Wine Festival Opened in Bangalore
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
BANGALORE, Jul 10: A three-day wine festival offering people a chance to taste a variety of wines as part of B S Yeddyurappa’s BJP regime to encourage and boost wine sales was opened in Bangalore on Friday.
Karnataka’s horticulture and prisons minister Umesh V Katti, who inaugurated the wine festival and a seminar at the historical Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, said boosting wine production in the major grape growing areas was possible if farmers and entrepreneurs were educated on wine cultivation and production as also the state’s vast potential.
He pointed out that Karnataka was the first state in the country to introduce a wine policy way back in 200, which gave a fillip to wine cultivation leading to a sharp increase in the grape cultivation coverage from barely 240 acres to around 800 hectares at present. The total grape wine production, which was only around 15 to 18 lakh litres per year, had touched 20 to 25 lakh litres after the introduction of the wine policy.
From a meagre two wineries -- Grover Vineyard in Doddaballapur and Hampi Heritage in Bijapur – Karnataka now has nine wineries after the establishment of the Wine Board under the policy, he said.
The state wine board, which organised the seminar for the first time e minister said mentioning that the in the state, aims at creating awareness among farmers and entrepreneurs about wine cultivation, production and latest methods of contract farming besides wooing investors.
The seminar would also focus on educating farmers and industrialists on amendments made to the excise and industrial rules, Katti said, releasing a technical book on wine production on the occasion.
Karnataka has already come out with a new policy of granting permission for opening of `wine boutigues’ in supermarkets, malls and multiplexes as part of the Yeddyurappa regime’s drive to ``popularise wine and also help the grape-growers.’’
The state government has amended the relevant rules to allow opening of wine boutiques in supermarkets, malls and multiplexes for a low annual license fee of Rs 5,000 subject to earmarking of a minimum space of at least 15,000 sq.ft. for getting wine boutique licences in supermarkets, malls and multiplexes.
People can freely buy wine in the wine boutique in supermarkets, malls and multiplexes but will not be able to drink unlike in the existing policy of allowing opening of traverns at a nominal licence fee of Rs 1,000, where drinking wine is permitted. However, there has been widespread criticism at the misuse of travern licences to sell all kinds of liquor illegally, which also entails loss of revenue to the state exchequer.