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 Dropping from eight wineries at the debut participation in 2011 under an Indian flag and Wines of India label, the number came drastically down to two at the Prowein 2015 and in a peculiar way underlying the pecking order of the Indian wine industry with the leader Sula followed by GroverZ, both side by side in separate enclosures in Hall no. 9 designated for overseas producers.
Also joining them were two distilleries since spirits are also a part of the Show and have been gradually expanding in their influence at every edition. However, since the Spirits have different marketing and distribution channels, they were assigned the Spirits section, though surprisingly not next to each other.
The 2011 participation was organised by the Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) to promote Brand India. Eight wineries Sula, Fratelli, Zampa, York, Mercury, Four Seasons, and the now troubled-Chateau Indage and Nirvana Biosys, had then participated. Since their mandate was to give three years to a venue, IGPB did not support the Show and the ‘Wines of India’ went to back burner and so did the Indian flag that was seen flying for the very first time in Singapore in 2005 when and Indian Pavilion was set up.
Brand India
Although the participation at such Shows has to be remunerative to the individual participants, it is extremely important for the country brand to be established. Countries like Moldova. Georgia and Armenia are known only as the former Russian satellite countries of the USSR and financially very restrained but they were visible participants with the producers taking part in large numbers.
One needed to have a minimum of 3-5 Indian wineries to enable them to get block participation under the Indian flag. However, as Xavier Rebello, Executive director of Messe Düsseldorf India Pvt Ltd, whose principles Messe Düsseldorf organise Prowein since its debut in 1994 said, the response from the Indian industry was at best lukewarm. Despite his best efforts and expectation of receiving confirmed bookings and a 63 sq meters booking for the wine industry, only 14 square meters had been booked. However, he was pleased that both the wine participants were extremely happy and planned to come back next year.
Sula Vineyards
 Cecilia Oldne, Global Brand Ambassador and Head of International Business is bubbling with excitement after the Show. ‘It gave us the opportunity to meet up with our current and potential importers, industry stalwarts, media and friends from all over. Among favourites were our Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Dindori Shiraz. We saw a record number of visitors at our booth. It was never a dull moment, and was encouraging to see the genuine curiosity in wines from India as Sula attracted many. The interest in our wines, with people actively looking us up, shows that Sula is firmly placing Nashik as an important wine producing region on the world wine map. With this positive experience, we look forward to ProWein 2016.’
Grover Zampa Vineyards
 I met Kapil Grover, Director and Sumedh Singh Mandla of Grover Zampa at their stand after a couple of attempts as they always seemed to be busy in meetings. Of course, that bodes well for them. Sumedh S Mandla says, "The fair was very productive for us. We had some very fruitful meetings with importers and journalists from various countries. It is a great platform to be visible and we will be happy to exhibit in Prowein next year."
Desmondji (Agave India)
 Desmond Nazareth is a Director of Agave India, a Goa based distillery specialising agave based drinks sold under the DesmondJi label He does not like his product to be compared with tequila, made with the same ingredient. He claims it is much superior to most tequilas which by law are agave based spirits made only in the designated areas of Mexico and have GI designation.
He acknowledges the success at Prowein and says, "The superbly organized ProWein 2015 in Dusseldorf was our first international trade show and tasting exposure. We were very pleased with the highly positive reaction we received from European and US based importers, distributors and trade people -- they were reacting to the taste of our high quality of our agave spirits and orange liqueur, the very concept of agave made in India, the originality of our bottles and our compelling brand story. We expect to initiate exports as a result and would strongly consider attending other ProWein shows".
Meher Distilleries
 Meher Distilleries has been producing whiskey and malts for several years in Maharashtra near Mumbai. They were present to check out the European market for which they had developed a whiskey that meets the EU standards. They were hopeful in finding importers. Several potential distributors were quite interested in their product.
Wines of India Brand
Despite the individual success of our top two Indian producers, it is a pity that the spirit of Brand ‘Wines of India’ was missing. Understandably, one would require at least 4 producers to find a corner where Indian flag could be displayed. No help seems to be forthcoming from any government quarters. With one flag, not only the country seems united in its marketing efforts, the space is more suitably utilised and the costs could still be lower. The stand could be organised by any organisation but the flag of India and the Brand Wines of India needs to be the focus at Prowein. Hopefully, there will be some incentives for this to happen next year.
Historical organisation by IWA in 2005
The credit and record of bringing the Indian flag to an international wine show for the first time goes to the Indian Wine Academy which organised the India Pavilion at Wines for Asia 2005 which took the Initiative of promoting Brand India and showcasing India as a wine producing nation to the rest o the world. Although only 4 stands took part (Indage and Sula had big stands) the Indian flag was prominent and the participation was not subsidised by any government agency.
During a telephonic talk with the anchor of the BBC Asia radio show in London a couple of days before leaving for Singapore, Arora had mentioned to the interviewer that India was participating in an international wine show for the first time. The interviewer had called back in five minutes to re-check and reconfirm what I had told him. He didn't know that India even produced wine! For details of that event, please visit
Wine for Asia 2005 –Well Worth The Visit
India has come a long way since that time. One hopes that the producers will collectively work with the appropriate government agencies to make sure that Brand India gets promoted. This will only help expand the market and we can proudly say that word is our oyster.
For some of the earlier Articles, please visit:
Nominal Presence of Indian Wines at Prowein 2015
ProMotion of Brand India at ProWein
Prowein 2011: Indian Wines Expose Themselves
Indian Wines Confirm their Success at Prowein
Subhash Arora |