Karnataka gets a new Wine Policy

The new liberalized Wine policy bifurcates wine into two categories — fruit-based (natural) and fortified (have some amount of alcohol). It allows individuals to stock nine litres of wine as against 4.5 litres. Mostly modelled on the Maharashtra wine policy, the state’s policy aims at increasing the market for wine and give boost to grape cultivation.o promote winery, government has identified 1,000 acres in the state for setting up of exclusive wine parks. Of these, 500 acres would come under Nandi valley, comprising Bangalore urban, Bangalore rural and Kolar districts. The remaining 500 acres would be facilitated for Krishna valley which includes —- Bijapur, Bagalkot and Belgaum districts. These valleys comprise those regions which produce good quality wines.The state has 9,700 hectares of land under grape cultivation, including table grapes and French grapes, and the estimated yield is about 1.67 lakh tons. The total wine sales in the state, including fortified wine, was 13.1 lakh litres in 2006-07 which fetched Rs 32.22 crore.Natural wine comes in three flavours —- Red, White and Rose. Grapes that are best suited for Red Wine are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir,Merlot, Pinnotage, Shiraz, Zinfandel. Grapes for White wine are Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Uric Bloanc, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and White Riesling.