Location: Vinchur Wine Park, Nashik
State: Maharashtra
Founded: 2006
Major shareholders: Pradeep Sarda
Total area: n/a
Area under vine: n/a
Production: 58,500 litres
Google map: n/a
Located
in the nearly defunct Vinchur Wine Park, the India Food Company is one of the
few wineries still in operation. Mumbai-based entrepreneur Dr Pradeep Sarda set
up shop in 2006, adding the winery to a portfolio of business interests that
include an international private school, paper and marble manufacturing, and
construction. David Rowe, the France-based British consultant winemaker,
advised the architect and directed winemaking during the first vintage in 2007.
The
winery was originally designed for a capacity of 310,000 litres, but barely a
sixth is utilised today for crushing Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc for the
whites and Zinfandel, Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon for the reds. All grapes are
sourced from growers in the Solapur, Osmanabad and Baramati sub-regions of Pune
in southern Maharashtra.
The
majority of the wines, however, are produced from two non-vinifera varieties,
Bangalore Blue and Bangalore Purple, as these crop at least twice a year and
thus prove far cheaper. The India Food Company also uses a considerable amount
of Thompson Seedless and Sunaka for the low-segment products.
At
the time of my visit, there were plans to release flavoured and carbonated
wines in time for the Christmas season. Inevitably, wineries at the lower end
of the market are jumping on to the bandwagon, trying to survive in a segment
of almost no margins. These strawberry-, lychee-, orange- and lemon-flavoured
wine coolers are supposedly going to quench the thirst of the consumer, make
money for the winery and, of course, move old and unsold stocks out of the
cellar.
The
quality is very basic at best. I tasted the Vin & Valour 2014 vintage
Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc from tank and they were acceptable at the
lowest end of entry level, which means that they are not competitively value
for money. The other wines from the India Food Company were overly oxidised and
too tired to be palatable.
- Vin
& Valour: the most widely advertised
product, classified as the premium range by the winery, at best an
acceptable-quality basic table wine
- Lisa
- U&V
- Lisa
Port
