Word: wined
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...According to the Christmas carol, Wenceslas, who was Duke of Bohemia in the early 10th century, was surveying his land on St. Stephen's Day - Dec. 26 - when he saw a poor man gathering wood in the middle of a snowstorm. Moved, the King gathered up surplus food and wine and carried them through the blizzard to the peasant's door. The alms-giving tradition has always been closely associated with the Christmas season - hence the canned-food drives and Salvation Army Santas that pepper our neighborhoods during the winter - but King Wenceslas' good deed came the day after Christmas...
...Drinking patterns in India are unlike those of any other major market. Hard liquor is far more popular than beer and wine, with spirits accounting for about 70% of the market. Nearly all of that is whiskey - a legacy of the colonial fondness for Scotch. India is the largest whiskey market in the world, so American whiskey producers figure they've got a head start in India compared to other new markets. "Indians are preordained whiskey drinkers," says Frank Coleman, senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group for American spirits makers. "They...
...taxes on imported whiskey, not the taste, that prevent it from winning more market share. The import duties begin at 150%, and additional state taxes can add another 150% or more to the price of a bottle. Wine and beer face similar import duties, as well as additional and constantly changing state taxes and regulations. The complexity of the market means that only big producers like Jack Daniels and Jim Beam can afford to make a go in India on their own, and usually only with their premium labels. Although single-malt is a new status symbol in India, Scotch...
...Wine consumption, meanwhile, is growing much faster than spirits or beer in India, but from a much smaller base. Only about 700,000 cases were sold last year, about 2% of the total alcohol market, but it has benefited hugely from the growth of the middle class, particularly women, for whom drinking wine is a mark of urban sophistication. The wine market has grown from virtually zero 10 years ago to $253 million last year, and it is expected to more than double to $630 million by 2013. "There's a complete turnaround," says Gianander Dua, an importer based...
...course, the risks of betting on the next big thing are well known to drinks companies. The Chinese market for wine, for example, has failed to live up to its hype. Spurrier says India is different: the high taxes and complex regulations make doing business difficult, but getting into the market is much easier. "The lights in India are on green," he says. And there is a certain camaraderie between domestic and imported wine producers in India, who face the same challenge of getting Indians in the habit of the grape. At events like the one in Mumbai, they came...