Moët Hennessy India celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2024 and the French company which also owns and operates a vineyard in Nashik is looking forward to a lot more happenings. Ipsita Das the managing director of the company spoke about the decade that was and the decade to look forward to in an exclusive interview with ET HospitalityWorld.
“It’s a milestone moment for us—a lot has happened over the last 10 years. The Chandon 10 year story has been one filled with a lot of nostalgia. It’s a story of innovation, a lot of collaboration between stakeholders within the industry in India, with the HoReCa channel, with our consumers, of course, but it’s not limited to just India, because Chandon has 10 wineries around the world—so, there’s a lot of collaboration that happens globally as well, in order to excel in the product that we create,” Das said.
In order to celebrate the moment the company has launched a limited edition vintage from 2015 which is the first vintage from India in the sparkling wine category, she said adding that this was a limited 1200 bottle production—all numbered.
“I think the last 10 years has been very interesting, as we’ve been creating the category for sparkling wine in India—we entered the market in 2014 and we’ve reshaped the entire landscape, because today, in the price bracket we play in and in the price relevant segment. we are almost 60 percent of the market, and we believe that we have the responsibility to create the market in the way we want to,” Das said.
Speaking about how their company was deeply invested in the country having its own vineyard, she said that Chandon in India was LVMH’s first and only investment in the country which clearly signalled the fact that the group believed in the potential of luxury for the country.
“We do have a lot of learning happening globally with Chandon’s presence across the world as well. Keeping Indian consumers in mind, we of course see how the other categories (of wines and spirits) are interacting with consumers and where the uptake is,” she added.
Finally, speaking about what future she was envisioning for sparkling wine as well as more specifically Moet Chandon India, Das said, “The market can definitely expect a lot of innovation, which is in line with what we’ve been doing in the past three years. I think, from the experience perspective and the desirability perspective, definitely expect us to have many more new campaigns coming up and creating new occasions for our consumers.”
“Do expect the brand home and winery in Nashik to take center stage going forward, to really experience Chandon in its full form. In the last few months, we’ve opened it up and started to invite guests over to really enjoy Chandon in the lap of luxury at our winery,” she said adding that this would remain a very select invitation only or pre-booked kind of experience and there were no plans to add rooms or a hotel at the location as of now.”
