Keeping to its identity as the wine capital of the country, vintners of Nashik district have extended a helping hand to grape farmers who have been badly hit by the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the region.
Keeping to its identity as the wine capital of the country, vintners of Nashik district have extended a helping hand to grape farmers who have been badly hit by the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the region.
How do wineries plan to help the farmers?
They will buy the table grapes grown by them. Wine is otherwise made by crushing what are called wine grapes, as they are grown specifically for that purpose.
How did the move come about?
Nashik district collector Deependra Singh Kushawa had given this a push by calling a meeting of representatives of wineries, urging them to bail out grape growers by buying the grapes left with them. The meeting was held on Monday at the district collectorate.
What have vintners told the collector?
They said the total capacity for storing wine to age it in Nashik district is about 1.20 crore litres. This crushing season, various wineries have the capacity to crush 18,000 tonnes of wine grapes. Out of these, 8,000 tonnes are grown for wineries on a contractual basis and there is scope for 10,000 tonnes more to be crushed. So the vintners said wineries will take table grapes grown by the affected farmers. They also said that many wineries have already picked up 4,000 tonnes of the same from these farmers.
What did Kushawa say?
Expressing satisfaction at the gesture shown by winemakers, Kushawa said he will speak to district collectors in Sangli, Baramati and Pune, where there are a few wineries, and see if more grapes can be picked up from the farmers.
What are wineries saying?
President of All India Wine Makers Association and MD of Renaissance Winery Shivaji Aher told dna, "This is the first time wineries in Nashik are crushing table grapes." Aher added that he hoped it would be a win-win for both farmers and wineries.
"The wine we make from table grapes will be medium quality and priced low. We only hope that the government supports us in marketing it," he said.
Permanent solution needed
Saying that a permanent solution to the unpredictability of nature with regard to grape farming was needed, Aher said, "We need to think if wineries can be allowed to make grape juice, soft drinks or even ready-to-drink drinks having low alcohol content." He also suggested distillation. In India, distilled spirit is made from 95% molasses and 5% grape juice. He said grape juice quantity can be increased to 25%.
He added that as wineries have the capacity to help farmers, the government should make licensing and other procedures easy.
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