The Hindu Business Line : Our grapes, our wines

From tyres and realty to winemaking is a big leap but Pune-based couple Kiran and Yatin Patil have done that. Both are MBAs from Mumbai and while Yatin was working for Ceat, Kiran worked for Mahindra Realty, till they “stumbled upon the idea of making wine” in 1998.

The starting point was Yatin’s family-owned business of growing table grapes. The plantation was in Nashik and the couple began planting fine-variety grapes in 2000, aiming to eventually start a winery and wine business.

On the establishment in 2002 of Vintage Wines, which markets wines under the brand name ‘Reveilo’, Yatin says, “I left my job in 2000, went to Nashik and started learning about viticulture. We also travelled to Italy and France to learn all about making and marketing wine.” Vintage Wines has tied up with an Italian group, ‘Enofly’, for technical collaboration and winemaking know-how.

Wines, Yatin points out, have been present in India since the late 1980s but in limited pockets. But it was around 2000, as more and more people started travelling overseas, that wine consumption picked up in India. “Post-91, many things changed as the economic reforms came in, and international travel and the elite classes consuming wine was one of them. That is how we saw the potential and thought maybe today it is a small industry but it is growing at a steady pace and will become big one day.”

Quality wine

He estimates that barring port-wine makers, there are not more than 60 winemakers in India. For him it has been a learning experience over the years. “I’d say the wines made in India today are of good international quality. We’ve had blind tasting sessions of our wines and even the French and Italians have been surprised and said our quality is among the best in the international arena. Our Shiraz was evaluated by some Australian winemakers and they said it was as good as any Barossa valley Shiraz from Australia.”

Kiran, who is in charge of marketing and sales — her husband looks after the plantation and production — says the company has the regular Reveilo range that includes Chenin Blanc, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Then there is a higher-quality ‘Reserve’ range (Chardonnay, Syrah & CS) — wines that are aged in European oak for 9-11 months prior to bottling. Currently Reveilo is present in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Bangalore and plans to enter new markets like Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Goa, Chennai and Hyderabad in the near future.

This winemaker has set up a 32,000 sq ft winery at Nashik; “we have a capacity of 10 lakh bottles, but at present are doing about 1-1.5 lakh litres. As our marketing spreads to more cities, we’ll step up the capacity,” says Yatin. “This is truly an in-house facility as in our 200-acre vineyards we grow our own grapes, which is necessary to ensure superior quality wines.”

But grape cultivation is difficult as this is a very delicate fruit. “About 80 per cent of the quality of the wine comes from the grape, so if your raw material is not good, you won’t end up making a good wine. That is the reason we have kept the production of grapes with us, and not sourced it from other farmers.” Contract farmers, he says, normally go for yeast and that compromises the quality, and the endeavour at Vintage Wines is to gain “leadership in taste, quality, image and innovation rather than quantity and volumes. Very shortly, we plan to begin exports.”

Pricing

In the regular range the cost of a 750 ml bottle is about Rs 505 to Rs 745. The Reserves are priced between Rs 1,045 and Rs 1,345; the Carbernet Reserve costs Rs 1,345. Their most expensive wine is a late-harvest Chenin Blanc, half a bottle (375 ml) of which costs Rs 845.

On the challenges in marketing wine in India, Kiran says with many Indian brands already in the market the main challenge is to get it across to the end-consumers. When one buys a wine from a big store or supermarket “a person first chooses the wine with his eyes, then the nose, and when he opens it comes the mouth. The taste really comes at the end. Initially it is the packaging which draws you to it, so this is very important. Then comes the finesse and then the consistency.”

But, she clarifies, this is true of wine sold in supermarkets, something that is still at an initial stage in India. “But the biggest challenge for winemakers like us is that we are at the mercy of the middlemen because we can’t directly sell to the end-consumer. And it’s very difficult to open our own outlets so we have to depend on retail outlets and in case of restaurants we have to rely on their frontline to recommend the product to the diners.”

She is in constant touch with all the three supply channels. In addition, the effort is to promote wine tourism and “towards this end we will be putting up a wine bar at our winery in the next couple of months. Even now, on an informal basis we invite frontline hotel/restaurant managers to our winery to give them a sense of what goes into the making of Reveilo wines.”

Other promotion measures include wine-tasting evenings; for instance an evening is dedicated to the Reveilo Chenin Blanc, where this wine is promoted.

On wine consuming habits of Indians, Yatin says the general trend worldwide is a red and white wine ratio of 70:30, though people have strong preferences for one or the other. “We also make 70 per cent reds and 30 per cent whites.” He concedes that the greater popularity of red wines is related to its promotion as a health benefit product! Also, wine consumption is increasing because the earlier misconception that wine is a woman’s drink is no longer there and it is associated with fine dining.

Matching wines to food

“This is a big thing; trust me, the taste of the wine changes absolutely depending on what food you take along with it. If you are tasting all the nine wines academically and actually complementing it with the right kind of food, the taste goes through a sea-change. The wines are so smooth if accompanied by the right kind of food. A Shiraz... at least our Shiraz, would go so well with the Indian meat — the soft meat with gravy. The red is an easy wine, the body of which is not very heavy and is absolutely suited for the Indian palate considering our spices and masalas,” says Kiran, adding, “a Chardonnay would go very well with poultry and seafood.”

She says a Sauvignon Blanc would go very well with vegetarian food. “It’s perfect with tomato-based, or pasta-based and herb dishes. This is also because the acidity is fresh and crispy.”

She finds it “heartening to see awareness about quality wines growing in India and the Indian palate maturing. “To quote a small example, among the red wines the Cabernet Sauvignon is a very full-bodied and complex wine compared to the Shiraz, which is very easygoing. But when people taste both and when you interact with them, they actually choose the Cabernet Sauvignon. That shows that Cabernet is for the mature wine consumer; he may not be able to explain why or what he liked — the aroma or the body — but he simply says I like it better. That is enough.”

On why more women prefer white over red wine — she too likes white better — she explains that the general characteristic of a red wine is that it has a lot of tannins. “For instance, it is like after you eat kala jamoon the kaccha (raw) taste remains in the mouth and women may not enjoy the tannins in a red wine. Red wines are normally very chewy and robust, a kind of man’s thing!”

Storing wines

On the ideal period for which a wine can be stored in Indian conditions, she says 3-5 years should be fine. But beyond that, if somebody tries to keep a wine for five or six years, and doesn’t store it at the right temperature, it is bound to turn sour or rancid.

On the company’s future plans she says apart from increasing capacity and more aggressive marketing, the efforts will be to position their products in the premium segment. “This is the most expensive Indian wine and typically our focus is on quality and not quantity; ours is a very modern, boutique winery, and we plan to begin exports soon.”

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Our grapes, our wines