Indian Wines – India's Big 3

- Chateau Indage, Grover Vineyards, Sula Vineyards

India's wine industry has three big players - Indage, Sula and Grover. All are family owned (the third generation Grover is already getting trained in the US in viticulture) and all have their origins in their founders’ passion for wine. 

Chateau Indage

Location: Narayangaon (80 kms from Pune), Maharashtra
First wine launched in: 1982

India’s oldest and largest winery, Indage is in high spirits this year – celebrating its 25 years in the domestic wine industry. Indage was the first producer of champagne or sparkling wine and it remains their best seller even today – sold in India as Marquise de Pompadour and exported as Omar Khayyam. This champagne was also their flagship product. Indage has the largest and most varied portfolio.

The Founder Chairman of the Indage group, Shamrao Chougule now looks after the estate vineyards at Narayangaon in Maharashtra, while younger son Ranjit is the Managing Director of Champagne Indage Ltd. that currently produces close to 100 brands of red, white and sparkling wines.

Market share – 70%

Portfolio – close to 100 brands

Wine hierarchy – Vino, Riviera, Chantilli, Ivy, Tiger Hill, Indage Premium Reserve

Exporting wine brands to more than 60 nations – including UK, France, Sweden, Singapore and Dubai

Best selling wine - Chantilli, Riviera & Ivy

Best selling export wines - Omar Khayyam, & Mist of Sahyadri

Growth in the last 25 years

“25 years ago, Indage sold 10,000 bottles a year. This year, Indage will sell 15 million bottles. In 10 years, we foresee a wine market of at least 500 million bottles.”

Thrust – on making wine affordable and popular by targeting all income groups and making wine available in all price segments and now looking at selling wine also in tetra packs. Vino, made from two Indian table grape varieties and marketed in PET bottles, retails at Rs 115.

Major Awards - International Wine & Spirit Competition – London, Decanter, & Wine Style Asia - Singapore

 
Ranjit Chougule - extreme left in the picture - with brother and father

Managing Director, Champagne Indage Ltd

Age: 34

Education: MBA, City University, UK

Married

1^st job:  Joined his father as a management trainee ten years ago in 1997

Other interests – sports, music, cars

Favourite Indage wines: Ivy Brut (‘I can have it at any time of the day’) and Chantilli Merlot 2004