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The imported wine segment, which is currently dominated by wine importers and distributors like Brindco and Sonarys, has now caught the fancy of local industry players like Champagne Indage [Get Quote], Sula and United Breweries [Get Quote], who are keen on expanding their portfolios to cater to the Indian consumers across various price points.
The total wine market in the country consists of 1.2 million cases, according to an industry estimate, of which the imported wine segment is a mere 22,000 cases or 20 per cent.
"However, the industry is seeing an impressive growth of 30 per cent across all segments. As such, dominant industry players are rapidly expanding their portfolios to include imported wines from across the world to cater to consumers across all price points," says Indian Wine Academy President Subash Arora.
Champagne Indage -- one of the biggest domestic players and producers of domestic wine under the Chateau Indage umbrella -- recently launched Indage Vineyards to bring in contemporary and new range of wines from across the globe to India.
The company plans to introduce its Australian range of wines from its acquired companies Thachi Wines Company and VineCrest under the newly formed brand.
"We are beginning our launch with the Broken Earth range of wines at a price close to Rs 1,000 and will be followed with the Red Skies and South Bay range from Thachi at price points of Rs 1,000 onwards," says Tim Pearce, operations manager, Thachi Wines.
"The company also plans to launch premium wines from its Australian winery VineCrest at price points of Rs 3,000 and above soon. Besides, we will also import from New Zealand's Tasman Bay Wines soon," says Pierce.
"The strategy is to have a wide portfolio that caters to the developing market with products across the entire spectrum of Rs 100 at the low-end and the premium segment from Rs 1,500 and above catering to the Indian consumers palate," says Managing Director of Champagne Indage Ltd Ranjit Chougule.
Similarly, United Vintners Ltd from UB Group, which has a local brand Zinzi, besides wines from Bouvet Ladubay, a premium French winery is now looking at expanding its portfolio to represent wines from different countries and regions here.
Over the last six months, the company has introduced the Gossips label from Australia and is currently introducing the 10 Chapters range of wines from South Africa.
In the pipeline are wines from Burgandy, France known as Bouchard Laine Fils, from Portugal we are getting the Pink Elephant series and are also in talks with a popular winery in New zealand.
"In the pipeline are over 35 labels from countries like France, South Africa, Portugal and New Zealand," says Sanjay Roy, head (marketing), UB.
"The idea is to offer our customers, organised retailers and hoteliers a wide bouquet of products from across the globe," he adds.
"There is a good range of imported wines already available in India," states David Stanford, director, Wine Society of India.
The market has global contenders like Moet-Henessey, known more for its champagne and cognac, which also has high-end wines available and Diageo, which is one of the world's largest producers of beers, spirits and wines with a strong presence in India.
However, the reason for the low consumption of wine, "Is the lack of awareness amongst the consumers", notes Stanford.
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