S Kushala/TNN

Bangalore, May 27: Cheers, wine is a beverage now and can be sold in supermarkets, department stores and wine bars. Reason: to encourage farmers and wineries.

But wait, this refers to natural wine and not fortified wine.

Natural wine (fruit wine) no longer comes under the category of alcohol while fortified wine remains alcohol, according to the Karnataka Grape Processing and Wine Policy that the State Wine Board approved on May 21. The proposal is waiting to be gazetted by the government.

Natural wine is made from fruit and 11% to 14% of alcohol is derived from the fruit. In fortified wine, spirits like brandy are added, thereby increasing its alcohol content to more than 20%. This is laced with fruit flavours.

According to B Krishna, MD, State Wine Board, licensing procedures have been made easy to promote natural wine which will henceforth not be sold in liquor shops. To promote the setting up of wine bars, the policy has brought out reasonable permit fee — one-time licence fee of Rs 5,000 and yearly renewal fee of Rs 2,000. Till now, the natural wine licensing was clubbed with liquor and the permit was quite high.

"For the past one year, the policy was pending and was approved on May 21. We have sent the proceedings to the government for gazette notification. A lot of concessions have been given to encourage farmers and wineries. To promote natural wine, we will have wine festivals in several parts of the state," Krishna told TOI.