress and 'married' Brindco. Brunello di Montalcino producer Col d' Orcia left Brindco and went to the house of Ace Beveragez. Such examples abound with most having an amicable settlement like Zonin, Folonari, Fontana Fredda, Pieropan, and Anakena, with many unsatisfied and ogling producers looking for a more suitable partner.
Let us hope it is life Bollywood style where Boisset can live happily with both Global and UB.
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