Grover’s bag is brimming with goodies

Despite sluggish growth of the domestic wine industry, Ravi Viswanathan, investorbanker-turned-Chairman, Grover Zampa Vineyards Ltd. (GZVL), has been on a buying spree. He tells Shalini Kumar that there are two reasons for this expansion; one is a deep belief in the growth of the Indian middle class with accompanying changes in consumption patterns and the second is the fact that he always thought there was great potential in the wines he tasted. He would rather prefer to see boutique wineries multiplying and thriving than consolidation of India’s wine industry to an oligopoly. The excerpts of the detailed interaction with him are given below:

Q. From being a banker & fund owner to now a major stakeholder of a wine company in India – how has this interesting transformation came about?

A. After I left investment banking about 6-7 years ago, I decided to focus on investing. Even though I had tried Grover wines since the late 90s during my business trips to India, it was only a few years ago that we got an opportunity to become a small shareholder in the company. After many adventures, in July 2018, our investment fund decided to become the largest shareholder and to lead the expansion of GroverZampa Vineyards (GZV).

Q. How did the idea of investing in a wine company in India come to your mind, especially at a time when the domestic wine industry is going through a sluggish phase?

A. There were and are two main drivers: one is a deep belief in the growth of the Indian middle class with accompanying changes in consumption patterns, and the second is the fact that I always thought there was great potential in the wines I tasted but work, time and resources were needed to translate this potential into reality. I still believe in these.

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