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These grapes formed the backbone of a majority of the Indian sparkling wines including Marquis de Pompadour from Chateau Indage and Sula Brut in yesteryears and helped produce fresh and crisp sparkling wines to be drunk young. Although most sparkling wine producers claim to have switched to wine grape varieties like Chenin Blanc, their use to some extent cannot still be precluded in the absence of any recognized wine laws in India. While the wine grapes cost between Rs. 35-45 a kg, Thomson Seedless can still be procured at as low as Rs.20 a kg although until a few years ago they cost as low as Rs. 12-15 a kg.
India is the ninth largest producer of grapes in the world, according to a report by OIV. It is one of the biggest resin producers and also one of the largest exporters of grapes although the production of wine grapes is rather limited with less than 9,000 acres planted pan India. The Thompson Seedless variety, which was originally developed in California are green in colour with Sharad Seedless and Jumbo variety being a dark, almost black colour. They are exported mainly to the Netherlands according to the report in HinduBusinessLine. These grapes are then distributed throughout Europe with a sizeable amount landing in France and surprisingly Australia, claims the report.
“Grapes from India are used for blending certain wines in France,” reportedly says Sopan Kanchan, Chairman of Pune-based Grape Growers Federation of India. “Exports of concentrated grape juice and even dried grapes have shot up considerably from Nasik, Sangli and Ahmednagar to the Netherlands and the European Union,” according to the report which says that grapes from China, India, and other tropical countries are used for light dry wines. Naturally fine red wines are made from grapes grown in Bordeaux and Rhone regions of France, he concedes.
European Union is the largest international market for Indian grapes. In 2013-14, India exported 46,137 tons of grapes to the Netherlands, valued at Rs. 5.27 billion while the second highest destination Russia imported 24,503 tons. UAE, the fourth largest market imported 17,212 tons at the total value of around Rs. 1.3 billion.
In 2010, the European Union had rejected a large number of grape consignments because of the quality and technical issues which were generally perceived to be political in nature. It stopped the grape imports from India because of the unacceptable, excessive chemicals on the fruit. According to the report, EU wanted more number of chemicals to be monitored and had hiked the range from 98 to 167. The matter had been eventually sorted out amicably with political and diplomatic intervention and further exports resumed by the end of 2012.
“The grape harvest from Maharashtra, specifically designed for exports to the European market, has begun early this month,” said Kanchan. “It is normally around the second week of February but this year, it commenced during late January given the good crop,” he added.
“Last year, our exports were 4,200 containers of 12-14 tons of fruit each," said the Chairman of the Federation. He adds that several exporters were keen to engage with European importers in order to set up sustainable business practices. |