7 Best Indian Wines You Must TryAnoothi Vishal   |  Updated: June 23, 2016 15:46 ISTTweeterfacebookGoogle Plus RedditRelated VideosNapa, a wine countryAditya goes down the memory lane in SanawarRhone wine regionThe good thing about writing on wine in a country which is still a nascent market is that one gets to revisit the shelf again and again to see how things are coming along. Thus, what would pass as a strong habit, bordering on addiction, can be underwritten as an earnest effort to merely keep oneself well informed of what’s happening in the wine world. We still don’t have the concept of vintage in India, which means that even the top wines will more or less taste similar, no matter which year they are made in. Part of the reason for this is that we don’t store wines long enough to see a marked difference show up, but the other reason is that very few wines are made in a manner to exhibit individuality over uniformity. Nevertheless, the quality of wine produced in India has been going up steadily over the years, as wineries get better at what they do.

Here then are my top picks of red wines – some are properly cellar-worthy while others will pack a mean punch wrapped in a silken glove. With all of them, I recommend decanting for a good part of an hour (if not two) before serving.A big brooding boisterous red, the kind that makes steaks melt. The fruit is present but sits beneath the oak which impart rich chocolate-coffee-toasty primary notes. best 2009 red winesWith a name like Chêne (French for oak) one wouldn’t expect anything else.wine os x fontsA very complex reserved wine, layered and structured. where can i buy palm wine in usaThis wine needs decanting —minimum 2-3 hours but if you can manage 4-5, even better — and then it evolves into an elegant full-bodied wine.good wine high alcohol content

A very drinkable fruity red wine with body and length. This grape is India’s rising star and KRSMA does a good version, fruity and yet with some spiced richness.The only Tempranillo exploit out of India, and one good enough to take on Spanish Rioja. If this is a sign of things to come, Tempranillo stands to become a big Indian superstar.A very drinkable wine, absolute crowd-pleaser. top selling wines of 2014The first red wine that put India on the world wine map. best food with port wineMichel Rolland was crucial in helping put this Shiraz-Cabernet wine together. It’s made in both our winemaking states but, as always, prefer the Bangalore-origin stock over Nashik.The most iconic red in India, one that definitely ages well. Cabernet normally doesn’t do great in Indian soils but this one is quite the anomaly. Also available in Magnums which will age even better.

A juicy floral-fruity red wine with intense berry-spice notes. The oak is gentle and never masks the fruit.  Again, this winery is paving the way for Malbec to become an Indian staple.A red that shows an impressive breadth of flavours but not heavy or daunting at all. Mostly Shiraz but also Cabernet, the philosophy for this blend is guided by one simple principle: only the best estate wines go into it.Another serious and worthwhile expression of Cabernet Sauvignon (I already mentioned that India generally makes below average Cabernet S.). This is a balanced wine, decent fruit and then honed further with barrel ageing.A good expression of Syrah with plenty of fruit on the nose and palate. There have been some inconsistencies somewhere along the road but the wines are always well above average.One very well-priced Reserve-level balanced wine with nuanced complexity. It drinks well straight out of the bottle (as in no need to decant, not that you can give the bottle lip service). Proceeds from the sale of this wine go to charity, in case you need another reason to go for it.

Because somewhere in India there is always a Sula being opened, safest to make it a Rasa then. The wine is big and oak-rich and makes no bones about it. Not for the faint-hearted.  » Getahead » Time to savour 'Make in India' winesRaise a toast to good health with wine. But this time, says Alok Chandra, let's go for the desi ones. Not so long ago, there was no Indian wine priced above Rs 500 per bottle (of 750 ml), and no imported wine below that level. How times have changed -- today, the Zampa Chene Grand Reserve (a red wine) is on offer in Bengaluru at Rs 1,850, while the Grover La Reserve (which used to be at Rs 450 just 10 years back) is now Rs 1,000. The majority of wines on sale by the better-known Indian wineries are priced today at above Rs 600, and everyone has increased prices in 2016 by 10 per cent to 20 per cent. "Oh, but that's not even $10 per bottle," some might well remark. Well, that's okay if one is earning in dollars, but for the vast majority of the consuming populace this is a premium pricing that inhibits offtake.

Indians are among the most price-conscious consumers in the world, a fact recognised by that Maruti TV ad where the protagonist asked 'Kitna deti hai?' We query 'Kitna padta hai?/ ('How much does it cost?') when exploring any purchase, and it is well known that most Indians first scrutinise the right hand side of a menu (where prices are given) when deciding what to order. So what's led to this 'premiumisation' of prices of Indian wines? As always, it's a combination of strong demand for better wines, together with constraints in the supply of decent-quality wine grapes which has pushed their cost upwards. There is no doubt that the quality of many Indian wines has been improving over time due to better viticultural practices yielding better quality wine grapes as well as improved winemaking and the use of oak casks to mature some reds. Prices of the best Indian wines are hence benchmarked against those of imported wines which suffer double taxation in India -- customs duties (currently about 162 per cent) and state excise duties (which should really be exempt but which states impose in various guises).

Consumers are starting to recognise that the best domestic wines give a better QPR (Quality Price Ratio) than imported wines at comparative prices; hence the strong demand. The top three wineries in India today by volume are Sula (850,000 cases in 15/16), Grover-Zampa (150,000 cases) and Fratelli (estimated 100,000 cases). All three have wine portfolios spanning a wide spectrum of prices and quality levels -- Sula from the Port 1000 (Rs 160) to the Sula Rasa Shiraz (Rs 1,395), Grover-Zampa from Red Lips Port (Rs 86) to the previously mentioned Zampa Chene (Rs 1,850) and Fratelli from its Sidus Range (Rs 200/250) up to the Sette (Rs 1,642). There is also the boutique Krsma Estate near Hampi in North Karnataka (3,000 cases sold between Bengaluru and New York) whose range starts with the K2 (Rs 780) and extends to its flagship Cabernet Sauvignon (Rs 1,500). On the supply side, this was a good year for grape growers as demand outstripped supply in Maharashtra, leading to prices for even Chenin Blanc (the most widely grown white wine grape) touching Rs 40 per kg (as compared to Rs 25 to 30 in 2015) and going up to Rs 80 per kg for the red varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz).