Sula won the maximum Awards at overall 9 medals, including 2 silvers and 7 Bronzes, whereas Chandon won a more respectable 3 silvers with my favourite Rose Extra Brut scoring the highest 93 points out of all the Indian entries. Sette 2021 performance was rather disappointing, just making the cut for a Bronze at 86 points.

Decanter is one of the few Awards that also categorizes the price band as well. All the 18 Award Winning Indian wines for Instance are under £15 category, including the premium and super-premium wines. There seems to be a bit of anomaly here because the prices of average Indian wines winning medals are much less than the similar priced wines in markets like UK where £15 wines are not premium category  unless in India where wines costing over Rs. 1200 (£11) are generally considered in the premium category. Similarly, one would be hard-pressed to find any Chandon, Fratelli Sette and even Sula Rasa under £15 in India or anywhere else.

Chandon India, producer of premium sparkling wines under the same label Chandon, introduced for the first time a Still Red wine and that too in the super premium category at a price point of Rs. 4250 in Mumbai, making it the third most expensive red wine in India, after Signet (GroverZampa) and J’Noon (Fratelli); this was the most expensive Indian wine entering the competition.

Chandon Rose Sparkling wine seems to have changed its sugar level and the Brut has become Extra Dry, meaning they have made it sweeter for their Indian clients; it used to be a Rose Brut which implies sugar levels at less than 12 gms/Liter. For Indian bubbly lovers, 8-12 gms is usually considered the sweet spot, pun intended. Delice is the variant introduced by the parent company of Chandon to capture the latent market of those who cannot resist ice cubes in their drink when it is warm and muggy outside. Six pieces of small cubes, make it a perfect choice; one wonders if the judges tasted it with the specified 3 pieces of longish cubes in Europe!!

The Source Reserve Chenin Blanc got the highest 91 points for its Silver Medal winner. This relatively new label has been getting more and more attention from Sula as a premium label though the Source Rose Grenache disappointed with a score of 86 points for its Bronze.  Another small producer Soma Vineyards also bagged a Bronze with the same score of 86 for its Viognier Reserve 2023 vintage.

Chandon stakes claim to premium still wines

Moet Hennessy India has been promoting only sparkling wines and because of its links with the principal champagne maker Moet e Chandon, has been by default converting its champagne clients in India to drinking Chandon of which the price was increased by around 50% to Rs. 2500 with better packaging and a perceived better taste due to the marketing campaign. The Champagne market into India became a miniscule £1.44 million last year.

But a Statement was perhaps made last year when Chandon Aurva Shiraz Reserve 2021 was launched. I had tasted it at Mansionz in Bombay in October, 2023 and found it quite delicious though heavy on the pocket at Rs. 4250. It appears Chandon has discreetly announced to the trade and consumers alike that Chandon is entering the premium segment of still wine market in India. With the viticulture and marketing backbones, Chandon has entered this market. For more info on this strategy, keep on following the newsletter. Suffice it to say for now that the Silver medal won by the wine in its first attempt speaks well for their still wine making prowess.

Also Read : CHANDON launches Still Wine AURVA Shiraz

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Subhash Arora