New label, novel products: Here’s how wine brand Fratelli aims to grow business

India’s wine market is estimated to be valued at US$150 million, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 to 25 percent. There are numerous brands operating in the space – with Delhi-based Fratelli Wines leading the way. 

Apart from COVID-19, the company suffered a personal setback in October 2020 when Kapil Sekhri, a co-founder and one of the country’s finest winemakers, died of a massive heart attack. 

Almost a year after his death, SMBStory caught up with his brother, Gaurav Sekhri, who along with Kapil and four others founded Fratelli Wines more than a decade ago in 2006. 

Fratelli, which means ‘brothers’ in Italian, has seven founders in all - Kapil and Gaurav Sekhri, Alessio and Andre Secci, Arjunsinh and Ranjitsinh MohitePatil, and winemaker Piero Masi. 

Its portfolio comprises 10 distinct variants – Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc-Shiraz, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Sangiovese Bianco, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Shiraz Rosé. All wines are manufactured at the company’s vineyard in Akluj. Outside India, Japan, the UK, and Italy are the company’s major markets. 

Fratelli, which is known for making India’s finest wines, has undergone several changes in the past one year. It has coped with the loss of one of its co-founders while staying afloat amid the two draconian waves of COVID-19.

At present, the company is redesigning its label to pay homage to Kapil Sekhri, whom Gaurav describes as the “nucleus of the company”. Kapil’s wife, Puja Sekhri, and Gaurav’s son, Aditya Sekhri, have also taken up leading positions in Fratelli’s management in this fiscal year.

In a conversation with SMBStory, Gaurav maps out the road ahead for the company. 

SMBStory [SMBS]: Kapil’s death has been a huge loss for the industry. What has changed in the company?

Gaurav Sekhri [GS]: Honestly, we haven’t really coped with what has happened and are still in the process of accepting things. Additionally, before 2020, we had been beginning to feel that our labels don’t do justice to our wines. We received several comments from people suggesting the same. Even Kapil thought the same. 

So we started the process of redesigning our labels to tell a story. The label has seven figures holding a glass of wine, indicating the seven values of the co-founders who got the business off the ground. The label also shows a figure who is holding a golden glass - this indicates Kapil and the fact that he is the central point of the company. 

The redesigning, we felt, will pay the perfect homage to Kapil, who was so passionate about this industry, and his legacy. 

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SMBS: Fratelli introduced TiLT (wine in cans), a relatively out-of-the-box concept. What led you to this?

GS: Drinking wine is an elegant experience and we believe it to be exactly that. However, nowadays, there is generally a sense of informality for youngsters and others alike. People have become casual about clothes, shoes, and more. People working in offices skip wearing neckties, prefer wearing sneakers over shoes and so on.

This product is for those who want to enjoy drinking wine in a casual setting without the fear of being judged. We haven’t done any remarkable innovation as this trend is already present in other parts of the world, especially Europe. But we are new to it and things have just gotten off the ground for us (India). 

SMBS: COVID-19 has brought a lot of disruption, including in the liquor industry. Do you see the festive season putting the sector back on the road to recovery?

GS: Whenever festivities or weddings kick in, demand picks up. The road to recovery is not very far as we are hopefully seeing COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. People are fed up of sitting at home and are looking at getting out of their homes now. We are all praying that we don’t see a third wave. 

I also feel that the wine culture in India is growing and that has nothing to do with COVID-19. So this, combined with pent-up demand, will pave the way for recovery. We are certain that achieving revenues between Rs 140 crore and Rs 150 crore is very much within our reach.

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SMBS: Tell us the story behind the inception of the company, including how the idea of putting an area like Akluj on the world’s wine map came about?

GS: In 2004-2005, we were looking for opportunities in the plantation space. Wine was nowhere in the picture. We had always been in the agricultural business. Incidentally, Kapil and Pooja were holidaying in Italy when they met the Secci brothers, our business partners today. The Secci brothers, along with us, started brainstorming and we realised that the common perception was that India does not make good wine. So, we started working on the idea of introducing good quality wines to the Indian audience.

When it came to choosing a place, we visited several areas in Maharashtra, including Nashik. But our winemaker came to the conclusion that Akluj’s soil was remarkable. It was not a coincidence but the process of selection was widely carried out before zeroing in on Akluj. 

SMBS: What are your plans for the next 12-18 months?

GS: We want to ensure that the passion we seven co-founders have for the brand is strengthened in times to come. 

We are in the process of introducing new wine products as we speak. We identified some gaps and are introducing the new product line based on those. For instance, we did not have Rose Sparkling in the bottle form in our portfolio. Universal Sparkling is another product in the pipeline. 

Fratelli will also start exporting to countries like France and Netherlands in the coming months.