Indian wine may soon enter Thai market

BANGKOK: Indian wine, which is slowly making itself seen in wine cellars in several countries, could soon enter the vast Thailand's vast market as an accompaniment to spicy Thai cuisine.


"The Thai palate is similar to the Indian palate, our wines are well suited to Thai and Indian cuisine," Jagdish Holkar, Chairman of Indian Grape Processing Board and owner of Flamingo Vinyard told PTI.

Holkar and some other Vineyard owners were here as part of a Agriculture Processed Food Export Development Authority ( APEDA) delegation to showcase Indian wines.

Holkar was of the view that French wine did not go well with Indian or Thai food which were spicy.

Another Vineyard owner Dr J P Gupta who claimed to be the only person so far to have produced wine from Lychee and Mango, said what the west offered were Lychee or Mango flavoured wines made from grapes.

"Western people cheated India. They said only grapes can make wine," he said adding that he made 100 per cent fruit wine.

He claimed that wine connoisseurs in Germany were "mersmirised" with the wine made from fruit.

At a wine tasting function organised by Indian Ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa, Wine connoisseurs, wine writers and hoteliers tasted Indian Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling.

People also tasted Lychee and Mango wines. Holkar said that India produced several types of grapes and was lucky to be blessed with the weather suitable for grape cultivation.

The Indian wine industry with its 90 wineries and a fast expanding manufacturing base is poised to make a breakthrough in new markets.

"Thailand has a cosmopolitan atmosphere in its major cities and a thriving service industry where there is natural demand for new age wines from counties like India," Ambassador Wadhwa said.

"The wine tasting event was organised with APEDA for the sole purpose of getting the wine importers, writers and those from the hotel and service industry to get to know about the whole range of Indian wines " he said.

"We hope to reach a level of exports equivalent to 10 million dollars from the current 5 million us dollars within the next two years," Wadhwa added.

India has wine growing regions like Nashik Valley, Sahyadri Valley and Krishna Valley in Maharashtra, Nandi Valley in Karnataka, and some northern foot hills of Himalaya.