| An initiative of the IGPB, the WineNet system is based on the "Regulation on wine, grape juice or grape must for the domestic as well as exports to the European Community and other countries” and acts as a surveillance system to ensure the wine produced and marketed adheres to the Indian National Standards and International Standards for Human Consumption, according to the website
‘It’s based on the Grape Net that was designed for the grapes traceability by APEDA and is aimed at giving the consumer correct information about any wine,’ says Captain Sanjay Gahlot, Director MOFPI and CEO of Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB).
Wine Net has been designed initially to help the exporters. Abhay Kewadkar, Business Head of Four Seasons is very supportive of the initiative. ‘Since we have ISO 22000, we already have to do a lot of work keeping various reports. Therefore, what we require for the WineNet, we already have and we would have no problem in keeping up with the records,’ adding, ‘we have had a demo given to us by (Dhananjay) Datar (Pune based COO of IGPB who has been monitoring the progress of the software and is in charge of execution) at one of the meetings of the Board. It seemed very exciting-in fact I think we should use if for domestic production too.’
Dhananjay Datar agrees with Abhay. ‘In the first phase only we are going to limit it to exports. We shall take it forward eventually with wines for domestic consumption,’ he says. Currently they are in the process of mapping the wineries and then the vineyards throughout India. ‘We are working directly with the Maharashtra wineries and have requested Karnataka Wine Board to do the same for Karnataka. We should be ready within 2 months with the information and then we will be ready for the next step.’
Traceability being a given in the wine industry the world over now, it is good to know that the Board is keeping up with times. The only problem is that the system is voluntary. If any producer does not send in the data, the information is incomplete. The success of the system will depend on making sure all the producers fall in line through the governmental authority, unfortunately.
Until the wine laws are formulated it is unlikely that the system can take off. But these are all the building blocks that would be useful in improving the quality of Indian wines and their export.
In the meanwhile, if you have any questions or suggest ions regarding the Wine Net, you are welcome to contact Capt. Gahlot at sanjay.gahlot@nic.in or Dhananjay Datar at ddatar@hotmail.com CEO and COO of the IGPB.
Subhash Arora
Tags: WineNet, Indian Grape Processing Board, IGPB, Grape Net, Indian wines |