How many bottles do you sell in a month?
Depending on the season, the number varies from 2800 and 3200. This includes about 20 a day for the room and 600 a month for the banquets.
I understand you keep really cheap and outdated wines in the rooms?
That is not correct. Our range includes from Tarapaca to Pouilly Fuisse to Cote du Rhone from E Guigal .
I have had the experience in the Taj Man Singh where the Tarapaca red was completely off. Last year we were staying at Taj Land 's End and the Allegrini Soave served was undrinkable. It was a 2002, completely out of date and already oxidised. How do you explain that?
I hope those were the exceptions. We keep the bottles from our regular stocks, the same policy for each room, whether ordinary or business class. We may chose to keep the slow moving label in the room. Sometimes the guest may leave the bottlet untouched for a few days so it might get spoilt lying there..
We also keep on training our staff regularly to maintain quality. I take classes 3 times a week for an hour each so that they may understand the wines well.
 Do you believe or handle suggestive selling in your restaurants?
Most of our customers these days are fairly well informed. The Indians who come are well travelled and the foreigners are used to drinking wines anyway. Like I said, we have the periodic offers which pair wines with food. Our wine servers can generally suggest to the customer, if he or she so desires.
What is the profile of your customers ordering wine, say out of 100?
Well about 40 order alcohol in Masala Art. Perhaps, 50 are alcohol drinkers. But 10 might not order wine or other alcohol as they feel it is expensive in a 5-star restaurant. Out of these 40, I would say 25 order wine.
And how many Indians order wine or alcohol?
I would say 60% are foreigners and 40% only are Indians . Interestingly, I should tell you that people have a misconception of white wine being consumed more in summer. Yes, if they are sitting around the pool, they might order a glass of white. But inside, the temperature is comfortable and the wines are served at cool temperatures. 60% of our wines sold are red and the balance 40% only are whites?
At what temperature do you store and serve wines?
We have a centrally air-conditioned store which has about 15000 bottles at an inventory price currently of about Rs. 2 crores. Since it is not opened often, the temperature is maintained at 18-20°C. For our regular daily use we have display visi- coolers where we stock champagne and some whites at 8°C. Most of whites are at 12° C and the reds are all at 16°C to account for the heat by the time they get to the table, so that they might be served at 18°C.
Don't you serve Beaujolais or other light bodied reds at the recommended temperature of 10-14°C?
I am afraid not. All our reds are served at the same temperature of 16-18°.
Any break up of sales by the restaurant?
Well, I would say an average of 20 bottles per restaurant. The Masala Art, Tea House and Café sell more wines between the Rs. 2000-3200 price range. Orient sells more of expensive wines. There, everyone on the table orders 1-2 bottles each.
Which wines do you generally recommend with food?
Riesling and Pinot Grigio are favourites at Masala. Pinot Noir and Beaujolais are popular too. In the Chinese restaurant, we recommend light to medium bodied wines. Like Riesling, Chablis, Pouilly Fuisse etc.
In Orient Express, each dish has to be matched with the dish individually. For instance with Kobe beef, I would suggest a Chassagne Montrachet or similar Burgundy or another Pinot Noir.
How important are wines for the Taj group?
Well, the COO of our Luxury Division ( Business, Leisure and International are the other three groups ) Mr. Abhijit Mukherji is a man of vision. He knows the importance of wines for the hotel. That is why, he picked me up from MBD Radisson when I told him my career goal was to become a GM and not grow only as a sommelier. He believes in putting the right people at the right spot. He brought in Mr. Mohit Sharma, my boss and me at the same time in September 2006.
Both of us understand wines pretty well and they are an integral part of our F & B and restaurant sales. Even for banquets where we sell 600 bottles a month, we give a pretty good package on a Pax basis. And, we offer 180 labels compared to most hotels offering around 10!
I remember when he was the GM of Taj Man Singh, he used to tell me that wine should be sold at the price of coke. His target as he told me then was Rs. 150 a glass. I don't think you guys have succeeded in that so far!
 Our normal prices may not have gone down so much because we offer better wines to start with. Besides, some promos take our prices almost to that level. For instance, recently, we had a wine buffet in which you could drink as much wine as you wanted, for Rs.1200+ and we threw in a complimentary cheese platter or pasta too. You could drink even 2-3 bottles.
We at Indian Wine Academy would love to help you promote such special offers though our websites, if you let us know. We hope you can keep the beverage price at not less than 40%, meaning the mark up is always less than 250%. So, what kind of growth are you expecting?
In the last 8 months that I have been here, the sales have been constantly on the up side. I feel a growth of 25% is certainly achievable. And we shall continue to have wine promotions at this property
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