The wine business suffered alike when the lockdown came into existence, Sumit Jaiswal, AVP - Marketing and Exim of Grover Zampa Vineyards tries to uncover the current status and prospect of wine tourism in India

Wine tourism in India started gathering attention in the past few years. However, due to the emergence of the pandemic, the progress made in wine tourism came to a brief standstill.

To deal with the change, when the lockdown was eased, wine businesses took the online route and started providing the option of home-delivery of products as a way to earn revenue.

According to ProWein Business Report 2020, a study conducted on behalf of ProWein by Geisenheim University’s Department of Business Administration and Market Research headed by Prof. Dr. Simone Loose and Heinz Küsters, Director of Market Research at Messe Düsseldorf, and their teams, Covid-19 is the biggest challenge for the global wine industry.

The research states that the wine trade was less affected than restaurants and hotels, with only 25 per cent of businesses getting shut/or witnessing a loss of turnover. And it mentions that as time progressed, 38 per cent of wine retailers reported increased sales since March 2020.

Back in India, the vaccination drive is on, and people have started venturing out either for a short escape from their routine life or for revenge travel. BW HOTELIER interacts with Sumit Jaiswal, AVP - Marketing and Exim, Grover Zampa Vineyards to understand what his winery is going through and what does the future entails for his business.

Retail will continue to drive the business

When asked about the wine business trajectory right after the lockdown, Jaiswal stated that the wine business had already started picking up in many states from June followed by the rest of the states since late September onwards, gaining very good momentum from mid-October. He continued, “The major sales were lost from the end of March till June. Sales have since then been more driven by local consumption from the retail channel reaching almost pre-COVID level, however the HORECA channel contribution also started increasing from end November.”

Commenting on the future of the business he said, “In 2021, given the high prevalence of the ongoing pandemic situation in the West, sales will be driven by the local population, but HORECA will gain more momentum and might return to pre-COVID level by October as the government’s vaccination drive also gains momentum amongst general population. Large gatherings and events will not be allowed, but sales should normalise in HORECA channel, and retail will continue to drive the business.”

Vineyard observes surge in footfall

After renovating the winery, Jaiswal says that they witnessed a 41 per cent increase in the number of visitors and an approximately 83 per cent jump in revenues. He further added, “During initial months of COVID, footfalls had reduced drastically, but it was gradually back to pre-COVID numbers again. Due to the pandemic, people are restricting their travel to nearby places that are also convenient to drive down and are exploring the nearest locations to unwind and relax. This can be a major reason for a surge in footfalls at the vineyard.”

HORECA - a hurdle in rebooting wine business

Expressing his opinion on the challenges on the path to recovery of the wine business, Jaiswal said, “Challenges remain with HORECA channel especially pertaining to business tourism as a lot of companies have restricted travel for employee safety and also to cut costs. Some states had levied a special COVID tax which is being removed on a gradual basis.”

“The business remains a challenge in certain places since foreign tourists have stopped coming in, who used to drive wine sales in these markets. Domestic tourists have not replaced the consumption entirely. Most of the situations were tackled by the management as the lockdown was removed in phases and the company was agile enough to handle the situation with tact,” he added.

Efforts to revive wine tourism

Speaking about the ways through which Gupta intends to revive his business, he commented, “The wine tourism has already started picking up with footfalls reaching pre-COVID levels. With stringent hygiene norms, we have started regular catering in our restaurant and also started doing brunches e.g., Valentine brunch, tie-up with 5 star properties for special brunches and events for launches. Digital marketing has been a huge focus, and we have leveraged the ongoing harvest season tour campaign where footfalls have gone up as one can see the entire process of harvesting, crushing, etc. as the winey is completely alive.”

New varieties to treat your taste buds

When you’re entering a new way of living in the ‘new norm’ with people acquiring new ways and tastes, reinventing one’s business seems like a natural step in the course of progression. Talking about the latest range of products introduced by Grover Zampa Vineyards, Jaiswal mentioned, “As the consumer is evolving and millennials have started to drink more wine, we are geared to cater to both ends of the spectrum. We have launched several new varieties and some new super-premium wines aged with concrete tanks, amphoras, etc., keeping in mind the upper end of the spectrum.”

“At the same time, we have also launched a more casual, fruit-forward, spiced mulled wine in One Tree Hill Range, perfect for get-togethers. The varieties to watch for are Riesling, Chardonnay, Grenache in our various portfolios of Art Collection, Chene, and La Reserve, respectively, along with our aged Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, Tempranillo, and sauvignon blanc fume style,” he added in conclusion.

This article was published in BW hotelier issue dated '' with cover story titled 'HYGIENE THE X FACTOR ISSUE VOL 7, ISSUE 2'