{"id":8118,"date":"2023-03-06T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T03:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/?p=8118"},"modified":"2023-03-09T11:21:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T05:51:56","slug":"item_6_926","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/item_6_926\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Joseph: India could produce Great Wines one Day- Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"8118\" class=\"elementor elementor-8118\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4720b6a elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4720b6a\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-53f09f7\" data-id=\"53f09f7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70aab53 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"70aab53\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>Posted: Monday, 06 March 2023 09:12<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ad9e937\" data-id=\"ad9e937\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cccb2a7\" data-id=\"cccb2a7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1b4aea3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1b4aea3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<u>If you Like this article, please click\n<iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden; width: 120px; height: 21px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?app_id=173955395995712&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fwineguyindia&amp;send=false&amp;layout=button_count&amp;width=120&amp;show_faces=false&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;font=arial&amp;height=21\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/u>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9669605 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9669605\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b62f3ec\" data-id=\"b62f3ec\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c0e78f1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c0e78f1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\n<div>\n<h1 class=\"articlepagetitle_heading\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Robert Joseph:<\/span>India could produce Great Wines one Day-Part 1<\/h1>\n<div class=\"articlepageintroline\">March 06: Robert Joseph, the UK wine journalist, critic and author of global repute and a successful French wine producer and an important player in the world of wines, feels that Indian wine quality is a lot better than in the 1990s when he first visited Mumbai, and believes India could produce great wines one day though he would not guess in how many years; and also shared his views about the current global market, writes Subhash Arora who had an exclusive chat with him on the sidelines of MundusVini 2023 of which he is a Director and a fellow judge.<\/div>\n<div class=\"articledata\"><figure id=\"attachment_lft\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-lft\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Joseph at Mundus Vini\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-lft\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Joseph at Mundus Vini<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Robert Joseph<\/strong> says, \u2018essentially wine is like art where one learns with experience. Indians have been learning very fast and there is no reason why they cannot make great wines one day. The probability of India making great wine is as much as, say, New Zealand or California. Whether it will make great wines in Nashik or elsewhere, like Kashmir, is another question. Whether winemakers will be able to replicate their international skills in Indian or international-style wines is yet another question.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I had met Robert in around 2004 at IFE Wine Show in Delhi, a decade after he had been to Mumbai to visit Chateau Indage but could not; there was a strike. \u2018I am not too happy with the wine quality and the winery hygiene which is so important. But I am sure India will produce better wines in future,\u2019 he said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>When I reminded him about the first time when we had met and he had told me that latitude was very important to make great wines and unfortunately India was outside the 30-50\u00b0 limit, he said, \u2018things have changed a lot since then. \u2018For one thing, climate change has changed the situation. I underestimated the importance of altitude. Longitude is also important along with latitude. We need to grow grapes at higher altitude now. Technology has made winemaking easier. Modern equipment is responsible for a lot of improvements. Winemakers have better skills today. With international travel and cross-exchange, the enology is really more advanced. The market will no longer accept bad wines even at low prices \u2013 a trend driven by western supermarkets &#8211; so it is essential to improve quality consistently\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/item_5_921\/\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">From Archives (2006): IFE-2006 \u2013 Robert Joseph decries French influence in Indian wine making<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Technology transfer has in fact been helpful in getting better products internationally. Under the Soviet system, Skoda made really bad cars. Now, as part of VW, it makes excellent quality. People were not making good cars in India- or Malaysia. Now they are. The time required to take a wine to a higher level has come down tremendously. It is surprising how fast we can go from zero to top\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>So far we have not seen great wines in India. In 50 years, maybe, I ask? \u2018Difficult to say. Who is to say what and when the political situation changes, for instance in Kashmir, considered to be the best place to make excellent wines. But remember, every year that passes with no work in that direction, we have not even tried!\u2019 he opines.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Beverage Pyramid<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There has been a shift in the alcobev positioning globally over the years. \u2018When I started writing about wines in 1986, there was a beverage pyramid with wine on top. And French wine at the peak, with both great wines that commanded higher prices than other drinks. The shape of the pyramid has changed and there\u2019s a flat top where wine is not the only drink at the peak. Even the best single malts were much cheaper then. Today, wine competes with scotch, bourbon and even craft beer.<\/p>\n<p>But the wine pyramid has changed too with wines like Barolo, Priorat and New World wines selling for higher prices than French classics. New wines of good quality can be created and sold at high prices in previously unimaginable places such as Uruguay and the UK, within much less time. Even in France, there are new regions and styles, such as the \u20ac120 Ros\u00e9 or \u20ac140 Orange wine produced by Gerard Bertrand in Languedoc!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_2_864.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">WBWE Connect: Wine Guru Robert Joseph shares insight about Wine Future<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Is it the consumers or the producers\u2019 innovations that have changed it all? It is both, he says. Good winemakers are everywhere. And it is not necessarily the sons taking over the business from their fathers. Some of the best winemakers have no family background in wine. And, whatever their background, today\u2019s winemakers are also studying globally. This was a trend started by Miguel Torres 50 years ago; he brought back expertise from France to Spain. Today, people are bringing expertise to France from New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to climate change, there are also far fewer cold rainy vintages in Europe now, and Vintage Charts are losing their importance. The fruits are riper \u2013giving wine richer, rounder flavours as well as more alcohol. But wine is part of a bigger picture. Fruits are riper and sweeter too and we\u2019re less used to bitter, acidic, unripe flavours. And that\u2019s natural. Unless you are Italian and have been brought up to enjoy bitter espresso and black chocolate, you tend to like creamy coffee and milk chocolate, he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Less tannins \u2013converging tastes internationally<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People don\u2019t naturally like tannin but they do enjoy the vanilla flavours that come from oak barrels. Robert likes to take the example of converging international tastes by comparing wine to a <strong>H\u00e4agen Dazs<\/strong> cabinet in Denver and Delhi. The same classic flavours of ice cream \u2013 vanilla, chocolate, strawberry &#8211; are popular and common everywhere. But new internationally popular ones can be created too such as mint-chocolate and salted caramel. And new wine styles like Prosecco and Malbec have emerged in a very similar way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_3_800.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Robert Joseph: The Future of Wine has Changed<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018If I go to Delhi I find the same brands of jeans, cars and fast food as I do in Denver \u2013 with maybe a few local adaptations. So McDonalds has adapted to the no beef policy in India, but it still sells burgers. We have experts, usually travelling journalists going to countries in Eastern Europe, for example, telling winemakers to stick to their own grapes and not grow international ones. I can understand it intellectually, but it\u2019s like going to Germany and telling the men to wear only lederhosen leather pants because it is traditional. I think it is patronizing. We don\u2019t go to China and tell them only to perform and listen to Chinese music or tell Indians to stick to Indian music and Bollywood, even though many love James Bond movies.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There is a reason why Shakespeare and Cabernet Sauvignon are popular both in Bulgaria and the UK (and perhaps also in Delhi). A Bulgarian producer can export 20,000 bottles of wine with Bulgarian grapes to the UK but 120,000 bottles of Shiraz! People who are advising these producers to stick to autochthonous grapes, unfortunately do not sell wines! Producers have to understand what consumers want to drink. Armenia and Turkey both have fascinating local grapes but have not been exporting a lot of wines with those grapes.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_1_758.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Passing By: Robert Joseph of Le Grand Noir French wines<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He stresses, \u2018I am not an enemy of autochthonous grapes. If you open a restaurant in London or Delhi or anywhere in the world, you can sell pizza at a pizza bar. But how easy would it be to open a chain of English pie restaurants in Hawaii? Tripe sausages in France are a part of their heritage but are at best local heroes.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, what we think of as traditional to a country may have shallow roots. The quintessentially French croissants began life as a 13th century Austrian kipferl cookie. It was introduced to Paris in 1800 by a Viennese baker. Pizza wouldn\u2019t be pizza without tomatoes, but they had to be introduced to Italy from Latin America.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Joseph is now a partner in a winery in Minervois producing 3.8 million bottles of Le Grand Noir globally. These wines are imported and distributed by Sula Vineyards and are selling very well in India. Of course, I\u2019d say that was because of the quality and price, but having a strong distributor is crucial too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_1_626.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Counter Point- ROBERT JOSEPH \u2013Enfant Terrible of Wine Industry<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_lft\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-lft\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_160511-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_160511-300x190.jpg\" alt=\"Arora continues his exclusive Chat withvRobert Joseph at a Coffee Break at Mundus Vini 2023\" width=\"300\" height=\"190\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-lft\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arora continues his exclusive Chat with Robert Joseph at a Coffee Break at Mundus Vini 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I always refer to Robert as <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_1_626.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Enfant Terrible<\/span><\/a><\/em> (a successful person who is strikingly unorthodox, innovative, or avant-garde, according to Webster\u2019s) and he is OK with it. There are a lot of inspiring messages from wine producers and consumers in the Article-Part 2 of which will be published in the next edition<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the conversation throws up many interesting insights into the potential and evolution of Indian wines which are consistently improving their quality and I believe, like Robert Joseph, that India will produce great wines one day but we need to start taking action to make that belief come true.<\/p>\n<p><b>Subhash Arora<br><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted: Monday, 06 March 2023 09:12 If you Like this article, please click Robert Joseph:India could produce Great<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,79],"tags":[204,113],"class_list":["post-8118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-headlines","category-wine-food-travel","tag-great-wines","tag-robert-joseph"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-scaled.jpg",2560,1470,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-300x172.jpg",300,172,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-768x441.jpg",640,368,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-1024x588.jpg",640,368,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-1536x882.jpg",1536,882,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-2048x1176.jpg",2048,1176,true],"slider-bg":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-1600x600.jpg",1600,600,true],"card-grid":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-600x900.jpg",600,900,true],"card-list":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-600x700.jpg",600,700,true],"morenews-featured":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-1024x588.jpg",1024,588,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_20230225_161117-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/category\/other-headlines\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Other Headlines<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/category\/wine-food-travel\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Wine &amp; 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