In India, wine industry struggles to take root
But how do Indian wines taste? Well, they're fruity, sweet and have a "deficiency in complexity and texture," according to Stephane Soret, head sommelier at the Imperial, a luxury hotel in New Delhi.
The Imperial doesn't include any Indian bottles on its 500-label wine list — though the bar does stock a few Indian labels — but Soret, a Frenchman, says he likes some Indian wines and is cautiously optimistic about the industry.
Robert Joseph, a British wine writer familiar with Indian wines, says India's wine culture is too young to have developed a style, but he said many wines here share "a lack of ripeness" and "a lack of sophistication."
Still, several international wine experts have spoken favorably of some of the popular bottles, primarily Grover, Chateau Indage and Sula, which is served in fashionable restaurants in London and New York.
There are now more than 50 wineries in India, nearly all in the western state of Maharashtra, and the wine boom has created a new crop of wine bars, tasting rooms and vineyard tours, which are slowly beginning to attract tourists.
Farmers in Maharashtra are lining up to convert their crops into wine grapes, and fields of merlot and cabernet sauvignon are sprouting across the hills of Nashik, a region with a comfortable climate and friendly regulatory laws. Farmers say their profits have doubled since they started selling to wineries.
Samant, the head of Sula, which sold nearly 2 million bottles last year, sees his company's fortunes riding on the tastes of the millions of IT workers and young professionals who have disposable income and have been exposed to the West.
"People now get good paying jobs right out of college and ... they reject the habits of their parents' generation where the father drank whiskey, the mother didn't drink. What's the kid going to do? Wine is a very obvious choice."
But even the most successful wineries doubt wine will become a national sensation.
"Wine is an alien drink," said Kapil Grover, director of Grover Vineyards. "It's not going to the Indian village. It's going to stay in the top 2 percent of the population."
Still, that accounts for more than 20 million people — roughly the population of Australia.
"I think the next two or three generations of my family will be kept very busy," Grover said.
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