At a time when the 58 grape wineries in north and western Maharashtra are in crisis due to a fall in demand, with wineries dishonouring contracts with grapegrowers comes the news that the Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (agricultural university), Dapoli (Ratnagiri) in the state claims to have successfully processed wine from cashew apples, mangoes, blueberries and blackberries and are targetting commercial production.
Dr Vijay Mehta, vice-chancellor of Dapoli Agriculture University, said processing would help curb the phenomenal crop wastage currently. Around 95% of the 600,000 tons cashew apples, 700,000 tons blueberry and tonnes of mangoes go to waste unprocessed annually, he said according to a report in DNA.
A team of agricultural scientists, horticulturists and processors worked for the last few years in Dapoli University to standardize the wine extraction technology. The university has a small 80-liter winery at Dapoli, and claims that the wine tasters have given their approval for the commercial launch of the new varieties.
"A lot of top wineries and brands are evincing interest in our products but we cannot transfer the technology yet," Mehta reportedly said. "We've to make sure all varieties of wine stand up to the stabilization tests."
Dapoli University scientists, who are in the process of patenting their products, say wine from cashew apple, blueberry and mangoes are better in anti-oxidants and nutritional value. More importantly, they claim these wines will be cheaper; a claim yet to be verified as they appear to be comparing the prices to premium wines from Maharashtra costing upwards of Rs. 400 and not the low end wines available or soon to be available in the Rs. 150-250 range.
Growing popularity of wine in the country has encouraged many Indian entrepreneurs to try their hand at making fruit wine. Himachal Pradesh is known to have successfully harnessed the technology and apple wine has been popular in the state for around 15 years. In Jalgaon, Maharashtra a local MP launched a banana winery last month and expects to go full steam in four months. Two farmers in Nagpur district have also succeeded in making wine from oranges. But these wines are yet to become a commercial reality. |