December 5, 2014

There is much progress to be made, but there exists a huge potential for the nascent domestic wine industry in India which is expanding at 13% annually. As increasing numbers of Indian consumers enter the middle class many upwardly mobile consumers are gaining a taste for wine as societal taboos about alcohol consumption are receding. India’s first vineyards were established 15 years ago, and over the past decade 90 wineries have begun operations across Karnataka and Maharashtra. Sula Vineyards, India’s largest domestic vineyard sold 600,000 cases of wine in 2013 – up from barely 500 cases in 2000. Much has changed over the past five years. One of the most dynamic shifts is among wine consumption by middle class Indian women, who account for only 3% of wine drinkers but whose numbers are increasing at twice the rate of men. Currently the wine culture within the country is basically restricted to the country’s largest cities, however wine companies are beginning to target secondary and tertiary cities and smaller towns.

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