Notwithstanding the difficulties that it has faced over the past few years, the Indian wine industry continues to grow and diversify. Most of that growth has come about because increasingly sophisticated Indian consumers have developed an appreciation of the social pleasures of sharing a glass of wine and are very willling to try local products. Consumers are also showing a keen interest in developing their wine knowledge and palates which has inevitably lead to the creation of a number of wine clubs and societies.

The oldest of these is the Delhi Wine Club, founded in 2002, which recently celebrated its 200th event.  Congratulations!  Meanwhile the Mumbai-based Wine Society of India, with its distinguished foreign advisers, can lay claim to being India's largest wine club.  Wine clubs have also been established in a number of other metropolitan areas including Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Nashik.

Now the Orange city of Nagpur has joined the trend with the first wine club in central India. The first ever seminar on wine in Nagpur was conducted in late 2010 and following the enthusiasm shown there, the Nagpur Wine Lovers Club (NWLC) was established in Janury 2011 with 11 initial persons. Form these small beginnings, and in less than two years. the  NWLC now has 112 registered members.  Organised events have seen lectures and tastings from prominent Indian wineries including Sula, Nine Hills, Four Seasons,Turning Point, Chateau D’ori, Ambrosia and Pause.

NWLC’s activities have included wine courses and one day workshops for Wine retailers, cafes, restaurants and Bars.  Future plans include Nagpur's - and central India's - first ever Wine & Food Festival. NWLC has recently obtained membership of the Indian Grape Processing Board who, together with the All India Wine Manufacturers Association, have agreed to help sponsor a Wine Festival scheduled on 2nd & 3rd March 2013.

Further details of the NWLC can be found at www.nagpurwineloversclub.com

The Indian wine market - for both domestic production and imports - has expanded considerably over the past decade. Precise industry figures are not easy to come by as there is, as yet, no official compilation of wine statistics for India. Not surprisingly, different sources seem to quote slightly different figures and sometimes appear to interchange production with sales.

Arguably the most reliable published information is that produced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of their Global Agriculture Information Network (GAIN). Their 2012 Wine Market Update for India (pdf) was compiled utilising state excise data and combining this with various local industry reports and estimates. While not perfect, this compilation has the advantage of having produced historical figures on a consistent basis. It ought, therefore to reasonably accurately show the overall industry trends.

The growth of Indian wine production, imports and exports is shown here utilising the USDA GAIN compilation. Production appears to have peaked in 2010 at about 130,000 hl. Until then farmers had been increasingly setting aside land for the production of wine grapes. A poor harvest in 2009, coupled with a buildup of inventory at the wineries, caused many farmers to give up on wine grapes altogether as the industry underwent a painful period of restructuring. Exports have struggled to exceed more than about 10% of production as Indian wines compete unfavouably price-wise with New World competitors.

Wine imports into India dipped sharply after 2008 due to the combined effects of the gobal financial crisis and a drop-off in tourism following the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Since 2009 wine imports have continued to rise, reaching a high of 44,000 hl in 2011, despite the prevailing 150% federal tariff. France, Italy and Australia are the main wine exporters to India and together constitute over 50% of wine imports. The EU is attempting to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with India which, if successful, would radically favour imports of EU wines over other producing countries. It would also put enormous pressure on domestic wine producers who are still dealing with their own problems of oversupply and disttribution.

Article courtesy of, and originally posted by winestats.info

India is sending its largest ever Olympic contingent to the London games with the hope of taking home medals in sports such as tennis, wrestling and shooting. Though cricket is not currently on the Olympic agenda, Lord's will be in use for the Archery competition, where Tarundeep Rai will surely find memories of past Indian success.

In late 2011, the IndiaPE website reported that Vallee de Vin (based in Nashik) had announced that it would shortly merge with Grover Vineyards (based near Bangalore).  According to a recent report in The Times of India, the legal formalities of the merger have now been completed, and the new entity is to be called Grover Zampa Wines.  Continue reading “Consolidation in the Indian Wine Industry” »

From today we've introduced a new header image which shows vineyards belonging to Grover Vineyards, north of Bangalore, in the Nandi Hills Wine Region.

Many thanks to Grover Vineyards and to Anita for kindly supplying the image.