A wave of change

Good Earth Winery, since the launch of their wines, have raised the expectations from India's wine producers. Founder Girish Mhatre speaks of his motivation, perspective and the future of the Indian wine scene and his company. By Sayoni Bhaduri

Girish Mhatre

Good Earth Winery launched four wines last year and are already being heralded as one of the best Indian wines in the country. Launched under the Concerto Collection, Good Earth Winery has a Cabernet, a Shiraz, a Sauvignon Blanc and a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. For founder Girish Mhatre, introducing quality wines was a passion backed by a lot of research. “I was a passionate amateur when it came to wine. It was passion which egged me further to study wines. And during all of this research the one thing that kept coming back to me is that India did not have quality wines,” he says. Hopes weren't lost, he says while he did not see quality wines from India, he also found a few other passionate people who were investigating wines from India which could in the future be also imported. “These have to be wines which are essentially Indian and will allow India to be recognised as a wine producing region,” Mhatre says.

Today Indian wines on a global platform seem like an oxymoron which just goes to show the tremendous room for improvement, the opportunities that are here as well as abroad. For Mhatre, one of the biggest milestones was when he met fellow wine afficionado and an oenologist Dr Rajesh Rasal, the two hit it off instantly. Dr Rasal has been working on Indian wines for 10 years now, and today is the winemaker for Good Earth Winery. “Not only did Dr Rasal have the technical know-how to work under Indian environments but we also shared the same passion and philosophy,” Mhatre describes the association.

Story of the virtual winery

Mhatre has some striking observations on the Indian wine producing scenario, and the decisions that he has taken for Good Earth as a company stem from them. According to him, there is a situation of overcapacity; Nasik itself has three times the capacity in comparison to the national consumption. “This overcapacity is endemic to the future of this industry,” he adds.

Keeping this overcapacity in mind, Mhatre chose to have a virtual winery. “We have taken on lease the capacity from existing wineries,” he says. This has been a better option as they did not have to invest in the entire set-up allowing them to reach the consumer faster. “We were able to pick up the best practices and utilise them to our advantage. This allowed us to spend more time on real life market test of our wines and see the potential first hand,” he adds. Mhatre is sure that with this strategy in place the winery can attempt to match the production capacity according to the market conditions.

Going back to the situation of overcapacity, Mhatre explains that a large number of people got into the business, “It was sort of a gold rush,” he says. With everyone setting up their own wine producing units and not enough wine being sold, the overcapacity was obvious. “I know at least a dozen wineries which are up for sale, since they can't recover the investment,” says he. He further says that there was too much hype about India's wine boom and one of the significant problem is the underbelly of the industry. Good Earth considers itself lucky with no massive investments; while they may not be profitable yet but Mhatre definitely has a vision to take it ahead.

In the long term, Mhatre will look at investing in his own setup, maybe even buy out the on-sale wineries - “It has to be the right project which we can take up, because one has to keep in mind that if a capacity is left unused for long periods of time it degrades.”

It's all about quality

For Good Earth's wines, the grapes are acquired on a contractual basis with strict guidelines to the growers. There are clear specifications given out to the growers for the right quality and when to harvest. “We are also able to piggy-back on the vineyards attached with the wineries we use for production,” Mhatre explains. He adds, “It is not just science but also an art that a viticulturist needs to understand.” Wine grapes produce better quality when the yield is depressed making them not a very lucrative option for a grower. Table grapes on the other hand are more value for money with high yield. India still has challenges when it comes to the quality of grapes, only a few wine producing grape varieties do well in India. “Although there are experimentation which are taking place, it is way too early for them to be producing consistent good quality wines,” Mhatre elaborates. Chardonnay for example, is a difficult grape variety and maintaining quality is not easy. “People are trying to create something new and it is a good thing, this is how the industry will grow,” he adds.

Mhatre's ultimate dream in wine making is to find out a way to develop indigenous grape varietals in India. “Grape varitals by nature have the same DNA structure. They just adapt to the local terroir. In theory it is possible to train these grapes to be wine producing.” These measures will help in the long term for the industry to grow. But one must also recognise the current challenges and work towards find solutions – one of the biggest being the change in the mindset of the consumers. “Wine is not traditionally part of the Indian table, which limits the consumption pre-meals and at times post,” Mhatre says. Also a lot of people consider that international imported wines are better. “It is unfortunate that wine for a lot of people is about perception and not quality and experience,” he muses.

Changing mindsets

There are also encouraging signs that offset the challenges, “The interest in wines have grown tremendously. Observing the macro trends of the growing middle class and his travels across the globe is directly proportional to his taking wine as a culture and also appreciating it,” says he. Wines both dry and sweet are well liked according to him, and that it is a myth that the Indian palate only likes sweet.

To promote Good Earth's own wine Mhatre has tied up with Chef Karen Anand to work on pairings with Indian food. “One would never imagine rich and spicy Indian food going well with wines, but a spicy Kolhapuri dish pairs very well with Brio,” says he. The battle is an uphill one, he adds, especially to get people to trust their palettes without any conventional wisdom.

Good Earth Winery wines have been well receieved and Mhatre is humbled and gratified by the popularity. The next step for him has been to showcase it internationally. “We are exporting the wines to the North East corridor of the US to begin with. I am glad that the wines have been well received,” Mhatre says adding that the exports only began in October of last year. US, says he, is perhaps one of the most open and receptive markets in the world. If the company gets its product and strategy right Mhatre is confident that Indian wines could be the new wave of change as far as wine regions are concerned.