Food & Beverage News: Top Stories - India International Wine Fair & Gourmet Show 2009 opens

The two-day India International Wine Summit on "Overview of the wine market in India" and "The business case for the wine industry in India" was inaugurated at Grand Hyatt in Mumbai on March 16, as part of the 1st edition of India International Wine Fair & Gourmet Show 2009. Over 70 delegates from across the globe participated in the convention. Addressing the summit, Harshal Shah, Sommelier, Australian Sommelier's Association, said that in the last few years there had been many tie-ups between domestic wine and alcoholic beverages manufacturers and foreign manufacturers. "Still we don't have world class foreign wine brands in India," Shah said.

Speaking on "Overcoming India's restrictive import regime," Sanjay Menon, importer, Sonarys, and director for Wine Society of India, said, "India is comparatively a new wine drinking country in the world. Here, people have just started appreciating wine and there is scope for faster growth than other Asian countries like China, Singapore and Japan. Importing foreign wines and brands in India will help the domestic wine industry to grow, develop and improve their product quality and size of the market swiftly."

Menon also discussed the problems faced by the wine industry in the country. According to him, the development of the Indian wine industry faces a setback due to complex and time consuming import procedures by the government and banks, state-to-state taxation policies, PHO (public health officer) testing for every consignment, label registration obligation and lack of infrastructure & logistics like state-of-the-art bonded warehouse, cold chains and other wine storage devices.

"The expected market size of the Indian beverages market is about 200 million cases and 300 million cases of beer and country made wine respectively, whereas the country imports only about 2 lakh cases of premium wine every year. The world wine industry has the skill, experience, finances which can be shared to develop the alcoholic beverages market in the country," Menon added.

He asked the government to provide proper direction and assistance to develop the industry, wine consuming culture and recognise domestic manufacturers for their creation.

Speaking on "Geographical Indications and concept of origin," Rajiv Singhal, ambassador, Champagne in India, CIVC (Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne), said, "Geographical Indications (GI) certification is a Europe-based universally applicable law which indicates that the product is produced, processed and packed in a specific area. GI certifications help brand building and boost USP (unique selling point) of the product."

Concurrently, the first edition of India International Wine Fir & Gourmet Show 2009 (IIWF) was also inaugurated at Grand Hyatt. The three-day event attracted about 150 exhibitors from about 15 countries and over 500 foreign and 200 national visitors on day one. "The IIWF 2009 exhibition is a platform to showcase high-class and qualitative wine and alcohol products in India. At present, the Indian wine market is in its nascent stage and we are looking to tie-up with few domestic importers or manufacturers to foray into the market. We are also to introduce our premium wines by the end of this year or 2010," Claudio Ammirato, an Italy-based wine manufacturer, told Food & Beverage News.

David Wrigley, director for international development, Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), said, "The IIWF 2009 has an exclusive platform to showcase various state-of-the-art international products. With the growing Indian food & beverage industry, increasing health awareness and quality measures among the consumers and manufacturers, wine and spirits education and qualifications become vital. At WSET, we promote, provide and develop high quality education in wines and spirits for traders and consumers. We also design courses, produce teaching and learning materials and operate through a network of Approved Programme Providers (APPs) around the world." WSET is one of the leading wine and spirits schools in the world with about 350 APP in over 47 countries.

The 2nd edition of International Wine Fair & Gourmet Show will take place on January 21-23, 2010, under the banner "India International Spirits Show."