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 Fortant, J Moreau and Maison Bonpas are three of the wineries belonging to the Burgundy-based Jean Claude-Boisset group, that have been added to the portfolio that included Il Casone, Viña Edmara and Casa Sola already introduced almost a year ago for test marketing.
Another addition showcased was for Bordeaux lovers who would be able to buy wines from Pomerol, St. Emilion and a couple of variants from Haut Medoc, from the Bordeaux Negociant winery, Jean Pierre Moueix (JPM), at an estimated retail price of Rs. 6,000-9,000 each.
Bonpas is one of the oldest wineries from the Rhone region, founded in 1318. Two of its value-for-money wines Cotes Du Rhone Villages and Chateauneuf Du Pape (CDP) are part of the imported portfolio too. Fortant, the winery in Languedoc region had Chardonnay, Grenache Rose,Grenache Rouge and Cabernet Sauvignon varietals available for tasting at the event. Chablis being imported from the J Moreaux winery located just outside the village of Chablis was also uncorked to welcome the 300+ invitees at the Launch.
 Fabio Zardetto, owner of the Prosecco producer Zardetto had come from Conegliano, Italy as did Olivier Médigue, Export Manager for South East Asia, Oceania and Africa for the Boisset group, from France. Piero Masi , the Tuscany based winemaker of the company was also present although Alessio Secci, the Italian director had to give it a miss as he was taking part in the Indian Wine Show organised by APEDA in London where Fratelli was one of the five Indian wineries participating in order to promote Brand India.
Some of the wines have been selected out of the portfolio of Frinewinesnmore (FWM) in Mumbai who have exited the wine import business completely. Fast moving brands like Caliterra (Chile), J. Moreau and Zardetto come from the existing portfolio of FWM. The confusion on the role of Craig Wedge, former COO of FWM has also been removed now with him appointed as the Brand Manager of Fratelli. He presented the wines of the evening to the audience in the foyer of the swanky Mansion and later was pouring wines-especially at the high-in-demand Bordeaux counter.
 Import of wines was on the card has been for a year, especially as Fratelli had launched a few labels in October last year-in collaboration with their UK distributor. Kapil Sekhri had told delWine in May, 2015 that they were taking over the business from FWM- which was vehemently denied by Dharti Desai, founder owner of FWM. Later on, she had confirmed to delWine that she had indeed quit the import business but would continue with the retail business at her retail store with Direct Marketing and sales through tastings at her store to continue in her ownership.
DelWine had first got the wind of the impending exit when Arora met Fabio Zardetto at his winery near Conegliano in May this year. He had confided in Arora that there had been no orders from FWM for a long time-this when the Prosecco sales have been booming in India. Of course, Kapil Sekhri had also confided in Arora a couple of weeks later on his return that Fratelli had decided to continue with the import of Prosecco and had placed fresh orders on Zardetto which he confirmed.
Two variants of the entry level Private Cuvee Brut and Extra Dry (slightly sweeter version- in India there is an almost equal split between Brut and Extra-Dry).  Fabio spent considerable time during the current visit to meet the hospitality industry people. But as he confided in me, ‘I wish they would import Prosecco Superiore or docg which is from the classic area between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene and is slightly more expensive.’
Prosecco Superiore is universally considered to be a better product with more finesse but because of limited supply and increasing demand, the prices are generally 20-30% more expensive. Visit Prosecco Superiore is Superior to Prosecco
For details.
As Kapil Sekhri had told Arora earlier, the purpose of adding imported wine portfolio is to offer a complete range to the wine drinkers with a wider choice. They can choose from either the Indian or the imported wine portfolio. As Craig Wedge explained, ‘this is a mere beginning. We shall be  adding more labels next year but will keep in mind that the customer wants value-for money at each price point. We had to let go of the labels that were expensive and difficult to sell.’ Most of the wines added to the portfolio are between Rs. 1800-3000 range, Bordeaux excepted.
It is not an easy job to market imported wines in India. But the push from Fratelli ought to add to the sale increase for the imported wines. For example, there is a segment of snobbish consumers who would just not drink Indian wines but would gladly pay much more for an imported label with a much lower quality. These consumers may not have to go beyond Fratelli due to a reasonable range of wines that will soon be able from their stable.
The ‘Top Ten Imported Wines’ of delWine will be keeping a watch on Fratelli as well, to see if and when they enter this prestigious Club where the hierarchy is based on the sales volume of each producer. Currently Jacobs Creek imported by Pernod Ricard holds the top position, having pipped Brindco to the post earlier this year.
For related articles, visit < star interview- jean Charles Boisset)
Fratelli to take over Finewinesnmore?
Fratelli Takeover Deal of Frinewinesnmore off
Fratelli Diversifies into Imported Wines
Subhash Arora |