Indus Wines (Terroir India Wineries)
THE FACTS
THE STORY
Though the company’s official name may be Terroir India Wineries, consumers, if they know its wines at all, will recognise it only as Indus Wines, which is its brand name, and by the distinctive pink lotus flower on its label. I must confess I had never seen or tasted a bottle of Indus before visiting the winery in the Igatpuri hills just outside Nashik.
Founder Abhijit Kabir, an architect by profession and with a desire to exchange the pressures of Mumbai property development for the tranquillity of rural India, decided to start making wine. His dream expanded and soon he was drawing the plans for a winery building to be situated on a rugged hillside overlooking Mukni Lake.
The 500,000-litre capacity, full gravity-flow construction is a concrete giant semi-hidden within the rocks. Fitted with tanks capable of storing 200,000 litres, the annual production is only a third of that, a telling tale of the nerve-racking rather than tranquil business of wine in India.
It was first thought that vineyards would line the private road leading to the winery, but despite viticulturist Dr Richard Smart’s initial involvement, the vineyards comprise only tiny plots down in the valley. Sparing no expense on expertise, Kabir had also at first employed John Worontschak as the consultant oenologist.
Sadly, the winery fell on hard times despite the dedication and effort spent to create something exceptional, and the present day is about survival. Creativity, however, has not evaporated and Kabir conceived the idea of Mumbaai Dreamz, an entry-level product range with snapshots of Mumbai life on the label. The yellow-and-black cabs, packed trains and old-fashioned red double-decker buses evoke the pulsating energy of the city.
Both the Indus and the Mumbaai Dreamz ranges are technically well-made and attractively packed, but they are not moving fast enough. That leaves Kabir with no option but to rely on sub-entry-level fructose-enriched Indian port and carbonated wine coolers to make up 70 per cent of the annual production. These are wines that sell, and cash is king in business.
Terroir India Wineries is trying hard to survive, but with low brand recognition and no financial resources, it is a fish that has washed ashore. It needs an angel investor to throw it back into the life-giving water, channelling Kabir’s creative energies into a sustainable business.
THE WINES
These are technically well-made, basic wines most of the time. Some should have been drunk earlier as the tannins were drying out and the fruits fading. Interestingly, the Mumbaai Dreamz range showed better, which leads me to conclude that blending is often overlooked as the winemaker’s tool to create well-balanced wines.
THE LABELS
Moksha: intended as the premium Shiraz, but the 2012 vintage was well beyond its best when tasted
Indus
- Chenin Blanc
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Shiraz
Mumbaai
Dreamz
- white
- red
- rosé
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