Wine makers' body seeks wine institute in Nashik

Nashik district, the wine capital of the country, is still awaiting a wine institute. The Nashik Valley Wine Manufacturers' Association (NVWMA) has urged the state government to take initiative for establishing a wine institute at Nashik.

Nashik is known for producing large quantity of grapes and it shares 55 per cent of the total export of grapes from the country and 75 per cent of total export of grapes from the state. Out of 36 grape wineries, 18 units are alone in Nashik district and produce 16.84 lakh litre of grape wine every year.

The institute will impart training and technical guidance for cultivation of grape varieties, wine manufacturing and marketing and cover other aspects related with the trade. The manufacturers' association has sought the establishment of institute in Nashik city or at Godavari Wine Park at Vinchur in the Nashik district.

"It is unfortunate that the wine capital of India doesn't have a wine institute. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has allotted a separate plot at Ambad MIDC for the institute. We have urged the government to set up the institute at the earliest," said Pradeep Pachpatil, president, Nashik Valley Wine Manufacturers' Association.

A senior MIDC official said, "MIDC had appealed to educational institutes and wine industrialists to set up such an institute. We had also promised necessary support, but none came forward. At Vinchur Park, MIDC has set up a 'mother unit' with common facility for grape processors. Here we have provided equipment such as pneumatic press, crusher, destember, besides filtration unit, bottling unit, quality control lab, cold storage, packaging house. We have also arranged for the services of wine master and wine tester, a costly affair and requires only 2 to 3 days or a week in a season," the senior MIDC official said.

In order to create an awareness of the advantages of grape processing, MIDC and Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, have taken up a joint project to train farmers in Sangli district. Accordingly, Bharati Vidyapeeth has established the Grape Processing and Research Institute (GPRI) in Krishna Wine Park, Palus, Sangli. The institute will set up a grape wine nursery to provide authentic plantlets to farmers and quality control laboratory for wines.

In the meanwhile, an educational institute in Nashik is planning to establish a wine institute.

Besides, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) is also reportedly planning to introduce new courses in cultivation of grape wine varieties, wine manufacturing and marketing.