A woman drinks wine at the Olive Beach restaurant in Bangalore, India. Foreign winemakers and domestic companies are promoting wine to women as the sophisticated and healthier alternative to other alcohol. (Namas Bhojani)

A glass of wine with your samosa?

India's new cutting edge fashion: Women drinking wine.

By Saritha Rai - GlobalPost
Published: May 7, 2009 06:04 ET
Updated: May 8, 2009 16:51 ET

BANGALORE — Ever thought that a chicken tikka could be paired with a rose, or a palak paneer (cottage cheese in spinach) with a sauvignon blanc?

Aparna Bhagwat, 26, an architect who works at a Bangalore-based design firm, absolutely thinks so. So do her girlfriends.

In a country where drinking used to be taboo for women, and socializing meant sitting around watching the men get smashed, record numbers of urban women are taking to wine drinking, making it socially acceptable and even fashionable.

“Wine drinking is classy,” said Bhagwat, who has acquired a taste for red wine in the past year. She has enrolled herself in a wine appreciation course.

As Indian women increasingly become independent, financially and otherwise, and begin asserting their spending power, wine drinking is becoming the rage.

Women constitute a big chunk of the growing market, said Abhay Kewadkar, chief winemaker and head of business at United Spirits, which is setting up India’s largest winery, United Vintners. “The sophisticated, cultured appeal of wine drinking is converting many,” he said.

United Vintners, part-owned by India’s flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya, will also import and promote wine drinking in India.

The fast-paced Indian economic growth of recent years has brought about many social changes.

Bhagwat is single and lives in Bangalore. On a recent trip to her parents’ home in the conservative Chhattisgarh in central India, she sipped wine while her father drank scotch and soda. Her mother, she recounts, looked on silently. “Wine is the only drink I can have without offending the family elders,” she said.

The ubiquitous “Wine shop” signage on Indian streets is a misnomer for stores that stock every type of alcohol but wine. That wine drinking is a recent Indian phenomenon was evident when the travel editor of London’s Financial Times was at a cocktail party in a New Delhi hotel last year.

Upon asking which wine he had just been served, a member of the waitstaff blithely responded, “Red wine, sir.”

Gaffes are common among the new wine drinkers, but most are learning quickly.

Comments:

1 Comments.

Login or Register to post comments

Posted by peterjon on August 26, 2009 02:47 ET

Hi,
Vintage wines are generally bottled in a single batch so that each bottle will have a similar taste. Climate can have a big impact on the character of a wine to the extent that different vintages from the same vineyard can vary dramatically in flavor and quality.[32] Thus, vintage wines are produced to be individually characteristic of the vintage and to serve as the flagship wines of the producer. Superior vintages, from reputable producers and regions, will often fetch much higher prices than their average vintages. Some vintage wines, like Brunellos, are only made in better-than-average years.

Recent on India :

On Location: Haryana — India's looming food crisis

Jason Overdorf - India - November 2, 2009 17:30 ET

Mt. Everest's "other guy"

Jason Overdorf - India - November 1, 2009 09:47 ET

In the hills surrounding Darjeeling, West Bengal, the people worship second place.

In India, C-sections are in the stars

Mridu Khullar - India - October 31, 2009 06:00 ET

When's that baby due? The astrologer knows.

Interview: India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna

Saritha Rai - India - October 29, 2009 15:37 ET

What does a rising power think about China, Obama, the Taliban, Pakistan, Afghanistan and more?

Water woes: Too much of a good thing

Ann Tornkvist - India - October 25, 2009 08:19 ET

Photo essay: India is suffering its worst drought in 20 years. But not everywhere.

China, China everywhere

Thomas Mucha - Commerce - October 24, 2009 08:49 ET

We're all living in China's world now. How's your Mandarin?

CEO pay in India: "Vulgar and indecent"

Saritha Rai - India - October 21, 2009 05:49 ET

What's Hindi for fat cat?

In India, plagiarism is on the rise

Shailaja Neelakantan - India - October 18, 2009 08:30 ET

Publish, perish or pilfer?

India: The next Detroit?

Saritha Rai - India - October 16, 2009 15:17 ET

Automakers worldwide ramp up production on the subcontinent.

Welcome to the new Bollywood

Jason Overdorf - India - October 16, 2009 14:49 ET

Bollywood movies are suddenly starting to make sense. Hello Hollywood?

The dark side of medical tourism

Jason Overdorf - India - October 16, 2009 12:13 ET

India's showcase private hospitals have made it easier for the country to forget about the poor.

On Location: Delhi — India's killer roads

Jason Overdorf and Poh Si Teng - India - October 15, 2009 15:34 ET

Full Frame: Living stone

Khaled Hasan - Full Frame - October 15, 2009 14:47 ET

In photos: A Bangladesh community survives by collecting stones for crushing.

Full Frame: From sunup to sundown

Renaud Philippe - Full Frame - October 15, 2009 14:43 ET

A photographer captures daily life in Kolkata and asks, "What can a photograph change?"

A World of Trouble: Is the nightmare over?

Thomas Mucha - Commerce - October 14, 2009 13:35 ET

With signs of economic recovery finally emerging, here's where things stand in 20 countries around the world.

Under threat in India: mothers-in-law?

Saritha Rai - India - October 13, 2009 10:44 ET

But fear not. Here comes the All India Mother-in-law Protection Forum.

Americans seek stem cell treatments in India

Mridu Khullar - Health - October 12, 2009 10:54 ET

Unfettered by embryonic research restrictions, Indian scientists are offering stem cell therapies that cure the previously incurable.

Planet Health Care

Thomas Mucha - Commerce - October 10, 2009 11:19 ET

As debate rages in Washington, the answers are out there. You just need to know where to look.

Unfettered by regulation, India pulls ahead on stem cell treatments

Mridu Khullar - India - October 9, 2009 14:35 ET

A controversial New Delhi clinic deploys advanced therapies that are unavailable in the U.S. to cure Americans suffering from MS, diabetes, paralysis, Alzheimer's, Lyme disease and cerebral palsy.