The industry, which was hitherto catering to only local customers and lovers of Indian wines abroad, is now entering mainstream segment, as the market for premium wine brands from India is expanding steadily.
While the Indian wine market is stuck to around 3.5 million bottles for the last three years, the exports from the country are constantly on a rise at an annual rate of over 9 per cent. At present, India exports about 10 lakh bottles a year.
According to Kapil Grover, director of the Bangalore-based Grover Vineyards, exports are on an upswing for the last few years - especially to Europe including France, the motherland of wines.
Grover Vineyards, which has been exporting 2.4-3.0 lakh bottles a year, is expecting a 15 per cent rise in its overseas sales this year.
"We are planning to raise our export revenues from the current 30 per cent to over 40 per cent by the year-end and hope to maintain a double-digit annual growth rate in exports next year onwards as the demand for Indian wines is increasing," he said.
At present, a few Indian brands are rated as good wines worldwide, and this has really boosted sales of Indian brands there.
Though all the three major wine manufacturers in India -- Champagne Indage, Sula and Grover Vineyards - have been in the world market with their premium brands for quite some time, the recent rating of Grover Vineyards' premier red wine, La Reserve, as one of the top-ranking brands in the world market by the
Decanter magazine has really put India in one of the top slots in the global soft liquor market.
Grover's La Reserve, which was rated as the 'best new world red' compared with five major global brands from France, Germany, New Zealand and Spain, has been recognised as a very good-quality wine consisting of 80 per cent Cabernet Suavignon and 20 per cent Syra grapes, grown in Nandi Hills outside Bangalore by the world's prestigious wine magazine.
