Local wines push imported wines to second place in India. N D Wines leads the race.

PRLog (Press Release) – Apr 18, 2008 – It is good time for wine-makers and connoisseurs of wines in India. The Indian wine market has grown by 40 percent last year and is expected to surpass the growth figure this year. Contrary to popular belief that imported wines rule the roost in the Indian market, local wine makers have led the growth. Leading the current wave of upheaval in the Indian Wine Market is N.D. Grapes Pvt Ltd, one of the illustrious names in Indian wine Industry. After enjoying huge success in exporting wine & table grapes N D Wines have now become India’s second largest grape-crushers.

Last year, 7.6 million liters of wine was consumed that included 1.5 million liters of foreign wines. This year, the consumption has grown to 11.25 million liters of grape crush.

India’s grape crush also gained a record jump in tones for this fiscal year ended on March 2008, up by many percentage points from the 2007 grape crush, according to the Preliminary Grape Crush Report released by The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

According to the report, N D Wines accounted for the Second Largest Percentage of crush volume of the total grape crush. Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed during this period.

Wine Market in India is expanding fast and it is a good potential market for Indian wine Manufactures too.

Grape-crush in India is set to triple by 2011 to touch 17 million litres per annum, according to a study conducted by UK-based International Wines and Spirits Records (IWSR).

Consumption among India's billion-strong population is more than seven million bottles a year. That is equivalent to half a teaspoon per head, compared with 20 litres per head in Britain. Market watchers are expecting rise in Indian wine consumption ratio.  

As per the study, wine consumption in India stood at six million litres in 2006 and in the last four years, it has risen by over four times. "Contrary to popular belief that only imported wines are mainly consumed, most wines consumed in the country is locally produced, accounting for 75 per cent of the total volume,” says the report.

Historically, grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is grown mostly for wine making in the world over. In India, on the contrary, remarkable success has been achieved in table grape production and now the yield levels of fresh grapes are among the highest in the world.  At present in India grape is grown over an area of 60,000 ha with an annual production of 1.6 million tonnes (FAO, 2005).

Leading the race of wine farming in India is the state of Maharashtra. About 38 private wineries have come up in the country, out of which 36 exist in Maharashtra alone. There is one winery each in Karnataka and Goa.

In Maharashtra, wine grapes are grown in 3 regions, such as Pune - Narayangaon, Nashik and Sangli - Solapur areas. It is expected when N D vineyards start yielding in about 2-3 years, around 5,000 tons of wine grapes will be ready for crushing each year yielding on an average of 20 lakh litres of wine annually.  There is a steep annual growth rate of about 20% in the present turn over of around Rs. 200 crores for the wine industry. Besides this, demand for imported wines from the N D Wines stable is increasing day by day in India.  The total investment on wineries of Maharashtra was Rs. 77.75 crores in 2004 and rose to Rs. 109.17 crores in 2005. Despite of all this competition arising in the field N D Wines is able to keep its position on highest.

How is Wine made:

Wine is the product of the fermentation by yeast of grape juice or grape must, grape juice that still contains the fruit's skins and seeds. Once the grape sugar has been completely consumed, fermentation is complete, and wine has been produced. The science that deals with wine making is known as Enology.
 
While the basic production elements of wine are simple, manipulation of the grapes, juice or must, and wine to produce the desired combination of flavors and aromas is very difficult, and many recognize this process as an art form. N D Wines try to optimize production of specific aromas and flavors described with terms like cherry, chocolate, vanilla etc and minimize the formation of negative flavors and aromas described as wet dog, plastic and rotten egg. It is also important that the wine acids and alcohol are balanced. If the wine is too acidic, the wine may taste sour. If the ethanol level is too high, the wine will have a strong taste of alcohol.

The single most important factor that contributes to a wine's character is the grapes that are used for crushing. Grapes influence the wine's flavor, alcohol content, acidity, and even its color. N D wines uses best quality grapes for its wines, and this is the prime reason for the change in taste and quality of other wines and N D Wines.

ABOUT N. D. WINES PVT. LTD.

Within a short period, N. D. Grapes became the most favored brand in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, and Europe etc. The brainchild of Ashok Gaikwad, the company initially began as a table-grape exporter under the brand N.D Wines in 1993. In 2004 they entered into wine manufacturing as well as exporting. Before launching wine under the banner of N.D. Wines Pvt. Ltd. they have exported wine to Sula a brand name in Indian market. Now, they have entered into the competition and are all set rule the national as well as international market.

N. D Grapes, the first company to get the distinction of single largest exporter of India, is regular and sole supplier to J. Sainbury, Tesco and Mark’s & Spencer’s. It supplies much of the grapes and wine to better-known producers. Today N.D. wines has a strong hold in major states across India like Maharashta, Goa, Diu, Daman, Silvassa, Rajasthan, U. P, Chandigarh, Karnatka, M. P etc. It’s served in best of hotels but even served in the prestigious and luxurious trains like The Deccan Odyssey: promoted by Maharashtra government and Palace on wheels promoted by Rajasthan government. Not only this growing wine culture in India has lead them to increase their productivity from 5.5 lacs of bottles to 8.75 lacs of bottles in coming year.

The mounting demand of wine in bourgeois society has escorted them to come up with an exclusive Syrah, Galaxy, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc.