Can Swiss wine find a foothold in India?

Swiss winemakers and Indian importers are upbeat – despite the challenges ahead – about India’s development as a wine market, following a new trade agreement which came into effect last October. Victoria Burrows reports.

The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), comprised of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, will, in phased reductions over 10 years, eliminate tariffs on a wide range of goods. These include wines and other foodstuffs such as chocolates exported from EFTA countries to India. 

Equally, goods manufactured in India, including many medicines, textiles and steel products, will, over the next five to 10 years, enter EFTA countries tariff-free. 

All these goods should then be available at cheaper prices in the country of import.

Limited impact

While the agreement, which was signed in March 2024 and took effect on 1 October 2025, is sure to have significant effects on some major business sectors in all five countries, when it comes to wine, the impacts will likely be relatively limited.

Iceland does not make wine from grapes, while Liechtenstein and Norway only make very small amounts, of which an even smaller amount is exported.

Swiss wineries will likely reap the biggest rewards, but even these will probably be limited, especially in the near future, due to a combination of small estate sizes and high domestic consumption in Switzerland. At present only about 1% of the roughly 99 million litres produced annually leaves the country, according to government figures.

Positive steps forward

Imroze Zend, project manager for SWINTRA, the Indian company acting as the official importer and distributor for premium Swiss wines, says the only way is up. “As of today, there’s almost no Swiss wine which is exported to India. It’s effectively negligible in monetary and volume terms and is limited to small, boutique shipments,” he says.

He describes the TEPA as “positive”, although “not game changing”, bearing in mind three structural limits.

“Switzerland has a supply constraint. There just isn’t a large volume available to sell abroad. Then there’s price: Swiss wines are typically premium and high-cost, due to the small estates and high production costs. Tariff cuts help, but they don’t eliminate the product’s premium price relative to bottles from France, Italy or Spain, which are abundant and much cheaper,” he says. 

“And finally there’s market access and awareness. Distribution, importer relationships, restaurant and hotel listings, marketing budgets, and consumer awareness in India needs development. Tariffs alone don’t build that.” 

Promising advancement

Despite these barriers, Raffaella Gialdi, who manages sales and marketing at Gialdi Vini, located in the southern Swiss town Mendrisio, is excited about the potential of India as a wine export destination. The winery was founded by her family in 1953 and now has around 30 labels.

Gialdi Vini’s export ratio mirrors Switzerland’s: the company produces about 1 million bottles per year, with about 1% exported, mainly to Germany and France but also to Italy, the UK, Belgium and small amounts to cities such as New York and Hong Kong. 

While the company traditionally does not need exports to survive, Gialdi says that they now have “another mentality” and they have decided to open up to new markets.

Understanding consumer tastes

Gialdi was part of a group of 10 Swiss winemakers that attended Prowine Mumbai in November last year. Other wineries included Adank Wines, von Tscharner, Domaine de Montbenay and Jungwinzer Schweiz. The wineries ran masterclasses and presented 54 different wines, mainly made from indigenous Swiss grape varieties, to promote regional winemaking traditions.

“We tried to understand how Indian consumers react to our wines because our wines taste very different from the sweeter versions produced in India,” says Gialdi. “Indians are not so used to drinking wine, there’s no culture of drinking wine with meals, and whisky and ice-cold beers are preferred. So we have to build this market from zero.”

She believes that, realistically, lowered wine prices due to tariff-free imports are of secondary importance; what really matters is educating Indian consumers on wine as a category. 

She runs wine tastings in Switzerland for tourists – many of whom come from India – and plans to be in India for Prowine 2026, when she will also set up visits at venues that may stock her wines, such as hotels, around the country.

Education is key

Sommelier Nikhil Agarwal, who founded Mumbai-based luxury wine and spirits marketing and consulting agency All Things Nice in 2010, agrees that education is key.

“The Swiss Pavilion at the 2025 edition of ProWine Mumbai, the first major showing of Swiss wines in India, was by far the most talked about, with sommeliers and wine experts making a beeline to see what they could discover,” he says. “While the Indian market for wines is starting from a tiny base, it’s growing rapidly. 

“The sale of higher-end wines in general has picked up tremendously, especially since the year 2020. If marketed and introduced right, Swiss wines could find discerning customers, especially at luxury hotels and top-end stand-alone restaurants.”

Looking to Australia

He hopes that Swiss wines will follow in similar footsteps to Australian wines after the 2022 trade agreement between India and Australia.

“The results took time but are now clear. All importers started adding higher-end Australian wines to their portfolio, which in turn has had a very positive effect for Australian wines of higher calibre in India in terms of listings and consumer awareness,” says Agarwal. 

“If by that metric we can measure the impact on Swiss wines with a similar trade agreement, it’s going to be positive. I’m not saying that overnight people will shift their preference to drinking Chasselas but it will be a start.”

Small but mighty

For Gialdi what the TEPA has given Swiss wineries is a headstart in getting their brands known in India.

“Trade agreements are being hammered out between India and other parts of Europe now, but will take some time. Having our agreement already in effect means we have a one, or two-year advantage on other European premium wines,” she says.

She also sees Switzerland’s position as a small exporter as an advantage.

“The Indian market doesn’t want to be flooded with imported wines. Large amounts of Spanish or French wines may compete with local production,” she says. “But the government isn’t threatened by us as we’re so small.”

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