India pushes improved wine image

More wine news from India

Sunday Indian Express (Mumbai)

Looks like some powerful Ministers in Indian Parliament are starting to exercise some political muscle to give their grape market a push forward.

There are a few points in the article that take a careful read:

Over the last week, the NCP supremo has sung paeans to the virtues of wine as a ‘‘health drink’’, over colas, and the need to disassociate it from liquor—change the term ‘‘wine shops’’ to ‘‘liquor shops’’ to improve wine’s image, said Pawar.

This implies that currently “wine shops” are stores that primarily sell liquors, and wines aren’t sold by themselves.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is maintaining silence while his deputy and Pawar’s man, R R Patil strongly backed his leader on Wednesday.
‘‘The idea is to make available grape juice to people on a stall along with other fruit juices and soft drinks,’’ Patil said after a cabinet meeting.

“Juice”?... But that’s not quite what wine is, eh?
Although it could help their grape industry overall, and eventually could be used to bolster the demand for more wines as people develop a taste for the fruit’s acid profile and aromas.