by Subhash Arora
Diageo's plans to produce Indian wine have reached final stages. The alcohol giant is in advanced talks to ink a strategic alliance with either Mount View or Renaissance Winery in the Nashik region. Diageo India is
quite serious about Mount View winery, owned by Hambir Phadtare, who has been a viticulturist since the early eighties. He started a vineyard in 1997 and has been a supplier to leading wineries including Sula. He set up Mountain View three years ago.
Renaissance, a relatively new comer, has its facility at Ozar near Nashik and its wines have been well received by the market. The winery has also had suitors like Vijay Mallya's United Spirits for cooperation. United has now announced its plans to set up a 3.5 million litre capacity winery with Sharad Pawar's family in Baramati District, near Pune.
Diageo has long been scouting for a presence in India's fast-growing wine market. It had even hired Sula's marketing head, Adrian Pinto, to develop the domestic business. They had wooed Sula unsuccessfully. Though he did admit that a few preliminary meetings were held, Rajeev has repeatedly denied any alliance.
The company is more cautious in making any statements this time and would only reiterate its interest in producing Indian wines, saying that it was in talks with many wineries in Nashik, India 's wine capital. Says Diageo India managing director, Asif Adil: "We plan to enter into a partnership with a winery in Nashik to market a domestic label."
No agreement, though, has yet been inked with any winery.
This step will mark the entry of British maker of Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff into the emerging domestic Indian wine market. Diageo is unlikely to pick up stake in a winery, though. It would roll out India specific labels through a bottling arrangement only.
