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February 2008 - Posts
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Ten years into its economic boom, India has transformed itself: Though poverty is still widespread, millionaires abound. Their new drink of choice?
Wine.
Though the annual per capita intake of wine is low, among India's rapidly expanding middle and upper classes, wine drinking is the latest craze. Like luxury cars and watches, it is an obvious badge of "I've arrived"--particularly for the 20-somethings staffing India's new call centers with lots of disposable income to burn--and drink.
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Mumbai, Feb 19 UB Group, the spirits conglomerate, is betting big on the wine industry by expanding its product basket and launching about 80 wine brands including imported brands this year. The company is learnt to be launching about 10-12 own labels under its subsidiary, Four Seasons Wines Ltd, while another subsidiary, United Vintners Ltd, will import about 70 labels from France, US, South Africa, Italy and Chile, by the end of this year.
For more details The Financial Express
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Excise rules bar the state government from issuing licences for making wine or any alcoholic beverage.
Kochi: Sebastian P. Augustine, 66, a farmer in Kerala’s northernmost Kasargod district, started making wine by turning adversity into an opportunity. On seeing that his coconut grove was diseased, he was forced to make good use of it by plucking the tender coconuts and making wine by fermenting coconut water.
Today, armed with a patent for the method, Augustine is getting ready for the commercial production of wine.
The government trade and cultivation promotion body, the Coconut Development Board, has even promised 25% subsidy for the project. But wine-making may still remain an academic exercise for Augustine because excise rules in Kerala do not allow the government to issue licences for making wine or any alcoholic beverage commercially. “If, Kerala decides to promote wine tourism, things may change,” says Augustine, who was approached by a few companies from outside the state with plans to commercialize the project. But Augustine has not taken any firm decision.
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GENEVA: The World Trade Organization has rejected a U.S. complaint that Indian import duties unfairly discriminate against products such as Napa Valley wine and Jack Daniel's whisky, officials said on Wednesday.
But the decision is not a massive loss for the United States because the Indian government already lifted some of the massive taxes it imposes on foreign wine and spirits last year, bending to heavy pressure from the United States and Europe.
While Brussels dropped its WTO complaint as a result, Washington continued to press its case.
for more details: The Economic Times
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Mumbai, Feb. 6 Persistent cold conditions may hit grape production by 8-10 per cent, especially in Maharashtra. The State contributes about 94 per cent of the country’s total output.
“If the weather gets colder there is a possibility that the production may go down further,” said Mr Vikram Pawar, Executive Secretary, Maharashtra Grape Growers Association.
In 2008, Maharashtra is expected to produce 20 lakh tonnes against the 18 lakh tonnes last year. The acreage under the fruit was down 10 per cent last year due to farmers switching to fresh fruits. Unseasonal rains also impacted output.
For more details Hindu Business Line
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MUMBAI: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who has a seedless grape named after him, is all set to launch his own range of wines in the market.
The wine, branded Four Seasons, is believed to be the first from the Pawar family stable and will hit the market mid-March.
Pawar, who has close ties with liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has sealed a deal where the Pawar family has taken over 26% stake in Four Seasons Wines Limited (FSWL), a company created by Mallya's United Spirits (USL).
For more details: Times of India
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He is still to see the Taj Mahal, the dream destination of every foreigner and almost every Indian. That aside, Andrea Valentinuzzi, Italian winemaker who is in India to supervise the making of Vintage Wine’s Reveilo wines, has seen nearly all the vineyards in the country and in the journey to get there, has seen India in select cities and the villages. It is the wide disparity that he sees between them that has him dazed. “I get off at the airport and the first thing I see is the crowds. On the roads, pedestrians move cheek-by-jowl with vehicles and there are animals too. It is a bizarre sight at first,” he says, laughing. “I wonder how the drivers get their vehicles across. Surprisingly there are no angry voices or fights.” Now, is he sure about that? “At least not the kind I see back home in Italy.”
India was on Valentinuzzi’s mental radar for a long time, especially since he had traversed across continents except Asia. “Our picture of India is from books and old stories. It was when I met Yatin Patil (director, Vintage Wines) that I realised that there are several religions here and cultures too. I was a bit amazed to see the shy ways of the village girls in the vineyards and the bold, fashionably dressed girls in the cities. India lives differently in its cities and villages, I realised.”
For more details.Financial Times
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