It started more as a hobby than as a business that would bring in the big bucks for C. Krishna Prasad and his wife Uma Chigurupati. But now the Hyderabad-based couple who made their millions in the pharmaceutical industry are going global with their super-premium Krsma Wines.

They launched Krsma Wines in New York in March this year, uncorking bottles at the popular Le Cirque restaurant. And they’ve already raised the bar now that their flagship Krsma Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 has grabbed the honour of being the most expensive Indian wine in the world. It’s selling for a whopping $50 in New York — and for $90 in restaurants like Le Cirque. New York’s only the second market in which they’ve launched Krsma Wines — the winery’s located in Hampi — after launching in Bangalore last year.

“We want everybody to be conscious that a great wine is coming from India. We’ve made an impact in Bangalore and New York. Now, we need to make an impact throughout the US for, once you’re known there, the whole world will recognise you,” says Prasad ambitiously. Adds Uma: “It’s nice to get this recognition but we have a long way to go.”

Certainly, the two aren’t afraid to take on the best in the world. They’ve set records as marathon runners and they’ve grown their pharma company, Granules India, into the largest para-cetamol producer in the world. Now, they’re winning over New Yorkers.

Krsma wines — that also includes the Krsma Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Sangiovese 2013 and the Chardonnay — are available in over 35 restaurants like Michelin-starrers Bouley and Junoon, and in seven retail outlets in New York. “People are happily buying the Cab at $50,” says Prasad. Other Indian wines typically sell for $10-$15 there.

“Uma and Krishna are setting new standards in wine-making which no one in India is capable of,” states wine consultant Alok Chandra.

Adds Subhash Arora, president, Indian Wine Academy: “Both Uma and Krishna are extremely focused. They want to make the best possible wine and it doesn’t matter how long it takes and how much money it costs. No other Indian wine comes close on quality.”

 

Market experts estimate that the couple have invested nearly Rs 40 crore in Krsma. The vintners aren’t talking numbers but they’re not expecting immediate returns either. They want to make a world-class wine for the global market. And they’re determined to go the distance — just like they did when they ran seven half-marathons on seven continents in seven days in January.

The two began running 12 years ago, but they’ve done it all since then from marathons on the North Pole to the Atacama desert. Says Uma of the half-marathons: “I was apprehensive about how our bodies would respond. We just ran, changed if possible, then got onto a flight to land and run again.” The challenge took them from Antarctica to Punta Arenas in Chile, and then to Miami, Madrid, Marrakesh, Dubai and Sydney. “It was great,” says Uma, 53.

Prasad, 60, adds: “When you do a marathon, you keep running. You can’t get impatient. And that’s what’s common to marathons, making wines and pharmaceuticals — patience, perseverance and determination.”

They don’t believe in half-mea-sures. So, in September, they held the first-ever vertical wine tasting in India by offering four vintages of their Cabernet Sauvignon — 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

“Globally, wine-makers often do verticals of five-10 years as it’s nice to see how a wine has evolved. I do this often with friends at home. So I thought, ‘Why don’t we let people understand how our wines have evolved’,” says Prasad, who began making Cabs because that’s what he loves best.

In a bold move, they even did a barrel tasting of the 2015 Cab that’s still ageing. “Several people said it’s good to drink straight away,” says Prasad, who’s a mean cook and hosts a barbeque most Sundays at their Jubilee Hills home. Adds Uma: “When we tasted the 2011 and 2012 Cab two years ago, they were good. But today, they’re great.”

Arora’s tasting notes describe his favourite 2012 vintage as “floral, full of berries and red fruits” and with “firm tannins, nice structure and a good length”. “Their Cab is the best Cab in India,” he says.

Their other wines are winning awards too. So, the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc won gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. “I love it. It’s full on the palate,” says Arora.

The vintners aren’t compromising on quality. That’s why they never released their first 2010 Cab vintage. Similarly, they felt their 2013 Cab didn’t merit the Krsma label. So, they’ve just launched it as K2, priced at Rs 780 against the Krsma Cab’s Rs 1,600.

Make no mistake though. Krsma’s owners may have outsize ambitions but their winery is strictly boutique, producing just 2,000 cases (18,000 litres) in 2015. Market leader Sula makes some eight lakh cases a year.

Still, experts like Chandra say that Krsma is distinct from other Indian boutique wineries like Fratelli in Solapur or York Winery in Nashik. For one, these wineries procure grapes from outside while Krsma is a “genuine estate winery”. Then, while an external wine-maker calls the shots elsewhere, at Krsma, both Uma and Prasad “understand what goes into wine and it is they who decide on the wine-making protocols”, says Chandra.

“We want to produce what we love,” says Uma, who has a master’s in plant micro-biology and whom Prasad calls the palate of Krsma. She closely monitors the operations, going to Hampi three times a month and tasting from 100-odd barrels a day. At harvest time, she decides which plot is to be harvested when. Says she: “We want to let the fruit speak for itself. Mr Prasad’s preference used to be more oak while I love more fruit-forward wines. I think we’re getting there now.”

Actually, Prasad’s a huge fan of Bordeaux Cabernets though Krsma’s Cabs are more Napa-style fruit-forward. His large cellar, housed in the US, includes prized Chateau Lafite Rothschilds while for regular drinking, he loves a Lynch Bages from Bordeaux or a Chateau Pavie from St Emillion.

At Krsma, the couple want to create a wine that reflects their terroir. Take the Sauvignon Blanc, which is very dry and not like the popular New Zealand Sauv. Says Uma: “I’ve always felt it should be a distinctly Hampi Hills wine with international quality. And that’s what we’re sticking to.”  

Indeed, the two aren’t afraid to go against the norm. After all, arid Hampi wasn’t quite wine country. “But we have converted the disadvantages to advantages,” says Prasad.

The entry into New York was un-usual too. Says Prasad: “Even in my pharmaceutical business, I went to the US before we became big here. Wine-drinking is so prevalent there that if it’s accepted well, you can really say it’s a great wine.”

Prasad grew up in Guntur and tasted his first wine at the age of 16-17 at his neighbour’s, who was a bishop who imported wine to serve at communion. “It wasn’t good, but I was fascinated,” he says. Soon he began reading up on wine. After he graduated, he went to Chennai to start a business, but kept up his interest, even getting wine-making kits from abroad through his surgeon father’s friends. At 21, he made his first wine with Bangalore grapes.

He returned to Hyderabad to start a pharma firm with friends in 1981. “I’d make wine in old beer bottles. When we got married, Uma was shocked to find one bedroom was a winery,” he recalls. But soon, she began helping him.

But wine-making took a back seat after they set up their own bulk drugs firm in 1984. Then, as the business grew, the couple began travelling to wineries abroad. And Prasad dreamt of retiring on a winery in France one day. Till a chance trip to Hampi to help a vineyard saw him fall in love with the place. “It was dry and rocky. But somehow, I felt it would be a great place to make wine,” he says.

They’ve set their own pace since. Now, the immediate focus is the US. This summer, they promoted Krsma wines in the posh Hamptons area outside NY city, and now, they’re planning to target the jetset in Aspen, Colorado.

The numbers are tiny. They’ve sold 900-odd cases (of six bottles each) in New York so far. But the margins are high. So, they’re looking at entering New Jersey next. The goal is to sell in California eventually. But supply is a constraint. “We don’t want to make more and be under pressure to sell. We will see the response,” says Prasad.

And yes, they’re not expecting to make money soon. “The overheads for such low volumes are killing us,” admits Prasad. He expects it to take five-six years to make profits and 10-15 years to recoup investments. “Wine-ries are built on generations. And we’re building to last,” he says.

Meanwhile, he’s put Granules India on a high-growth trajectory. Two of their three children — his son Harsha, 30, and daughter, Priyanka, 26, work for Granules — while her twin, Pragnya, is a surgeon. None of them are involved in Krsma. “They have their careers. They can do this any time,” says Uma.

They’re certain that Krsma will be recognised internationally as a good wine. But, says Prasad: “Our ambition is to make a great wine. And that’s the way forward.”