Like the country itself, Indian wines have come a long way in the 15 years since I tasted my first example – a sweet, unpleasantly alcoholic Goan wine somewhat optimistically labelled "port".

Back then there wasn't much of an Indian wine industry to speak of, although pioneers such as Grover Vineyards in Karnataka state (where superstar French winemaker Michel Rolland is a consultant) and Indage in Maharashtra were suggesting that wine production in the country's tropical climate might not be an entirely quixotic idea.

In the past decade, a flood of investment, rapid growth in the number of wineries and an influx of foreign expertise have taken the industry from the tentatively experimental to something much more credible.

And the wines have certainly improved. The two Maharashtran newcomers recently listed by Waitrose, for example, are both perfectly competent commercial wines. Made by South African winemaker Nic van Aarde in India's answer to California's Napa Valley, the Nashik Valley, Zampa Syrah 2008 is bright, blackberry-juicy and slightly spicy like an Indian red Côtes du Rhône.

Ritu Viognier 2010, made by the lavishly funded Four Seasons winery in the Sahyadri Valley, is a pleasantly peachy, slightly honeyed but fresh dry white.

The problem with both these and other Indian wines I've tried, however, is the price. For respectively £10.99 and £8.99 (or even the current special-offer deals of £8.49 and £6.99), you want – and can easily find – more for your money than competence. Indian wine still has a way to go before it offers a genuine challenge to more established wine-producing nations. But at its current rate of improvement I'd be surprised if we didn't see many more bottles arriving in the UK supermarkets over the next couple of years.

David Williams is wine correspondent for The Observer