In a press release, Ranjit S Chougule, Managing Director, Champagne Indage Ltd. said, “The acquisition of VineCrest is yet another strategic step towards expanding our global portfolio of iconic brands. Our interest in VineCrest is due to the fact that they have been producing some of the finest quality of wines over the years and therefore are highly reputed all over Australia. The business comes with the premium Barossa Valley vineyards and therefore all operations will take place at the estate level. Besides, their cellar door sale will ensure that the consumers have direct access to the wines, cutting down on the distribution costs to a large extent.”

CIL recently made similar acquisitions by buying out Thachi wines and the Loxton winery consecutively, both in Australia. The Thachi brands include - Broken Earth, Red Skies and South Bay that are being rolled out across the globe including India.

It is fairly obvious that Indian wine makers are on the prowl for international wineries. They are looking to grow their global portfolio to both enter new markets and at the same time push premium, foreign wines through their distribution networks within India too. All this means more choice and variety for the Indian consumers.