ProWine 2025 | Curtain Raiser

This was supposed to be a quick chat with Nikhil about what’s new at ProWine 2025 which, as you will notice, turned into a longer freewheeling conversation about wine and spirits in general. Registration link + other details are the end of this post.

On What’s New At Pro Wine

What’s new this time is a country pavilion from Switzerland. And this has happened because Switzerland is now looking at India in a very focused manner because of the duty reduction [under the Indo-Swiss Economic Free Trade Agreement that came into effect in September].

We also have wineries coming in from Moldova, which is completely new. Then of course we have country pavilions from the UK and Northern Ireland and Austria. Japan is back again, which I think is very exciting because, you know, Japanese wines, sake, spirits are, extremely popular these days. And I don’t think we have enough of them [in India]. We also have Germany that has come for the first time through the VDP [Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter an association of the top German winemakers]. You know, we’ve never had an opportunity to taste so many wines from either Switzerland or Germany in this manner before. I usually don’t have time to go around [the hall] to do tastings but this time, I’m making sure I go to the Swiss and VDP counters.

On the Global Wine and Spirits Trade

I think the reality of the market is that it’s a difficult year for a lot of importers because of the tariffs [imposed by President Trump] wars [Russia-Ukraine, Operation Sindoor, the situation in West Asia.] It has been a tough year for everybody. It’s not only for importers, it’s for producers also. You have to remember that for a lot of Italian and French producers, for example, the U.S. is their biggest market. And their products became much more expensive suddenly, which means that in order to make sure that they are competitive, they had to either bite into their own margins or work out [solutions] with their importers. So this year is a year that I think the wine and spirits world would quickly like to go past because it is completely different to the years that have just preceded it, where we had a boom. Even in India a lot of events got cancelled and a lot of people stopped coming to the country during that time. If you went to the hotels in Bombay in the aftermath of the India-Pakistan tensions, they were empty.

When there’s so much going, people hesitate to spend money. And when that happens, things like high-end wines or wine consumption or high-end spirit consumption, they take a little bit of a backseat.

For India, it’s also been a different year because in the last two or three years, you’ve had a phenomenal increase in the number of wines and spirits that are now available in the market. I think Bombay alone would have seen in the last two years, not counting 2025, over about 500 new wine labels being launched. That is a staggering number. The years 2021, 2022, 2023 and halfway to 2024… were absolutely phenomenal. I don’t think anyone could have dreamt of what had happened in the wine and spirits industries in India. This year seems to be the year where there’s a little bit of calming down.

On the India’s trade agreements with Australia, Switzerland and the UK and the impact on ProWine:

The effect of the FTAs is immediate and visible at ProWine. The reason we have a Swiss pavilion is because of the FTA. The reason why Australia is so supportive is because of the FTA, because suddenly 40 new brands of Australian wines at the higher end level entered the Indian market in the last two, three years. I don’t know if you noticed this, but if you go to restaurants and bars and hotels that take wine seriously, along with the French and Italian wines, they’re now giving you higher end Australian wines as well, which never was the case before.

With the UK, with the duty being slashed from 150 to 75 percent [on whisky and gin], that happened fairly recently [in July 2025]. So in the market space, you still need to give it some time for that to come through. But from what I understand from the UK pavilion guys is that they had an overwhelming number of participants that wanted to be part of it, but they have a limitation of space

You have to remember that in a cost card for wine and spirits, the duty component is always on the CIF rate [cost, insurance and freight rate of the goods being imported]. Now when that comes down, the cumulative effect of that duty cut at the beginning of the cost card is quite substantial to the end consumer. I was just talking to somebody from Penfold’s and the same wine that they used to sell for 14,000 is now being sold at 9,700

On the impact of FTAs on consumption trends:

The moment prices comes down, a whole new layer of people find it valuable, find it of value. Compared to other countries, the number of brands of wines and spirits that we have in India is nothing. So these free trade agreements ensure that more brands become available. Now, I guarantee you that in India till date, there have been no Swiss wines, but I guarantee you that after ProWine in the next six months, all right, you will see Swiss wines. We’ve seen it happen in other countries as well.

On Delhi’s liquor scenario vs the vibrancy in Mumbai:

You have to be mindful that in Delhi, the problem is twofold. One is that the retail stores, the kind of which you used to have, you don’t have anymore. So even when new brands come into the market, you don’t have access to them easily because the government store… they are not necessarily buying high-end products. They’re buying the cheaper stuff that is, you know, sells more. But to say that no new wines or hardly any new wines or spirits that have come into Delhi would be a mistake.

Definitely, I would agree with you where you would say that not as many come into Delhi, but the reason for that is Delhi is a very high cost market to enter. You have to pay label registration fees per bottle, per SKU per year, which is, you know, which is for an importer is a lot of money. I mean, like, for example, Angel’s Share [the import company he runs] has 200 wines and spirits our portfolio. If I have to take all 200 wines and spirits into Delhi, I’ll be paying close to around, sorry, I keep saying this number in dollars, but about $190,000 per year to sell 200 products in Delhi. It’s a lot of money.

So that is the reason why you don’t see as much in Delhi, but yes, Bombay with zero label registration costs is the one that has the most number of labels coming in, but it’s also the most competitive market because there’s so much more wine.

On cocktail culture, Gen-Zs and the tequila boom

Cocktail culture in India has taken off to a level that we’ve never seen before. So there are, there are certain spirit categories that are booming right now. Just to give you an example…tequila. The consumption of tequila in India doubled and I think in 2021, 2022, and then quadrupled between 2023 and 2024. My numbers and years might be a little off [the mark] but my emphasis is that the number of people drinking tequila and tequila consumption went through the roof in India. And it still continues to be through the roof.

On declining wine consumption globally and India’s “outlier” status

You have to remember that we are going to be an outlier not only for wine, but for many industries, because we are babies. I mean, you know, 30 years ago, there was no wine in India, right? I’ll answer your question differently: True, cocktails are becoming extremely popular. True, people are taking health very seriously. True, a lot of people are not even drinking anymore. True, that people are drinking less, but drinking better.

But the beauty about India today is that the number of wine consumers who drink wine regularly, is too small, right? It’s not a significant number. But the new people that are being exposed to wine is staggering, right? Because let’s say someone hosts a tasting here, there. Even if there were 20 people, who regularly hosted wine tastings on a weekly basis, for about 40 people on average, you had 800 people being exposed to wine, or having wine experiences, even if you multiply that by 52, it’s a nothing number, right? But what is happening with India that is really pushing wine consumption, is the fact that we all have more money in our pockets. The fact that we are getting global, we’re seeing things that happen globally, while sitting in our home watching Netflix, and the fact that we are traveling so much more.

Globally wine is in trouble, without doubt. But I don’t think India will be. Instead look at the fact that, you know, you spoke to Kevin [Rodrigues, the head of wines at Indian Accent], look at the role that he has played. Look how much they’re in demand today. Why are they in demand? Why is every hotel breaking their head to get a sommelier on board? Why? Because they need it because they know the customer is ready for it. I don’t think India will slow down for wine consumption.

ProWine will be held at the Jio World Convention Centre, Bandra Kurla Complex, on October 31 and November 1. 11am-7pm. Entry for those above the age of 25 only, with mandatory registration, free until October 27. October 28 onwards, a registration charge of Rs 1,000 per person shall apply. To register and for further details, please visit the ProWine Registration website

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