Bharat Ratna Awardee Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary Indian cricketer who retired last weekend at the ripe age of 40, after 24 years of cricket, and is reportedly a fan of red wine, could do well to turn his passion for fine wines into an alternate career by making top end fine wines of India and by naming the label Rajni Reserve, he could give recognition to his mother that would last a long time.
 I was recently talking to a relatively new Indian wine producer whose wines have shown a lot of promise. He is already making a lot of name for himself even though the wines are not yet available in the market. I was floored when he told me that Sachin Tendulkar is a wine connoisseur who loves red wine, especially fine wines and loves wines from him and drinks them regularly. In fact, he was secretly in the process of bottling a special wine in a 6-liter bottle (called Methuselah) to be presented to him on his retirement day.
There was also another person who related the story to me about his immense knowledge of wines, especially Australian wines. While in Australia during one of his professional visits he reportedly tasted over 200 wines and knew exactly what he wanted to buy for himself. I could have confirmed it with him when I saw him at Olive at Qutab one day many years ago when I was training the staff on wines and during the break saw him standing alone between the photo shoots. But knowing it would have been intruding on his privacy, I restrained myself but now I do wish I had interacted with him regarding wine (and not cricket).
A man of fine tastes- a gentleman to the core, a thorough professional-I can believe him to be a wine lover. His post-retirement plans would surely include cricket but if he wants to give vent to his passion about wines, he could well become the Brand Ambassador of Indian wines-Sharad Pawar, the Agriculture Minister who is a strong BCCI man, could consider it one of his greatest achievements for the country, certainly the biggest for the propagation of wine culture if he could persuade him.
But I imagine Sachin could convert his wine passion into business and join several celebrity golfers like Ernie Els and Greg Norman and the moviemaker and Director Francis Coppola who used up the pot of Gold he made from directing The Godfather in the '70s, buying first the historical Inglenook Winery in Napa Valley and then the Iconic brand last year as well - today the legendary film maker is revered as a wine maker churning out good profits as well.
There is a saying in the wine business that you have to start as a billionaire to become a millionaire. Francis Coppola disproved that. Closer to home, Rajeev Samant did quite the opposite with Sula with his passion, vision and canny business sense (OK- so the folding up of Indage did him a lot of good too-luck plays a role in everyone’s career!). There is no reason why Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar can’t be a big success with wine with the passion that we think he has.
The two icons - Gaja and Tendulkar
Sachin’s dedicating the Bharat Ratna Award to his mother, thus bringing her into the limelight for the sacrifices she made for him, brings to mind Angelo Gaja, the iconic wine producer of Piedmont. If Sachin is referred to as the God of Cricket, Angelo is often known as the Prince of Piedmont and even God of Barbaresco by many who are fans of his high quality wines. His grandmother Clotilde Rey (nick name Tildin) was a school teacher but whatever saving she had, was invested in buying new vineyards which were cheap compared to the astronomical prices of today and she helped shape the present iconic status of Gaja wines.
Her motto and advice to her family and son Giovanni (Angelo’s father) was to produce high quality wines and keep the prices high for the select customers. The Gaja family has not been bashful about naming the wines after their family members or those from whom they bought their vineyards, much like several other wine estates in Europe. Here are some of the names of the labels to jog the memory of our readers and for the information of our Indian readers, especially those who may be close to Sachin Tendulkar:
Sorì Tildìn: A vineyard acquired by the Gaja family in 1967, first produced as a single-vineyard wine in 1970-named after Angelo’s grandmother Clotilde Rey (Tildin).
Gaia & Rey: Gaja’s first white wine produced from grapes grown in Gaia & Rey vineyard planted in 1979. It is named after Angelo Gaja's oldest daughter, Gaia Gaja, and his grandmother, Clotilde Rey.
Rossj-Bass: The wine is produced from grapes grown in multiple estate-owned vineyards. The Rossj vineyard, planted in 1984, is named after Angelo Gaja's youngest daughter Rossana "Rossj" Gaja who now works full time with him and her sister Gaia.
The family has also named vineyards after the previous owners from whom they bought the vineyards thus keeping their memories ‘alive’ through the iconic wines. Costa Russi is named after the nickname of the previous owner from whom the single vineyard was acquired by the Gaja family in 1967. Even after 46 years, the name Russi lives on (even if the gentleman is still alive but might otherwise be a forgotten identity in his village). Dagromis Barolo which stares at you at the Delhi Duty Free shop tagged at $87 is named after the Gromis family which owned the vineyard in the commune in the 19th century, before being acquired by the Gaja family which has immortalized its name through this label. Sito Moresco is a Langhe DOC wine, again named after the former owner of the 10hA vineyard acquired by the family.
Through the iconic status of the wines, the names of these people have been kept alive not only in Piedmont or Italy but internationally. Imagine the possibilities with a wine producer named Tendulkar Wines selling a ‘Sachiiin’ red wine! How about a top end Rajni red? There are several possibilities of getting even the names of wife Anjali, son Arjun and daughter Sara to be globalised through wine. He could pay homage to his father with a wine dedicated to his late father Ramesh. If he decided to be subtle and yet have the wine tell a story, he could label his top white and red wines as ReseRve  (signifying Rajni and Ramesh)!
How is he going to make his wine if he is not technically qualified or not interested? Very simple, my dear Watson! There would be producers with high quality who would be willing to dedicate a small part of their exclusive production to him. For a start, he could price his wines at Rs.2000- representing the number of Tests he played and Rs. 2400 for the ReseRve.
There would be skeptics who would talk about his failed restaurant venture Tendulkar’s but let’s not forget that was primarily an investment, using his name whereas the wine business would be successful only if my assumption about his being passionate about wine is correct. I believe this would catapult the wine sales and take the Indian wine industry to an unimaginable unprecedented height in a very short time.
Did I mention that the advice or consultancy if called upon to do so would be with my compliments!?
Subhash Arora
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