India Wine

As the grape-crushing season began early February, expectations are that it will be about 10,000-16,000 tonnes, yielding 62.5 lakh to one litres of wine, according to an estimate.

With an estimated two crore litres of wine lying with wineries across Maharashtra, the country’s leading producer, it’s no surprise that sentiment among wine makers is subdued despite increased sales over the past couple of months. Turning adversity into an opportunity, some wine brands launched low or affordablypriced products, and expectations are that the positive sales trend will continue this year also. More low-priced offerings are expected to hit the market as wineries try to empty their tanks.

The unseasonal rains in the country’s major grape-growing area of Nashik during November have hit the harvest by close to 40 per cent. This will mean there will be fewer grapes to crush just when wineries are not too keen on crushing. With rates having dropped and output hit, more farmers might be able to sell their produce to wineries since the contracted grape growers could fall short. He added that the current situation of excess wine could translate in the next couple of years into a shortage.

India’s wine market for products priced over Rs 600 per bottle, including imports, covers 25 lakh bottles. The liquor-to-airlines conglomerate, UB Group, which has a winery in Baramati, expects to start crushing by the end of February.

August 2010 - Indian Wine Portal (blog)

The creme de la creme of the international wine world gathered for two days of discussions, presentations and tastings at Domaine De La Verrierre, producers of award-winning Chene Bleu wines, in the small village of Crestet high in the Dentelles de Montmirail region of the Southern Rhone Valley. About an hour and a half away from Marseilles by car, the area is picture-book pretty and the weather was glorious. The wines - 100% varietal or a blend of over 65% Grenache - made a heady combination.

Grenache is a very versatile grape and is produced in a variety of styles. Perhaps it's best known to Indians as a rose from the South of Frnace. Garnacha, its Spanish avatar, is Spain's most common red grape, producing rich, spicy reds from mature vines in the northern part of the country. If you are a wine novice, Grenache is the ideal red wine to get you going, with its supple tannins, silky texture, and pleas aroma and flavor profile of red and dark fruit.

Turning to this issue of the magazine, read about another superb example of a particular region and grape varietal - "steep slope" Rieslings from the Mosel region of Germany, which is the subject of our lead feature on page 20. This, too, is a grape variety not so well known or commonly consumed in India. However, with some excellent examples coming into the country from producers such as Schloss Vollrads, St. Urbans-Hof, Erns Loosen, Ulrich Langguth and Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, you have no excuse to remain uninformed.

With many other articles to read and wines to try, I'll you to uncork the rest of the issue yourself. When picking wines from our award-winning list on page 50, remember these ratings are not absolute, but pertain to particular bottles attested at a particular time in particular category by some of the best palates in the country. Beyond this you must form your own opinion, and the more wine you taste, the better judge you'll be.

Editor's Note: Get Going with Grenache - Sommelier India (blog)

Using delegated powers, planning officers at Hart District Council approved an application by a Mr Kabir to change the former Wine Rack building in London Road, into a curry house.

But Hart council now has to deal with a second “change-of-use” application for the site, this time by Dentalcare Limited, which wants to build a dental practice with room for NHS patients.

The decision to approve the curry house came despite 20 letters of objection, an objection by Hook Parish Council, and a petition with more than 180 signatures from residents and neighbouring shop owners.

They feared a curry house would lead to more parking, particularly on the residential Elms Road that runs behind the shop. They were also concerned about fumes.

Dental surgery joins race to take over wine shop - Basingstoke Gazette

The aftermath of the 2010 FIFA World Cupâ?¢ has seen definite benefits to the wine industry in South Africa. As Su Birch, CEO, Wines of South Africa (WOSA), noted, "For the most part there has been a marked increase in sales volumes amongst those countries with a high level of interest in soccer." "Other exciting developments have been a 33% growth to Japan, and a more than doubling of sales to both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China, albeit off a smaller base. Even to competitor countries such as France, New Zealand and Australia, sales were up," she noted.

Distell's Nederburg, South Africa's only wine brand licensed to carry the official FIFA logo and which produced a trio of wines to mark South Africa's hosting of the games, also reported strong sales growth in many of the countries with fervent football fans.

What's more, the impact of the games was not only confined to overseas sales. Some producers reported excellent domestic sales too, most notably, Vinimark, the country's largest independent specialty wine wholesaler, representing many leading names in local wine. And this was at a time when the industry worldwide had seen a significant fall-off in sales through licensed establishments.

Birch believed the tournament had brought many intangible benefits too, such as increased visibility for South Africa and its wines and the likely increase in tourism to the Cape that in turn is expected o translate into future growth in wine exports. This is especially the case in countries where knowledge of South Africa as a wine-producing country is still in its infancy.

Vuvuzelas now sound for wine in South Africa - Sommelier India (blog)

Nashik, Jul 29 (PTI) The city-based York Wineries has bagged the International Wine Challenge 2010 award at the London Fair for its reserve cabernet sauvignon wine."Our winery formed in 2008 in city's greenery area near Gangapur dam also earlier bagged two best medals at the Sommelier India Wine Competition 2009 for its reserve shiraz products," Ravi Shyamdasani and Ravi Gurnani, Managing Director and Director of York Winery told reporters here yesterday.York Winery presently producing eight types of wines in its well equipped factory. "The company will be launching its new brand next month, late harvest chenin blanc, which is a desert wine. Our tasting room has been functional since one year and we are starting a full-fledged restaurant here," the duo said.York Winery is located in nine hectares of land of which six acres consists of a vineyard with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon being the first varieties planted in 2005."We are also launching sparkling wine. We have separate fermentation areas for red and white wine and the process equipments have been imported from Italy," they said.Besides, the winery has around 90 acres of vineyards under contract farming in the region for supply of grapes, they added.York is also currently exporting its wines to UK market under a different brand called 'Mantra' besides exports to USA, Hong Kong, West Africa, Japan and UAE, they said."Besides exporting, our wines are also sold in the domestic market in Mumbai, Nashik. We are also looking to expand its distribution in other cities like Pune, Goa nd New Delhi," Shyamdasani said.

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Nashik''s York Winery bags Wine Challenge award at London - IBNLive.com