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 GroverZ has not let go of the accelerator ever since Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection Red & White wines were launched on June 29, 2014 at Wimbledon where he had been an active Indian tennis celebrity for years.
This was followed by a series of Launches -September 2014 in Bangalore & Mumbai and Delhi in October, 2014; going international again in December 2014 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and October 2015 in California where he now resides. The evening at Pullman was an informal get-together of journalists, bloggers and sommeliers to commemorate the second anniversary of a celebrated wine from the Grover Zampa portfolio. Besides Amritraj, Ravi Jain, Director of the company and Sumedh Singh Mandla, CEO were present along with the senior sales and marketing team.
VA Reserve Collection
Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection red and white, are both barrel fermented wines. White is a 100% Viognier varietal, fermented & aged in new French barrels for 3 months and kept in the bottle for 6 months. Red is a Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blend with 65%; the balance being Shiraz (32%) and a dash of Viognier (3%). It’s aged in New French Oak for 12 Months followed by 6 months in the bottle.
VA Reserve Collection is not for everyone; each variant retails for almost Rs. 1400 a bottle each- the most expensive wine from the GroverZ Portfolio barring Chene. It is available nationally in all the key markets. Besides, during two years since the Launch it has also made presence in the export markets in his home base USA besides UK, France, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
The wine forms a very small part of the total sales of the company but contributes many times over to the quality image. ‘Out of a total sales of about 200,00 cases which included 110,000 cases of premium wine and the balance being Port, VA Collection sold under 2,000 cases. We hope to sell 3,000 cases this year but besides the price factor, we cannot make many more cases of such high quality without affecting our regular production. It is this high quality though that has won many Awards for the duo starting from the maiden vintage,’ says Sumedh.
Medals and Awards
I find the White Viognier a tad too oaky-unless it is well paired with food. This also reflects in the International Awards where both shared 4 medals each in the last 2 years in Cathay Pacific HKIWSC, New York IWSC, DWWA and DAWA. White won 1 Silver and 3 Bronze whereas the Red came back with 3 Silver and 1 Bronze. They need to either cut down the barrel maturation or have different blends with older oak barrels as well; some tweaking could help.
During the interludes between him getting pictures taken and chatting with endless stream of people with whom he mixed freely, the beaming Vijay Amritraj seemed much more relaxed, confident and free-spirited than when I met him a couple of years ago at the Launch at the Leela. When I told him about my long-time belief that India needed a Bollywood star or a sports celebrity to jump start the popularity of wines, he agreed instantly and said it happened in the US all the time but the quality was also important.
It’s the quality that makes another Hollywood celebrity, Pierce Brosnan who reigned the world of James Bond as ‘007’ from 1994-2005, (Vijay Amritraj had also acted in a James Bond Movie Octopussy in 1983 during his heyday as an active international tennis star) reportedly orders a couple of cases of VA Reserve Collection as he loves the wines.
Exports to be Key Focus
Encouraged perhaps by the positive acceptance and response of these super premium wines, Grover is focussing more on exports. Sumedh says, ‘Exports is our key focus in 2016-17. We aim to put Indian wines on the world wine map (Sula, Fratelli and KRSMA are already bidding in this arena-editor). We want international consumers to experience quality Indian wines in the best Indian restaurants as well as in the mainstream market. Our focus brands for exports include: Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection, La Reserve, Art Collection and Soiree' sparkling wine range which is now also being produced in Bangalore since April for the Karnataka market.’
The company has been exploring new markets and has recently added Maldives, Taiwan and Nepal to its bouquet of 23 importing countries which they aim to increase to 30, says Sumedh.With about 20,000 cases exported last year, France is their biggest market, followed by Japan and UK. But their focus has been on the US market for the last year and a half.
Focus on the US market
 ‘We introduced our wines in US market towards the end of 2014. They are currently being sold in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Illinois, Washington State and Oregon. We are confident of starting the distribution in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware and Texas in the next few months. Grover Zampa currently sells in Indian restaurants, wine bars and premium retail stores,’ says a beaming Sumedh.
Sumedh who had just returned from a trip to the US and Canada was very excited about the experience. He says, ‘this trip provided us with a great insight into the US market. Being the a 4th largest wine producer and the largest wine consumer in the world, USA offers unchartered territory and a big opportunity for us and all quality wine producers in the world.’
During his visit they also hosted a couple of special events. ‘In Los Angeles along with Vijay Amritraj, we hosted a media and consumer Indian wine and food pairing Lunch at a renowned Indian restaurant, India Tandoori. The wines were very well received and covered by various wine journalists and bloggers. In New York, we hosted a consumer and media event at a charming wine bar called Bar Veloce. I spent time with journalists, consumers, Food & Beverage trade and the current & potential distributors.’
India’s Most Expensive Wine
As was reported earlier in the 9th February edition #684 of delWine this year, Sumedh reaffirmed that India’s ‘Most Expensive Wine’ would be launched before this Diwali. ‘We will be launching a super premium wine before Diwali. It will be a single vineyard, hand harvested, hand processed, small batch, barrel fermented Shiraz aged in barrel for 24 months followed by 6 months in the bottle. It will be launched in magnum packs and shall be sold by invitation only.’ Though he would not confirm the price, it is expected to be around Rs. 5000 for the magnum.
Grover Zampa and Vijay Amritraj both seem to be pleased with the collaboration as it has given a lot of synergy. One hopes that the GroverZ wines continue with their northward journey in quality along with the quantity with a commensurate push to their export endeavour.
We raise a toast to the second anniversary of VA Reserve Collection and say Jai Ho!
Subhash Arora
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