Over 30 wineries participated in the second edition held in Delhi by accident. The Vinitaly Roadshow was slated for Mumbai (16 January) and Goa (18 January) with the dinner thrown in for the exhibitors and other invitees at the Ambassador’s residence like last year. The Mumbai edition had to be cancelled because of the local elections on 14-16 January, making them dry days. A make-shift alternative was arranged at a couple of banquet halls at the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi.

Any new project needs time to take off. Vinitaly India’s maiden issue at Taj Dwarka last year was quite successful although held far from the city center. At least 2 of the visiting wineries repeated and another one is reportedly in the final state of negotiations with an importer.

The quality and diversity of wines has been much better with the Consortium of Valpolicella taking a big space and several individual stands. A few of the existing importers in Delhi attended the event this year but new ones made special efforts to negotiate. VallePicciola from Castelnuovo Berardenga (Siena) on the southern tip of Tuscany had organised a special tasting at a Dinner that included one of their 4 Champagne labels and also a couple of Super-Tuscans and Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, making it a very attractive preposition.

Just like last year, the presence of the Italian Ambassador Antonio Bartoli who visited every stand and spent more time with many producers, discussing details. Adolfo Rebughini, General Manager of Veronafiere which owns and organizes Vinitaly, was as full of enthusiasm as last year though President , Frederico Bricolo could not be present though he was there at the event in December, 2025 when both he and Adolfo had come especially for the Preview. It was good to see the well-known Barolo producer from Piedmont G.D.Vajra

One of the reasons why the Show shifted into higher gear was because last year Indian Chamber of Commerce, a national body with headquarters in Kolkata but this year an important role was also given to ITA (Italian Trade Association) with Ms. Antonietta

Two Masterclasses

High quality Masterclasses are the backbone for any wine program to be meaningful and to educate the importers, sommeliers, journalists and the hotels who in turn educate the end customers to drink more though the most important category- the government and excise officials ought to be involved in the process so that they understand the fineries to do a better job. Sonal Holland MW was commissioned by Vinitaly India organisers to conduct 2 Masterclasses in Mumbai (oops Delhi) on 16 January and Goa on 18 January.

Following 7 red wines were chosen for tasting from the wines imported by the 30 producers participating:

1. Tenuta del Principe Larone Ross Rubicone IGP (NV) (Emilia Romagna)     13.5% ABV

2.  Bocale Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG 202 (Umbria)                                    15% ABV

3.  La Fortezza Sangiovese Casa Tori IGT 2022 (Tuscany)                               13.5% ABV

4.  VallePicciola Chianti Classico DOCG 2023 (Tuscany)                                14% ABV

5.  Castello del Terriccio Lupicaia IGT Toscana (Tuscany)                             14.5% ABV

6.  Teanum Tiati Black Primitivo IGP (old vines) (Puglia)                                15% ABV

7.  Colli della Murgia Appassimento Bronze Edition (Puglia)                          14.5% ABV

The first Masterclass on Prosecco was not of much interest to me but the second one on red wines was very deftly handle by Sonal and almost all the wines had a lot of personality and were excellent examples of the terroir, diversity and micro climate-any wine lover would love to drink any of the 7 wines (and even other wines offered without hesitation.

Indo EU Treaty signed

Timing of Vinitaly India could not be any better. There were indications for the last couple of months that the FTA (Foreign Trade Agreement) between the EU countries as a block and India would be signed by December 31 or end of January. The invitation to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa and their acceptance to be the chief guests at the Annual Republic Day was a clear give away that the Treaty must be ‘signed’ and announced to the Media while they are here.

It may be added that after the treaty is signed, it has to be ratified by each constituent country independently before it can be implemented. Usually, one year is considered the outside limit and as such the FTA should be in operation by January end 2027. This will give enough time for the buyers and sellers to come together seriously and do the tasting and work out logistics.

One can safely assume that ‘Happy Days are Here’ soon or the wine industry –unless some state governments get greedy and rock the boat. Fortunately, many more states are controlled by BJP at the center and the States and it will be easier to give the Treaty a practical shape.

The terms of the Treaty are the same as the Indo Australian Treaty, but for the Ps and Qs because every such treaty allows the benefits passed to every country that signed the earlier treaty.

Subhash Arora