PANAJI: Born to wine-making family’s heritage, nine wine distillers from Portugal, called the A9 Group, were in Goa seeking wine importers and distributors, offering to cost share with them in marketing and promotion strategies.

Planning to enter the Indian market via Goa, the A9 Group displayed 51 Portuguese wines, some world’s best award-winning labels and brands, at a wine-tasting event held in Hotel Vivanta, Panaji.

The A9 Group represents a total of 27 associated wineries producing about 110 million litres of wine yearly with a business volume of Euro 86.50 million, out of which euro 13 million are from exports. Portugal has about 200 brands exporting over 3,00,000 bottles yearly from 1000 wineries. The cost of the A9 wines starts from 80 cents a bottle to euro 40 a bottle.

"Our wines are produced from 200 varieties of grapes grown in Portugal, especially in the Douro region, known as the wine region," said Mr Jaime Quendera, chairman of A9 and managing director of Cooperativa Agricola de Santo Isidora de Pegoes.

The high customs duty in India, and the excise duty which differs from state to state, the A9 members, to some extent, is ready to negotiate cost-sharing on promotions and marketing strategies, said Mr Filipe Pereira, export manager Adega de Favaios.

The wines displayed for tasting include Favaito, the award winning label, Via Latina Loureiro, Via Latina Alvarinho, white wine ginger sorbet, Montes pintados and Porto Vintage Santa Marta among the list of 51 wine labels.

A9 is presently targeting the South Asian markets of India, China and Hong Kong. "India is a new market for us," said Mr Jaime Quendera, adding "we plan to establish our presence in the Indian market from Goa."

The Indian market for wines is growing at 25 per cent, with 1.2 million cases a year consumed out of which 250,000 cases are imported wines.