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It would truly be a trick question that would offset a student if WSET courses were to be custom- tailored for India and not the one-size-fits-all current syllabus. No. 1 Winery with maximum labels imported into India? Jacobs Creek, you say? Wrong. It is Antinori which is the king of wineries that has the maximum labels imported into India.
Despite the common refrain from the importers that they are cutting down on the labels due to high registration charges, the Tuscan family winery of Antinori has 44 labels imported into India out of which about 32 sell quite well and fast, according to the list shared by Farhad Bhabha, the CEO of Berkmann Cellars India with delWine.
The leading importer Brindco has been on a label chopping spree for various business strategy and administrative reasons has two of its top labels total up to match this number. Between their top two labels- Frescobaldi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild sharing 22-24 labels each.
Torres close number two
Another big surprise comes from Torres-recently voted as the Most Admired Wine Brand of the World. Imported by Prestige Wine and Spirits, a Torres JV, they import 37 wine labels and 3 brandy labels which are not recognised by delWine as a wine category, unfortunately. Sending the list, Sumit Sehgal, the Director of Prestige says that the number would be 50 if the different sizes were considered as a separate label. Unfortunately, that does not cut ice with delWine. And it remains at the No.2 slot.
The second largest importer in terms of selling multi-labels is Aspri. The Delhi-based Director Arun Kumar who had just finished attending Prowein called me from Germany to inform me that Zonin is their highest label -imported company with 14-15 labels, followed closely by Albert Bichot from Burgundy with 12 labels. Interestingly, both these labels were introduced by Brindco in the Indian market.
Antinori was introduced by Sanjay Menon of Sonarys (erstwhile Sansula) Mumbai. To know if Antinori is the top selling wine for Berkmann India in terms of volume, watch this space.
Subhash Arora
Antinori Labels Torres Labels |