 Australia’s share of wine sales in India increased by a whopping 72% to over 73,500 cases in 2012 from 48,800 cases four years ago in 2008, according to the Study which has been done globally for 28 wine producing countries. The French wines are shown to have dwindled in their share to barely 60,000 cases.
Aussies might smirk while the French seethe with anger. Sale of 73,500 cases from Australia and only 60,000 from France!? Something seems to be amiss. Although the Aussie Jacobs Creek, the leading single imported brand in India, considered to be the Johnny Walker Black Label by the novices, sold between 30,000-35,000 cases (the study needs to elaborate) the next popular brands Yellow Tail and Lindeman sell 4-5000 cases between them (estimates are based on interviews with Berkmann India and Mohan Bros, importers of the two labels.
It seems highly unlikely that other Australian labels would make up the sale of balance 35,000 cases-unless the figures include import of bulk wines which have been a regular feature in the past and delWine has often written about it in the past.
The figure of 60,000 cases for France appears to be low (with total estimated import of 280,000 in the study, it implies about 21.5% share which according to most estimates hovered between 35-40% till recently. While, I would like the French to comment about the figures, it is pertinent to keep in mind that Moet Chandon alone sells between 25,000-30,000 (9-liter) cases of Champagne and has been increasing its shares consistently- like Jacobs Creek. Between the two, they are the top two selling single wine labels in India.
Curiously, at a similar briefing in 2010 which I attended in Delhi, the IWSR Study had then proclaimed the sale of 1.709 million cases while the current study shows the reduced consumption at only 1.2 million cases! It had put the figure of red wine consumption at 72% for 2009 and further predicted that it would rise to 78% in 2013. I had then commented ‘until I see the full IWSR report and analyse reasons for their optimism and seeing red, I would surmise- based on the figures collected from producers that the reds are consumed between 60-62%, Rose at 3-5% and the balance 33-37 % are white wines.’ (Blog: Red, Red Wine). I could not lay my hands at the report but interestingly, the current study puts the consumption of red wine at 61%!
One major assumption that the Study has not cared to clarify is whether it has considered the low- ended fortified wined including the so called Goan ‘Port’ and other unfortified Ports (natural Ports where Sula is the uncrowned king with an estimated sales of 200,000 cases this year. This 1.2 million+ case sub-Rs.150 category is the biggest and fastest growing market segment and does not seem to find mention in the study.
Study does have some interesting findings. It shows that the sales of Italian wines increased faster than French wines- by 104% while the consumption of Chilean wines went up by about 76%. It claims an increase of 16.3% in wine consumption between 2012 and 2013. (One can surmise that the study refers to the calendar year whereas, traditionally, the figures released are for the financial year Apr-Mar)
Indian wine consumption is expected to grow by 73.5% increase expected in the next 4 years, according to the Study. It predicts doubling of the sales of sparkling wine which is now a distinct possibility with the introduction of Chandon by Moet Hennessey India and the consequent expansion of this segment and more of the producers adding sparkling wine to their portfolio and the existing ones turning more aggressive because of the Chandon arrival.
Vinexpo turning Spiritual
Talk to any wine importer in India and he would lament that it is becoming increasingly important to add spirits to the wine portfolio for sustained growth. For the current edition in Hong Kong on May 27-29, Vinexpo has gone ‘spiritual’ too. Deglise said that that a pavilion titled as ‘Spiritual’ was being dedicated to liquor products at Hong Kong. This was for the first time that this new concept was being launched outside the biennial event in Bordeaux. The move is apparently to focus on the Asia Pacific market which he said, was now the single largest consumer of wine (3.4 billion bottles) and spirits.
The ‘India Conference’ at Four Seasons Hotel was attended by our Mumbai Correspondent Maloo Natarajan who had a chat with Guillaume Deglise CEO of Vinexpo, He is quite bullish about the Chinese markets but conceded that the Indian market didn’t even fall in his radar as the consumption was so small. On the question of Chinese buying vineyards in France, he clarified that Bordeaux was always owned by other nationalities (even Rothschilds and Corinne Mentzelopoulos, owner of Chateau Margaux are outsiders) and that it was not a concern for the French. The Conference sponsored by Sula whose CEO Rajeev Samant also attended the activities for a while, had a relatively poor attendance of around a dozen people since Vinexpo Hong Kong is not of as much interest to India as the Vinexpo (Bordeaux) which is attended by most importers.
For a related article regarding Vinexpo 2012 click Vinexpo Hong Kong Sold Out
Subhash Arora |