In a brief tête-à-tête with Abhay we discuss some pertinent issues related to the making of Four Seasons wines and its future in India as also in the international market. Abhay Kewadkar has learnt his wine making technicality in France and knows his work well.
What is the concept behind promoting the Four Seasons wines?
The concept of Four Seasons wines has always been to give to the consumer value for money wines, with pure grape varietals expression. We feel that some of the wines available in India today are far too expensive for the quality and do not adhere to information given on the label. This only confuses the consumer, creating another barrier to expand present consumer base which is very small. It took us one year to conceive & execute the whole project.
What production are you aiming for? What is the growth sustainability
plan?
The production in the first year will be 1.5 million bottles, to be scaled up 1 million cases at the earliest. The industry is growing today at 40%. However the base for wine is very small, hardly 1% of spirits sales, by international standards this should be 50%. UB group will expand its growth beyond 40% with focus on education, awareness and accessibility. This will help industry growth much beyond 40%.
Do you foresee a good export market for Four Seasons wines? Do you see it
in the French market too?
We aim to export 30% of our production, with focus on Europe and US. Well, France does export wines to all over the world being a leading wine manufacturing country. But they do import wines from all over the world as well. Wine Industry benefits with more & more choice being offered to the consumer, as regards to Grape varieties, country of origin and different years of
harvest. Also, Indian cuisine today is very popular all over the world; this is an automatic entry for Indian wines in International market.
What do you consider as a true asset of your Indian wines?
Ultimate strength of Indian wine will be what French term as “Terroir”. We have very good sun at the time of harvest, leading to very aromatic and ripe fruit style. Moreover it will have consistent style between one year to other, owing to less variation in the climate as against European climate wherein there can be big variations and some years can be quite disastrous.
Four Seasons wines will be true expressions of Terroir and varieties with good penetration in distribution & marketing strength. Could you sum up the UB group’s current wine interest?
Today UB group has in its portfolio the Bouvet-Ladubay wines; the winery the group owns is in Loire valley in France. Apart from that we have wines made in India there is the Four Seasons and ZINZI wines which have been recently launched. Under United Vintners Ltd the group is importing wines from France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Italy, Chile and some other countries will shortly follow under our umbrella.
Courtesy: http://www.ambrosiaindia.com