The Hindu : State vying with Maharashtra to play host to Wine Board

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

State vying with Maharashtra to play host to Wine Board

By T.S. Ranganna

Bangalore Jan. 21. The Union Ministry of Agro Processing is making preparations to set up a Wine Board in Karnataka or Maharashtra on the lines of the Coffee Board and the Tea Board to promote the production and consumption of wine in order to lure people away from hard liquor.

According to sources, the board would formulate policy on wine production, marketing, and other related matters.

A meeting of senior officials of the ministry held in Delhi recently and attended by excise commissioners of grape growing and wine producing States such as Karnataka and Maharashtra discussed the proposal.

Karnataka and Maharashtra grow grapes on 12,000 ha and 30,000 ha, respectively, and also manufacture wines and export the product.

In Karnataka, Shaw Wallace and Co. and Grover Wines manufacture wines, and the latter also exports its wines to France.

Grover Wines grows Bangalore-Blue grapes on a 250-acre plot at Doddaballapur and around Bangalore.

The seedless grape variety grown in Bijapur can be used only for table wine, which neither matures properly nor has a good flavour.

Karnataka is the second largest grape growing State in the country.

According to the Excise Commissioner, Mr. Pattanaik, who attended the meeting convened by the Union Agro Processing Ministry, Australia, which took up wine-making by importing grapes, has become one of the largest wine producers in the world. Karnataka, he said could also become one if French grapes were grown in the State.

Maharashtra, which has around five wine-making units, may compete with Karnataka to get the Board established there.

The State Government will have to allot a sizeable extent of land if it wants the Board established here.

Once the Board is set up, which is likely to be done in a few months, it will establish a wine research institute in one of the two States for the development of technology to produce quality wine, and its certification.

It will also conduct courses to educate and train farmers to grow export-quality grapes, according to Mr. Pattanaik.

Like the Sahyadri Valley in Maharashtra, Karnataka has identified Nandi Hills Region (NHR) for growing French-variety grapes and manufacturing export-quality wine. The wine manufactured in the NHR is recognised by the International Wine Forum. But, strangely, India is not a member of the 40-nation wine manufacturing club — Office of International de la Vigne et du Vin in France.

The meeting discussed the potential for promoting grape cultivation and wine manufacturing and measures to promote wine drinking. This would support a large number of grape growers who would get remunerative prices from the wineries.

Since oenology, the study of wines, was not taught as a course in any Indian university, a course could be introduced in the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore as a beginning, the meeting felt.

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