With home-grown wine brands gaining acceptance, Fratelli Wines, an Indo-Italian joint venture, said it is looking to scale its distribution.
The company said it is also scouting for international tie-ups to take its brand to the global market.
Kapil Sekhri, Co Promoter and Director, Fratelli Wines, said: “There is a demand for good quality wines and we cater to that. We have wines ranging from mid to premium price points”.
Fratelli Wines is an Indo-Italian joint venture between Italy’s Secci brothers, Alessio and Andrea, the New Delhi-based Sekhri brothers, Kapil and Gaurav, and Mohite-Patil Ranjitsinh and Arjunsinh from Solapur.
The company has a vineyard in Akluj, Pune, and three others in Maharashtra and Karnataka with a total capacity of 14 lakh litres.
Fratelli said it has sold 1.10 lakh cases of wine in 2016 and expects to take the number to 1.70 lakh cases in 2017.
The company has 240 acres of vineyards.
Consumption growingSekhri said that the wine consumption is low in India but is growing backed by increased awareness and exposure to the wine culture abroad.
According to industry data, the per capita consumption of wine in India is only 9 ml, compared with 400 ml in China.
Despite this, the Indian wine is set for record production levels of some 18 million litres largely driven by domestic sales.
Sekhri said that the domestic market was growing at 15 per cent on CAGR basis. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh are three major wine producing region with Nashik district in Maharashtra accounting for about 80 per cent of the total output.
He said that Fratelli produces wines using only its own grapes. The grape sapling are imported from France.
Fratelli Wines competes with other brands such as Sula and Grover Zampa.
Asked if Fratelli Wines is looking at exports, Sekhri said that the company’s wines are already exported such as the UK, the US, Italy, Netherlands, Hong Kong and Japan.
Asked about the investments, Sekhri said that the company has so far invested ₹70 crore in the venture. “We had clocked a revenue of ₹47 crore last year.”