Sula Vineyards CEO says wine demand is back; no fight with spirits for shelf space

Samant said the company is very focused on wines that are priced in excess of Rs 1,000. Almost all of the wine business happens below the Rs 2,500 price point, he added.

Rajeev Samant, managing director, and chief executive officer of Sula Vineyards, expect wine consumption and sales to stay strong in the upcoming year and also sees the wine market grow much higher than spirits and beer.

"Wine is a growth story," he said in an interview with CNBCTV18. "We are not here to compete with whiskey ... India is a whiskey-drinking country and that is not what we are talking about".

Sula Vineyards posted its highest quarterly revenues so far in Q3FY23. The company's sales of its own wine brands jumped to Rs 187.2 crore in Q3FY23, which is up 13 percent as against Rs 165.7 crore clocked in the year-ago period.

"Q3 results are pretty much in line with what our expectations were", Samant said.

Also Read: Sula Vineyards zooms after posting record sales in Q3

On January 17, the stock closed at Rs 379.40 as against its issue price of Rs 357 on NSE.

The winery's chief expects strong growth for the stock in the near term and also spoke about the harvest season, which takes place between January and March, adding that the quality and quantity of the harvest are looking good.

"This is going to be our fourth record harvest in terms of quantity and quality in a row so that bodes really well for the year and the two years ahead as well," he added.

The stock got listed on December 22 and is the only listed wine producer in the country with over 50 percent share in the domestic wine business.

Samant said the company is very focused on wines that are priced in excess of Rs 1,000. Almost all of the wine business happens below the Rs 2,500 price point, he added, and that Sula's cheapest wine in Mumbai is as low as Rs 260.

He mentioned the company is now focusing on its own brands and wine tourism, which are the business' biggest pillars. In the wine tourism business, the company recorded its gross billings amounting to Rs 23 crore in the third quarter, a 13 percent surge over Rs 20.3 crore a year back.