Two brothers from Tavarnelle, in the Florence Chianti, have decided to take their wine-making aspirations to India. Alessio and Andrea Secci have team up with longtime family friends from India to grow grapes and produce wine in the Indian city of Akluj, located some 200 kilometres from Mumbai.
Called Fratelli Wines, the Tuscan-Indian winery will produce three wines: Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Saivignon and Sauvignon Blanc. ‘India has great potential; we are betting on this country whose economy is in a period of great growth. Ours is an economic challenge,’ said Alessio Secci.
According to the brothers, investing in India is very cost-effective at the moment. One hectre of land in Akluj costs just 3,000 euro, compared to 120,000 euro in wine-making areas in Italy. ‘We started by conducting market research into wine production in India, which makes a particularly sweet wine with some defects, like excesses of sugar, sharp tannins and oxidation.’ With the help of enologist Piero Masi the Secci brothers were able to eliminate these typical defects of Indian wines and produce vintages that are similar in quality and taste to many Italian wines. ‘We were successful, at least regarding the whites, which are almost the same as those produced in Italy,’ the brothers told Corriere della Sera.
Fratelli Wines now owns over 100 hectres of terrain, growing 13 different grape varietals on over 350,000 vines. Their goal is to bottle between 350 to 400,000 bottles of wine in 2011 and 600-650,000 bottles the following year. ‘It’s a unique story even in India,’ said Alessio Secci. ‘We managed to enter the wine market in India when it hit rock bottom because of the country’s inadequate enological skills and knowledge.’
