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‘We are very concerned about the quality of our
vineyards since it is our neck which is on line. Every
living organism including plants and even human beings
have a certain amount of virus. It does not mean that
the human race is in danger of extinction,’ he
emphasised to delWine in a telephonic interview.
According to the news report published by Indian Express
on November 4, the Maharashtra wine industry is facing
a crisis with two deadly viruses affecting the farms.
Attributed to imported plants, these viruses were ‘first
detected in 2002, but fresh cases have been reported
this year and have reportedly infected varieties like
Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc, Pinot Noir and Vermentino as
also Merlot and Zinfandel imported from France and Italy’.
Pune-based National Research Centre for Grapes (NRC)
had confirmed the presence of the disease and the state
government has decided to stop import of plant material
and sought expert opinion for future action. Horticulture
Minister Vinay Kore had said the government had taken
serious note of the disease caused by the plant imports.
Reacting to the action by NRC, Samant wondered aloud
if they have the expertise and the necessary testing
equipment to determine the extent of the disease. It
is one thing dealing with table grapes, in which they
have sufficient experience, but it is another thing
to extrapolate it to the wine grapes, he feels. ‘What
we need is to develop the proper expertise before making
negative statements that my have far repercussions.’
‘We have discussed the problem with Mr. (Sharad)
Pawar who declared on Monday that the government would
be looking at the problem in depth before taking any
adverse action. ‘The Indian wine industry is growing
at 40% a year. This means that we need to plant 40%
more fresh vines every year and this cannot be possible
without imports as we do not have enough nurseries here,’
he said.
Samant agrees that the problem does exist but ‘which
country does not have the problem?’ he questions.
‘Australia, Chile, France and South Africa’
which in fact is reportedly facing a severe problem
expected to have long term impact. ‘But so long
as the level is kept at less than 10% we should be in
the safe zone and I believe the Maharashtra vineyards
have less than 10% virus.’ stresses Rajeev.
Chateau Indage, has claimed, “There is no spread
of virus by the imported plants. Virus could spread
from the indigenous rootstock and buds. There is no
point in blaming the imported material.”
A reliable source informed delWine that the virus problem
was in fact brought out in the open and discussed face-to-face
during the annual seminar held in Nashik a few months
ago when the farmers procuring plants from the nursery
owned by Indage had accused them of importing uncertified
virus inflicted plants to them. However, a confrontation
was avoided turning into an ugly situation at that time.
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